Deep down, I’m a competitive person. Candy Land as a little kid, cheer competitions in high school, Scrabble in grad school. It doesn’t really matter the age or the activity, I don’t like to lose. As an adult though, I’ve learned how to internalize the competitive nature and focus on challenging myself rather than competing against others. The benefit of this is that the sky is the limit and I am always working to improve myself in some way or another.
Last month I was inspired by one of my favorite food bloggers and his recipe for a vegan lemon meringue pie. I have several friends who follow a vegan diet and making a delicious dessert that they can enjoy with everyone else is such a gift. Then came the opportunity to create my own vegan dessert recipe along with several other bloggers. Yes! Count me in! After contemplating several ideas, I decided to go with a classic shortbread cookie. Such an easy to make and easy to share treat that is made with easy to find ingredients.
Tips:
- I used vegan butter for this recipe in order to give it a more traditional buttery flavor. However, you can sub out for an equal amount of coconut oil if you prefer.
- As I developed this recipe, I noticed that the amount of flour needed varied slightly based on the amount of moisture in the air – a rainy day meant I needed more flour to reach that slightly crumbly state you want. If you don’t reach that crumbly state, the cookies will still taste delicious but the cookie consistency will be more like a soft sugar cookie.
VEGAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE
For the cookies:
½ cup cold vegan butter, cut into 1” pieces
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup aquafaba (juice from canned chickpeas)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (add more as needed, see tip above)
Cookie Directions:
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until it starts to become fluffy. If mixture starts sticks to sides of bowl, scrape down with a spatula. Add aquafaba, salt and almond extract, mix until ingredients start to blend.
With mixer speed set to low and add flour a ½ cup at a time, beat until fully incorporated. Dough may be slightly crumbly.
Place dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and form dough into a log shape. Fold plastic wrap over dough then roll log on the counter to help smooth it out. Log should be approximately 2” in diameter. Place dough log in freezer for 30 minutes to slightly firm it up.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Remove dough log from freezer and peel off plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife, slice log into ¼” thick rounds. Place rounds on a parchment covered baking sheet, ½”-1” apart. (Cookies won’t spread much so you can fit more onto a sheet than you could with other cookies.) Bake cookies 10-12 minutes or until bottom edges just begin to turn golden brown. Let cookies cool completely before adding chocolate drizzle.
For the chocolate drizzle:
3oz vegan dark chocolate bar, broken into 1” pieces
½ teaspoon coconut oil
Chocolate Drizzle Directions:
Place chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring at each interval, until chocolate is completely melted and is smooth and shiny. Using a spoon or a small zip-lock bag with the tip of one corner cut off, drizzle chocolate over the cooled cookies.
- For the cookies:
- ½ cup cold vegan butter, cut into 1” pieces
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup aquafaba (juice from canned chickpeas)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (add more as needed, see tip above)
- For the chocolate drizzle:
- 3oz vegan dark chocolate bar, broken into 1” pieces
- ½ teaspoon coconut oil
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until it starts to become fluffy. If mixture starts sticks to sides of bowl, scrape down with a spatula. Add aquafaba, salt and almond extract, mix until ingredients start to blend.
- With mixer speed set to low and add flour a ½ cup at a time, beat until fully incorporated. Dough may be slightly crumbly.
- Place dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and form dough into a log shape. Fold plastic wrap over dough then roll log on the counter to help smooth it out. Log should be approximately 2” in diameter. Place dough log in freezer for 30 minutes to slightly firm it up.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Remove dough log from freezer and peel off plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife, slice log into ¼” thick rounds. Place rounds on a parchment covered baking sheet, ½”-1” apart. (Cookies won’t spread much so you can fit more onto a sheet than you could with other cookies.) Bake cookies 10-12 minutes or until bottom edges just begin to turn golden brown. Let cookies cool completely before adding chocolate drizzle.
- Place chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring at each interval, until chocolate is completely melted and is smooth and shiny. Using a spoon or a small zip-lock bag with the tip of one corner cut off, drizzle chocolate over the cooled cookies.
As I developed this recipe, I noticed that the amount of flour needed varied slightly based on the amount of moisture in the air – a rainy day meant I needed more flour to reach that slightly crumbly state you want. If you don’t reach that crumbly state, the cookies will still taste delicious but the cookie consistency will be more like a soft sugar cookie.
I used to spend hours baking and decorating cut out sugar cookies. It was like therapy for me, a way to tune out the rest of the world for a while. I still enjoy making sugar cookies but I just don’t have time for the detailed work that goes into decorating those cut out cookies. As I was sifting through my grandmother’s recipe box I came across this great recipe. As with most of her recipes, the original source is unknown. However, the internet is a great tool and I did find the modernized version of this recipe on the 
