These easy to make vegan Valentine’s Day shortbread cookies are melt in your mouth delicious. Topped with a lemon glaze that gives them a wonderfully tart and refreshing flavor. These vegan shortbread cookies look incredibly impressive and taste delicious. No one will ever guess they’re vegan.
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The signature texture of a shortbread cookie is buttery, tender and melt in your mouth delicious. A sweet way to say I love you Valentine's Day treat.
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Why This Recipe Works
- Super Simple Ingredients. Easy to prepare with vegan butter, sugar, flour, salt and vanilla.
- Wonderful Flavor. These shortbread cookies have a lovely lemony zing from the icing glaze and a hint of berry from the dried strawberries.
- Make In Advance. This cookie dough can be made well in advance. It keeps for several days in the fridge and a month in the freezer.
Key Ingredients
- Flour - All-purpose flour is the best to use for shortbread. Do not use self rising flour, as we want the shortbread not to rise and be puffy.
- Powdered Sugar - Also known as icing sugar - powdered sugar gives the shortbread a super smooth, crumbly finish.
- Vegan Butter - we like to use Country Crock or Earth Balance non-dairy butter sticks.
- Freeze-Dried Strawberries - this garnish adds flavor and elevates the appearance of the cookies.
- Vanilla Extract - you could substitute out the vanilla extract for almond or pecan extract.
- Lemon juice - unspoken star, it adds a great zesty flavor to the icing and cookies.
Detailed ingredients, measurements, and instructions are provided at the end of this post in the printable recipe card. This recipe has not been tested with substitutions or variations not listed. If you make any changes, please share your results in the comments!
Preparation Tip
Chill before baking, the goal is to ensure the butter in the dough is cold when it goes into the oven. This will prevent the shortbread from spreading to much.
A 2 inch round cookie cutter will yielded 32 cookies. We used a 4 inch $6.00 heart shaped cookie cutter from Sur la Table that yielded 8 cookies.
Step By Step Instructions
STEP 1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, then set aside.
Let the butter soften to room temperature. Place butter in a large bowl. Beat the butter and add a ½ cup powdered sugar with a hand held blender on low for about 1 minute. Then pour in vanilla and blend about 5 seconds.
STEP 2. In a separate bowl whisk together flour and salt until combined.
STEP 3. With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture. Beating for about 1 minute until dough comes together. (Pictured above)
STEP 4. Shape dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and let chill for at least 2 or up to 24 hours. This is the perfect recipe to make ahead. The dough can be stored up to three days in refrigerator.
STEP 5. Preheat oven to 350 degree.
Roll dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out dough to about ¼ inch thickness.
STEP 6. Cut dough out with a cookie cutter. We are using a 4 inch heart cookie cutter. Since we will be decorating this cookie we can skip the traditional process of docking (pricking the surface) the cookies.
STEP 7. Chill cut out cookies for at least 15 minutes in freezer until firm.
STEP 8. Place cookies in oven and bake for 17 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack.
Finishing Touches
You can add a drizzle of chocolate, decorate with dried flowers, dip them glaze, add sprinkles, nuts or icing.
Instructions For Lemon Glaze & Decoration
Step 1: Crush freeze dried strawberries.
STEP 2. Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl to remove any lumps. Pour 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir and set aside.
STEP 3. We like to use an offset spatula to help evenly spread out icing. Spread icing over one cookie at a time.
Step 4: Immediately sprinkle tops of cookies with crushed strawberries and sprinkle. Icing will firm quickly. Let stand for about 15 minutes until glaze is set. Repeat icing and decorating each cookie until done.
Storing Instructions
Storing. These vegan shortbread cookies can be stored in an air tight container at room temperature. Enjoy within three days.
Prepare In Advance. Dough can be prepared up three days in advance.
Freeze. To freeze the shortbread dough, simply wrap it tightly in plastic wrap (cling wrap) and place it in a freezer bag or freezer safe container. The dough can be frozen for up to three months. To bake, simply thaw the dough in the fridge overnight before shaping, chilling and baking per instructions.
You can freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months. Just be sure wrap very well. Make sure to keep in an air-tight freezer bag or container.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
📖 Recipe
Vegan Shortbread Cookies
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup All-purpose Flour
- 1 ½ cup Powdered Sugar
- ¾ cup Non-Dairy Butter
- ½ cup Freezer-Dried Strawberries
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoons Lemon juice
Instructions
Making Dough
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper, then set aside. Let the butter soften to room temperature. Place butter in a large bowl. Beat the butter and ½ cup powdered sugar with a hand held blender on low for about 1 minute. Then pour in vanilla about 30 seconds.
- In a separate bowl whisk together flour and salt until combined.
- With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture. Beating for about 1 minute until dough comes together. (Pictured above)
- Shape dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and let chill for at least 2 or up to 24 hours. This is the perfect recipe to make ahead. The dough can be stored up to three days in refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 350 degree.
- Roll dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out dough to about ¼ inch thickness.
- Cut dough out with a cookie cutter. We are using a 4 inch heart cookie cutter. Since we will be decorating this cookie we can skip the traditional process of docking (pricking the surface) the cookies.
- Chill cut out cookies for at least 15 minutes in freezer until firm.
- Place cookies in oven and bake for 17 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack.
Instructions For Lemon Glaze & Decoration
- Crush freeze dried strawberries.
- Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl to remove any lumps. Pour 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir and set aside.
- We like to use an offset spatula to help evenly spread out icing. Spread icing over one cookie at a time.
- Immediately sprinkle tops of cookies with crushed strawberries and sprinkle. Icing will firm quickly. Let stand for about 15 minutes until glaze is set. Repeat icing and decorating each cookie until done.
Notes
- 2 inch cookie cutter yields about 32 cookies.
- 4 inch heart cookie cutter yields 8 cookies.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Kddk
I had one these this week and couldn't believe how delicious they are. The cookie was slightly chewy which I like...the strawberry topping works really well with the glaze, too. This is a great intro to vegan baking. No one will know the difference when it comes to taste.