written 06/03/23, updated 02/18/24
What
Making shortbread cookies with dried cranberries and orange zest with vegan butter.
Ingredients and Supplies
Serving: 12-15 cookies (Double measurements for more)
Electric Mixer, Wax Paper/Plastic Wrap, Refrigerator, Knife/Food Chopper, Silicone Spatula, Zester/Grater
All-purpose Flour (1 cup), Baking Powder (1/8 tsp – optional), Salt (1/16 tsp)
Butter (1/2 cup softened = 1 stick), Confectioners Sugar (1/4 cup)
Vanilla Extract (1/2 tsp), Almond Extract (1/4 tsp), Orange Zest, Orange Extract (optional)
Cranberries, chopped (1 cup), Walnuts (puree or chopped, optional, 1/2 – 1 cup)
Time
Prep (30min) + Chill (~ 4 hrs) + Bake (10 min) = 4 hrs 40 min
Steps
- Mix together Flour (1 cup) and Salt (1/16 tsp). Optionally, add Baking Powder (1/8 tsp) for fluffiness
- Use electric mixer on medium to beat the Vegan Butter (1/2 cup softened) and Confectioners Sugar (1/4 cup) until it’s smooth. Stop and scrape the sides, if needed
- Add the Vanilla Extract (1/2 tsp) and Almond Extracts (1/4 tsp), as well as the Orange Zest. Optional: Orange Extract for stronger citrus flavor
- Mix in the Flour mixture in gradually while beating on low until everything combines well
- Fold in the Chopped Cranberries (~ 1 cup), until evenly distributed
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface (or directly onto plastic wrap/parchment paper)
- Roll into a log
- Wrap in either parchment paper or plastic
- Set in refrigerator for 4ish hours to harden
- Remove wrapping
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C)
- Slice into discs (your choice of thickness)
- Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes (your preference for doneness)
- Let cool on racks, in fact, overnight, uncovered is best for the vegan cookies
EAT
Pictures
Result (June 2023)
Immediately , they ended up soft, crumbly, and sticks easily to the inside of the mouth. For the cranberry lovers this is great! Clementine usage instead of an orange made the cookies a bit bitter and lacked in citrus flavor. I don’t like the crumbling, melting texture. By the next morning it was almost perfect! It allowed the cookie to harden more and was quite enjoyable! Adding some nut pieces might add to the texture
Next Attempt (Feb 2024)
Used a dash of Orange Extract, real Orange Zest, pureed walnuts, soaked cranberries in boiling water, added a tablespoon of vegetable shortening (Crisco), while keeping all other instructions the same. Seemed less sweet this time, but good taste. Shortening makes it much more like shortbread (duh). Soaked cranberries makes the dough a little darker
Notes
- I used a stand mixer with the standard paddle attachment
- I wasn’t sure about dough consistency. Many recipes called for a good mix, but not too much. I gather you want something just well incorporated, not necessarily super smooth. Mine ended up wet because I added too much orange juice
- Vegan Butter is much lower in saturated fats than regular butter. I think that has something to do with the crumbliness of vegan cookies as a whole. Apparently, coconut oil can be substituted one to one to regular butter because it provides the high fat content needed to compare to regular butter. Aquafaba which is the liquid in a can of chickpeas is a great egg white substitute for binding.
- If you don’t have a food chopper, you can use a knife
- Softened Butter means soft, but not melted. Basically, it’s the same as room temperature. I read that you can also just mix it in the bowl a bit before adding the other ingredients.
- Softening butter can also be done in the microwave. I did mine about 15 seconds
- You can add or take away from the sugar or cranberries as per your taste
- I didn’t have an orange, so I used a Clementine…Not recommended
- On my very first attempt, I completely messed up the measurements for the baking powder, using cups instead of teaspoons. Everything was great until I tried to eat them. NASTY NASTY NASTY. Too much baking powder makes food a weird salty, bitter, grainy mess! It smelled good at least…
