• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The Berry Baker
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Difficulty - Easy
    • Difficulty - Medium
    • Difficulty - Hard
  • About Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

Home » Recipes » Breads + Cookies + Baked Goods

How to Make Classic Vegan and Gluten-Free Shortbread

October 17, 2020 by Raspbelyse Leave a Comment

Share
Tweet
Pin45
45 Shares
Jump to Recipe

Melt-in-your-mouth gluten-free shortbread cookies that are the perfect companion to a warm cup of tea or a great gift to that celiac person in your life. It also only takes 5 minutes to bring this dough together, which gives you plenty of time to catch up on other baking plans.

glutenfree shortbreads on a white background
Jump to Recipe

Great gluten-free gifts

These gluten-free shortbread cookies are amazing gifts. They taste great, have a nice light and friable texture, and take very little active time to make. I actually created this recipe as a gift for my mom who doesn’t get enough gluten-free stuff in her stockings, to be honest. 

I also sliiiiightly got inspired by biscuits with the boss from Tel Lasso. If you haven’t seen this TV show yet, you really should. It was like a warm cup of tea for my soul. I now also get why he always gave them cookies in a cute little box. Like his, these vegan shortbread cookies are buttery and delicate, which means that placing them in a plastic bag might break them.

So I recommend placing these cookies in a box when giving them as gifts and to place a sheet of parchment or was paper between layers if you need to stack them up.

A bag of Bob's red Mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
a shortbread helf up by 2 fingers

To make these gluten-free shortbreads, I used Bob’s red mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour. While raw it has the most awful taste ( it’s the garbanzo flour), once cooked, you don’t get any of that weird taste in the flour.

I found It doesn’t even have a distinctive taste. And compared with other gluten-free flours I have tried in the past, I didn’t get any grittiness that usually comes with rice flour. I even had one of my friend blint test these gluten-free cookies and he didn't realize they were gluten-free!

RELATED : In need of another gluten-free friendly gift? Try these chocolate meringue kisses cookies!

vegan shorbread cookies in a square pan on top of a red stripped dishcloth

How to make these vegan shortbreads by hand?

These vegan shortbread cookies are made in a food processor but if you don’t have one on hand, here are the instructions to make them by hand.

Start by placing all your dry ingredients in a large bowl whisk until incorporated. Place your diced butter in the dry ingredients and start by breaking up the pieces of butter with the tip of your fingers. 

Once the butter looks like 1cm pieces, you can start rubbing the mixture between the palms of your hands back and forth, making sure not to press too hard. This will “sand” your preparation. You then only need to add your vanilla, roughly mix and bring the dough together into a ball before continuing on with the pressing of the dough into the prepared pan. Voilà! 

2 gluten-free shortbread cookies on a small white plate

Tips + tricks

  • Check that the dough is spread in an even layer, if not, the dough will cook unevenly. You might even end up with burnt corners which is the usual trouble maker.
  • Poke individual holes into the cookies with a digital food thermometer. It is the perfect tool for those finishing touches and will give you precision and nice —  not too big and not too small — holes.
a small stack of cookies in front of a baking pan

Storage

Thse cookies do great when stored by themselves in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks ( some even says they keep them up to 1 month). But trust me, half my pan of gluten-free shortbread cookies disappeared the same day they were made so I highly doubt they will last this long.

You could also freeze these cookies once baked, again in an airtight container, for up to 6 months.

glutenfree shortbreads on a white background
Print

Classic Vegan and Gluten-Free Shortbread Cookies

These melt-in-your-mouth gluten-free shortbread cookies that are the perfect companion to a warm cup of tea, or a great gift to that celiac person in your life.
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine Scotish
Keyword buttery
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 24 shortbreads

Ingredients

  • 272g (2 cups) bob’s red mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
  • 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 100g (½ cup) granulated white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 240g (1 cup) chilled and cubed unsalted vegan butter , I use Becel plant-based bricks
  • cornstarch , as needed

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C)
  • In a food processor, add the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, and salt and pulse until combined.
  • While pulsing the food processor, add the cold cubbed vegan butter one by one until the mixture looks like a coarse meal.
  • Add the vanilla extract and continue blending until the dough comes together into a soft ball.
  • Line an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan with an 8-inch strip of parchment paper, leaving some overhang on both sides for unmolding.
  • Transfer the shortbread dough onto the prepared pan, sprinkle the top with some cornstarch, and press into the bottom of the pan, making sure to keep an even thickness throughout, including into the corners. You can use a sheet of parchment paper and the bottom of a flat glass to help you flatten out the dough.
  • Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the dough looks cooked, slightly matt, and golden brown on the edges.
  • Right after removing the pan from the oven, cut into 1 x 3-inches pieces with a sharp knife and poke holes to give each shortbreads it’s distinctive look.
  • Leave to cool completely in the pan before removing the cookies by pulling on each overhangs of parchment paper to release them from the pan. Enjoy!
gluten-free shortbread being dipped in a cup of tea

Did you try this gluten-free cookie recipe?

Don’t be shy and let me know how it went! Leave me a comment below and share a picture on Instagram !

Share
Tweet
Pin45
45 Shares

More Breads + Cookies + Baked Goods

  • Vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls with cookie butter.
    Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cookie Butter
  • Vegan Brownie cookie decorated with monster eyes leaning agains a small white pumpkin with more cookies around it.
    Easy Spooky Brookies
  • Blueberry and lime financier on a small plate with a spoon and loose blueberries next to it.
    Blueberry Financiers
  • Vegan almond financier in the red silicone mold they were cooked in.
    Classic French Almond Financiers

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hi! I'm Raspbelyse

I'm a vegan pastry chef who loves to teach home bakers how to make fancy classic desserts. More →

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

New Posts

Vegan sucre à la crème squares stacked on a plate.
Vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls with cookie butter.
Vegan mousse cake made of layers of chocolate hazelnut mousse on the bottom and pumpkin mousse on the top.

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat

berrybaker.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.  This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies.

My Favorites

Vegan sucre à la crème squares stacked on a plate.
Vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls with cookie butter.
Vegan mousse cake made of layers of chocolate hazelnut mousse on the bottom and pumpkin mousse on the top.

Privacy Policy  | Terms & Conditions

Copyright © 2023 The Berry Baker on the Foodie Pro Theme