These shortbread cookies are simple, not too sweet and great to snack on. Dress them up with frosting of choice or some chocolate for fancier cookies.
These cookies taste somewhat like the bakery biscuits from our local bakery in India.(Cookies are called biscuits). Oddly though they don’t share any main ingredients. These are gluten-free, they don’t use shortening, and have no preservatives and things. Just simple wholesome good stuff. Coconut sugar gives the cookies just the right sweetness.
Lightly crispy and lightly crunchy perfection. No palm oil! For regular vegan Shortbread, see these Coconut Oil Shortbread.
More cookies from the blog.
- Gluten free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies. GF
- Gluten free Ginger Molasses Cookies
Steps:
Make the dough, oat it down, then use cookie cutters of choice.
Bake until just about lightly golden. Cool and store or dress with sugar icing or melted chocolate.
Vegan Gluten free Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Dry
- 1/2 cup (80 g) white rice flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) oat flour use certified gluten-free if needed or use more rice flour
- 1/4 cup (59.15 g) ground pistachio or other nuts
- 1/4 cup (30 g) coconut flour or use cashew flour or oat flour
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) baking soda
Wet
- 1/4 cup (56 ml) oil
- 1/4 cup (62.5 ml) almond milk
- 1 Tbsp chia seed meal or use golden flax seed meal
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (80 g) coconut sugar or use finely ground raw sugar for whiter cookies
Instructions
- In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix well.
- In another bowl, mix the chia seed meal with non dairy milk and let sit for 2 minutes. Add in the vanilla and oil and whisk. Add in the sugar and mix until sugar dissolves in.
- Add to dry and mix. Knead well for 1-2 minutes to form a smooth dough. Spray water on the dough if it does not come together easily (not more than 2-4 sprays). Pat the dough down and use cookie cutters to cut desired shapes. I used 1 inch round cutter. Gather remaining dough, pat down and cut more cookies or shape into balls and flatten. Place the cookies on parchment lined baking sheet, cover with another parchment and refrigerate for 15 minutes(or 10 minutes in the freezer). Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F / 190ºc. Bake for 13-14 minutes(a few minutes longer for larger cookies) until the edges just about start to get golden. Move the cookies around from outside to inside at the 11 minute mark. Let cool completely. Serve as is or dip in melted chocolate or top with favorite frosting.
- Notes: Add mini chocolate chips or sprinkles to the dough. Do not over bake as the cookies can get quite crunchy. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for upto 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Priya says
March 2, 2015 at 8:10 pmHi Richa, Can I replace the GF flours with the same quantity of wheat flour?
Richa says
March 2, 2015 at 9:18 pmsure. use about 1 cup wheat flour and 1/4 cup ground pistachios or cashews.
Anna says
March 3, 2015 at 1:12 amThis looks absolutely scrumptious!!! thanks for sharing <3
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
June Burns says
March 3, 2015 at 3:26 amThose look scrumptious! I love shortbread, especially dipped in chocolate 🙂
Angela @ Canned Time says
March 3, 2015 at 11:28 amOh my my!
I’m such a sucker for shortbread….and these little gems look perfect Richa.
I love that you used pistachio flour combined with the oat. Such an easy recipe.
I’d never be able to make them last the day 😉
Cassie says
March 3, 2015 at 11:57 amThese look so cute! Cookies were a childhood favorite of mine!
christine says
March 4, 2015 at 2:34 amI used to love shortbread biscuits, so I’ll have to give these a try – maybe a good Mother’s Day treat in a couple of weeks time:) thanks x
Satya says
March 4, 2015 at 8:22 amI like to work with almond meal and almond flour – which one of the nut flours would you substitute to retain the flavor? Thank you!
Richa says
March 4, 2015 at 11:29 amfinely ground almond meal or flour will work. though i prefer pistachios and cashews as they are a softer fattier nut.
Caitlin says
March 4, 2015 at 9:08 amthese look fabulous. i love how thick they are. shortbreads were always one of my favorite cookies.
chrysta @ noshed says
March 5, 2015 at 5:55 amoooo! These are super cute little cookies. Love the use of ground pistachios. Thanks for sharing!
Nina says
March 5, 2015 at 8:31 amCan I use brown rice flour instead of white?
I have cooked up a lot of your recipes the past week and they all turned out great! Favorite in my household so far are the Cinnamon Roll Pancakes and the Triple Ginger Molasses Cookies :). I am curious about your cookbook. Will it be available in Europe?
Richa says
March 5, 2015 at 10:38 amyay! so glad the recipes are turning out well! yes you can use brown rice flour
JN says
March 5, 2015 at 8:44 amHi, I love shortbread but turning vegan has made me give it up! Any subs for rice flour? I have everything else (cashew flour, coconut flour, Almond meal, oat flour, Ragi flour…). Its snowing heavy outhere and I find comfort in baking & eating cookies. :-))
Richa says
March 5, 2015 at 10:40 amuse half oat and half ragi flour to replace the 1/2 cup rice flour. rice flours does give a nice crunch to the cookies. they might be less crunchy with the subs
JN says
March 5, 2015 at 12:23 pmThanks Richa. I like them crunchy so I will just have to wait until tomo then. Will make rice flour a staple as well. Cannot get out today at all due to heavy snow:-((
Miriam says
March 6, 2015 at 12:20 pmI don’t cook with oil, what can I substitute that with? can i use applesauce or banana?
Richa says
March 7, 2015 at 11:23 amyes you can use banana or applesauce. The cookies might be bake to a less crunchy cookie.
abc says
March 19, 2015 at 3:25 pmOMG Richa. Shortbread without shortening, awesome :-).
How many baking sheets did you need?
Thanks.
Richa says
March 19, 2015 at 7:22 pmone large sheet.
Patty says
May 16, 2015 at 11:53 amGreat cookies! Just finished baking – taste great & house smells so good.
Jenalee says
July 12, 2015 at 10:43 pmI Know it changes it a bit but could one put dried cherries and almond extract in perhaps? Or would it change it too much?
Richa says
July 13, 2015 at 10:10 amyou can add in dried cherries or other dried fruit and almond extract would definitely work well. This is a basic shortbread recipe, so you can add flavors and other things. 🙂 add chopped up dried cherries, so they are not too chunky else the cookies will tend to break.
Wendy says
July 31, 2015 at 4:10 pmThey’re in the oven!
abc says
July 31, 2015 at 4:41 pmCan I use coconut oil?
Richa says
July 31, 2015 at 4:48 pmyes
Deepa says
September 11, 2015 at 6:04 amMade these last night – a hit with the kids!
Richa says
September 11, 2015 at 9:59 amAwesome!!
Sara says
September 24, 2015 at 4:32 pmRicha, do you have any suggestions for baking vegan cookies with minimal added vegan butter and sugar?
Richa says
September 24, 2015 at 7:22 pmHi Sara, You can reduce the coconut sugar in this to about 1/4 cup and use 1 Tbsp oil and 3 Tbsp non dairy yogurt.
Adriana says
November 12, 2015 at 6:31 amTried this recipe today. Awesome. Thank you.
Richa says
November 12, 2015 at 9:57 amThanks for trying it!
Sam says
December 27, 2015 at 6:05 pmIf I dont’t want to lose the crunch, is it possible to change the flours except the rice flour? (only oat flour, whole spelt flour, …)
Richa says
December 27, 2015 at 6:22 pmthe cookies as written are crunchy for many days. if you are ok with spelt flour, try my regular shortbread, use all spelt flour. http://www.veganricha.com/2015/09/vegan-coconut-oil-shortbread-cookies-with-pumpkin-pie-spice.html
Sam says
December 28, 2015 at 8:57 amThanks for the recipe, but I’m interested in the gluten free version, because of the use of liquid oil. GL is no problem for me, but I don’t want to use coconut or palm oil, if possible. So, is it possible to get crunchy cookies with liquid oil, when you use some rice flour?
Richa says
December 28, 2015 at 11:20 ami am confused. You mentioned spelt in the last comment and Spelt isn’t in this recipe. Spelt also isn’t gluten-free as it is wheat. You can use regular oil in the other recipe as well. What does GL mean?
If you are asking to use all rice flour in this recipe, then you can use it. You might need to adjust the amount you use and add only till you get a soft dough. However the dough will be hard to work with and crack a lot, and the Cookies will be very very crunchy.
Sam says
December 28, 2015 at 4:21 pmSorry, for confusing. Ok, so I search for a shortbread recipe, that’s possible with liquid oil. No need to be gluten free. Is some rice flour the possible answer for this?
Richa says
December 28, 2015 at 7:25 pmHi Sam, use the recipe link i mentioned earlier and use liquid oil in it, instead of coconut oil. The shortbread will come out crunchy if you bake it a minute longer. no need to use rice flour.
Kanachi says
April 24, 2016 at 12:20 pmhey look absolutely yum!!how many days is the typical storage time for these cookies? Im planning to bake them tonight and really want to store them for few days if possible! TIA
Richa says
April 24, 2016 at 12:40 pmThe cookies are good for a week or longer. The flavor and texture is best in the first few days.
Bela Modi says
April 8, 2020 at 10:52 amVery nice recipie
Zena says
May 10, 2020 at 10:06 amCan I use cashew butter instead of oil (or partly instead of oil?)
Richa says
May 10, 2020 at 12:18 pmYes
Gretha says
August 14, 2020 at 8:45 amI’ve made these a few times and they never seem to last very long 🤔 Always a winner. I’ve added orange zest to mine, and gives them a lovely citrus note. Thanks for your lovely recipes.
Gretha
Rachna says
February 22, 2021 at 6:20 amLooks yummy.
When you say to “move the cookies from
The outside to the inside at the 11 minute mark”, what exactly do you mean?
Thanks!
Maisoon says
February 22, 2021 at 6:24 amThanks dear for sharing. Can you freeze them?
Vegan Richa Support says
February 22, 2021 at 4:53 pmyes, in an airtight container or reuseable ziplock with the least amount of air