Quick Vegan Shortbread Cookies (5 Ingredients!)
by Olivia Biermann
on Dec 18, 2019 (updated Oct 29, 2025)
These vegan shortbread cookies are buttery and sweet with an addicting melt-in-your mouth texture. This quick vegan cookie recipe is ready with 5 ingredients in just minutes – no chilling the dough required! I love serving these over the winter holidays with a cozy cup of tea.
Being vegan for the better part of a decade, I have baked and eaten a lot of cookies, good and bad. And these shortbread cookies are the perfect way to celebrate the holidays!
I tested these a lot, so you get perfect cookies on the first try!
Although shortbread cookies are just a few simple ingredients, vegan shortbread cookies can be deceptively tricky! Swapping out dairy butter for vegan butter changes the chemistry quite a bit, so I don’t recommend simply following a non-vegan recipe and using vegan butter in it. Instead, following a tried-and-tested recipe that was vegan from the start (like this one) will yield better results. And that’s why you’re here!
Vegan butter typically has a higher water content and slightly lower fat ratio than dairy butter, which affects structure and richness. Luckily, these whipped shortbreads are meant to be soft and fluffy, which is why you don’t have to worry about over-creaming the butter and sugar (a pain point in traditional shortbread recipes), or using a vegan margarine instead of vegan stick butter. I have used both and had great results!
Ingredients matter
My whipped shortbreads use powdered sugar instead of granulated to create that light, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Powdered sugar blends seamlessly with the butter, helping the dough whip up airy and smooth without any grittiness. After a few recipe trials, I also included cornstarch in this recipe, which gives the cookies a delicate, tender crumb that dissolves as you bite into it – everything you want in a fluffy whipped shortbread!
If your butter sticks aren’t at room temperature and you’re short on time, put them in the microwave at twenty percent power for 5-10 seconds. Flip and repeat until soft but not melted!
Want to jazz them up?
Since this recipe is for plain, basic shortbreads (don’t be fooled though – they are anything but boring!) you can change the flavour by adding in extracts or mix-ins. Cranberries, vegan white chocolate, citrus zest and pecans are some of my favourites!
More holiday favourites
As someone who spent most of their weekends growing up learning to cook and bake, vegan dessert recipes are always the ones that have kept me excited about baking. If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I will have you covered whenever you need dairy-free and eggless holiday recipes, like my vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies or cinnamon latte oatmeal cookies for your next coffee get-together.
Storing and freezing
These cookies can be kept in the fridge, or in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to one week.
You can freeze for up to 3 months in an airtight container, baked or not! Freeze just the dough if you prefer, defrost overnight in the fridge and follow the baking instructions below.
Quick Vegan Shortbread Cookies (5 Ingredients!)
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 14
- Total Time: 30
- Yield: 12 cookies
- Category: desserts
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan shortbread cookies are soft, buttery, and perfectly sweet. With a melt-in-your mouth texture, this recipe is made using only 5 simple ingredients, including softened vegan butter. Plus, this quick vegan cookie recipe is ready in just minutes, with no chilling the dough required! I love serving these over the winter holidays with a cozy cup of tea.
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened (or margarine like Becel)
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and powdered sugar until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract, corn starch and half of the flour and whip until light and fluffy. Add the rest of the flour and make sure to mix until it comes together into a smooth dough.
- Roll the dough into small balls, about 1-2 tbsp each, and place on a cookie sheet.
- Use a clean fork to press down each cookie to flatten them (see video below for reference).
- Bake for 12-14 minutes.
- Allow to cool on the cookie sheet slightly before placing on a wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Storage instructions: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
It wont let me do a 5 star rating AND leave a comment! but these are ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!!!
These are so easy and so good. I used gf 1:1 as someone else mentioned (thank-you for that). I used earths balance vegan butter. I did a thumb print and put 1/2 cherries in the middle. It made about 23 cookies for me and I cooked them for 14 mins. I have found that the gf ones need to sit for a day and taste much better the next day. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for the comment! Love hearing the little changes you made! I always find they taste better once completely cool (and the next day) too! 🙂
Also, question: I don’t understand the instructions that say “add half of the flour.” When do you add the other half? Do you mean add the flour in two additions to the butter mixture? Sorry to be dense.
Oh that is an error- thanks for pointing it out! Normally I add the flour in half at a time to make it easier to mix. I’ll add in that you need to add all of the flour haha! Thanks so much!
These look great! Do you think I could put an indent in them and put jam or chocolate in the indentation to make thumb print cookies? Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Yes definitely 🙂
Do you find this dough freezable? I like to be able to make cookie dough and freeze, then thaw and bake a couple at a time.
yes 🙂
Absolutely delicious! These cookies are so good and were really easy to make. Took me 10 minutes to mix together and 11 minutes to bakes. I easily made them gluten-free by using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF flour. Turned out great and tasted delicous. Will definitely be making again.
These cookies are really good! Sooo buttery, I didn’t realize until I started baking that the 1 cup of vegan butter it calls for = 2 sticks, so they’re definitely really rich, but of course delicious. This was my first time making shortbread cookies and I didn’t realize that they don’t brown at all in the oven (should have looked at the picture more closely lol), so just in case anyone else is also a newbie I’d definitely recommend following the recommended baking time so they come out softer. Perfect for a holiday treat! 🙂
Okay how are your cookies always SO FUCKING GOOOOOD! I have already made a double batch of these and shared them with so many people who couldn’t stop raving about them!! Thank you for making me look like an amazing baker Liv ; )
I made these and gave some to a family member for Christmas gift. I of course had some myself from the batch. They are buttery melty tasty cookies.
I loved making these and they are really delicious. I did only half the recipe and because I still didn’t have enough vegan butter, I added vegan cream cheese and yogurt. I think that that changed the consistency a lot, so I just put in as much cornstarch, flour, and powdered sugar as I thought would be necessary. I ended up using not enough flour, so they tasted kind of sugary and a little bit like cotton candy and I couldn’t use the fork to flatten the cookies because of the consistency, but they did flatten either way.
Can’t wait to make these!