egg-free, dairy-free, peanut & nut-free shortbread cookie recipe

Some things in life are meant to be simple. And these vegan-buttery shortbread cookies are one of them.

It started with my wanting to make some basic cookies for my egg, dairy and peanut-allergic toddler for snack time. It took about a dozen attempts to finally get the taste and mouthfeel worthy of comparison to my traditional benchmark, M&S shortbread cookies. M&S shortbread was a staple of my childhood so to be able to give Corey a similar cookie experience without his allergens of eggs, dairy and peanut is a decent achievement.

These are no spread cookies so they hold their shape decently well during the baking process. This makes for a fun kiddy activity on the weekends for the whole family.

Switch off the tv this weekend and start baking with your kids!

A cookie making session never fails to draw my boys away from the tv. They also get a small lesson in delayed gratification while waiting for the cookies to bake and cool down. Although my heart does skip a beat or two when they shove each other around to try and peer into the oven wanting to watch the cookies bake…

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Simple ingredients but pay attention to the method for dough consistency

I used my stand and hand mixers in my first few attempts at this dough and found that my vegan butter melted faster than I could say ve-gan-but-ter. So the trick to this dough is to do everything USING FORKS & SPOONS BY HAND. A bit of a workout but a worthy one as you will be rewarded with a crumbly, buttery cookie. Too much flour and too much mixing will result in a tough cookie.

I love NUTTELEX

This stuff tastes BETTER than traditional butter. It’s from Australia and has a few flavours. I like the original which is made with sunflower oil. It can be found in most NTUC Finest and Cold Storage supermarkets, along with speciality supermarkets and also Redmart.com

Nuttelex has a coconut flavour version but I avoid using that because of a few close friends whose children have a coconut allergy.

DID YOU KNOW: Coconut allergy is getting more common in South East Asia. Why? Similar to how Japan has high buckwheat allergy numbers because of their consumption of buckwheat. Coconut is a common cooking ingredient in South East Asia which has somehow induced allergy in children. Go figure.

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Decorate to your heart’s content!

This basic cookie goes well with tea and coffee on its own. But if you’re feeling creative like us, you can decorate them with royal icing or fondant for a bit of holiday cheer.

R’s requested for a POKEMON 6th birthday so the kids got busy making some Pokeballs and Pokemon. I made the rest and we spent a fun afternoon crafting these yummy treats.

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So here’s the recipe, just remember the ingredients are simple but PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the method to get your perfect cookie.

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Rating: 5.0/5

( 2 voted )

Serves: 20 5cm cookies Prep Time: 15 mins Cooking Time: 15-20 mins 15-20 mins Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• vegan butter 110g
• plain flour 200g
• icing sugar 100g
• baking powder 1 teaspoon
• 1 pinch of salt
• cold water 25ml
• vanilla 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions

1. sieve all the dry ingredients together in 1 bowl: plain flour, icing sugar, baking powder & pinch of salt.
2. Next using a fork and spoon, mix the vegan butter into the dry ingredients. The result should look like the consistency of bread crumbs.
3. Add the cold water a few teaspoons at a time to bind the dough together. You can use a bit more water if you find your dough too wet.
4. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. (or overnight will also do, be mindful to use within 2 days for best results).
5. Take a small portion of the chill dough and work in a bit more flour, roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut desired shapes.
6. Bake in a 180 degree over in the middle rack for about 15 - 18 minutes or till the edges turn golden brown. Cool and they are ready to be decorated. Or eat them as it is as they are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee

Notes

The ingredients are simple so you can make small variations based on your taste and cookie purposes. For cookies you intend to decorate with fondant or royal icing, I usually cut the sugar content in this recipe by 30%. For those who prefer an even more delicate crumbly cookie, you can substitute the plain flour with cake flour or add a bit of cornflour. This is an incredibly soft dough so I would work fast otherwise the butter would melt.

Did You Make This Recipe?

How did it go with this recipe? Tag me on Instagram at @amandaprosimple.