VEGAN SHORTBREAD

Who doesn't enjoy a lovely crisp shortbread biscuit! Shortbread is revered in Scotland and often appears in tartan tins and boxes, a representation of our Scottish culture, although not a very healthy one!

My Aunt Nessie was an ace shortbread maker, her shortbread was light, crisp and delicious, just melt in the mouth fabulous and I can still remember it so well! She also made fabulous meringues, in fact all of my aunts were great bakers, as was my mum and my gran! Baking is a creative process and it's just lovely to bake cakes, biscuits and scones. There is nothing as good as home baking

Traditionally shortbread is just flour, butter and sugar but I wanted to make a vegan version and since I am mad on foraging at the moment, I added some dandelion petals and some lemon zest for extra polyphenols and a wee treat for our gut microbes, and of course a lovely subtle lemon flavour!

A tsp of mixed spice and orange zest would also be a lovely addition or a few tablespoons of chocolate chips, just use what you have!

You can make the basic recipe without these additions but its fun to add them if you have them!

I also replaced some of the flour with cornflour, which gives a crispier biscuit with a melt in the mouth texture! You can also use rice flour!

It's important to keep the vegan spread as cold as possible so use it straight from the fridge.
I used Vitalite vegan spread since that's what I had but on hindsight I would use Naturli which comes in a block, more like butter and it tastes great too!

So this is a really simple just add the ingredients to your food processor and process until a dough forms. You really need to rest the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or ideally longer to firm it up a bit. 

If you don't have a food processor then just add the flours and sugar to a large baking bowl and add the vegan spread cut up, then use your fingers to roughly rub it in until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then just knead it a bit to bring it into a ball. It really helps to run your hands under the cold tap and handle the dough as gently as possible. Overworking it will result in a less crisp and tougher shortbread.

Then work fast and handle the dough as little as possible. Just roll it out on a floured surface to around 1/4 inch thick and either mark it into squares or rectangles, or use a cookie cutter to cut your biscuits. Dip the cutter into flour to prevent it sticking and quickly transfer your shortbread to a lightly greased baking tray or one lined with a silicone liner. Sprinkle the top with some sugar if you like. You can also prick the biscuits with a fork.

 
These were really lovely wee biscuits to enjoy with a cup of tea, or just as a wee treat or to keep the kids occupied for a while!



Here is my basic recipe, I hope you give them a go! The recipe also works using butter for a non vegan option!

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour plus 50g cornflour or rice flour
• 85g caster sugar
• 175g vegan spread
• pinch salt
• zest of a lemon (optional)
• petals from 3 dandelion flowers (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 C /300 F and lightly grease a baking sheet or use a silicone liner on a baking tray.
2. Sift the flour and cornflour into food processor bowl, add the sugar, salt and vegan spread straight from the fridge.
3. Process until the mixture forms a ball.
4. Wrap in clingfilm or beeswax wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
5. Flour a worktop and roll the dough out to a 1/4 inch /0.5cm
6. Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes, it helps to dip the cutter into flour to prevent the dough sticking.
7. Alternatively you can roll the dough to a rectangle, square or circle and mark with a sharp knife into equal portions. You can then break the shortbread into pieces once it has cooled.
8. Sprinkle some sugar on top and prick with a fork if you like! This looks good on square and rectangular shapes!
9. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
10. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

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