Vegan Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
Melt in your mouth vegan shortbread cookies studded with mini chocolate chips. This dairy-free shortbread recipe comes together with pantry-staple ingredients for a delicious cookie perfect for tea or coffee.
I can assume what you might be thinking. Annie, you already have roughly 15 different “chocolate chip cookie” recipes on the site. Why on Earth would you think another chocolate chip cookie is needed??
I hear you. Believe me, I know. But when I made up my mind to make shortbread cookies with chocolate chips, there was no stopping me. And after inhaling a try on my own… I knew I needed to make them again. And again. And well… the rest is history.
Why We Love These Vegan Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
Look, if I am craving a specific type of chocolate chip cookie you best believe I am going to find a way to make them. But if you are a 2-3 chocolate chip cookie recipe kinda person then here is why you absolutely need to make these.
- Melt in your mouth goodness. I cannot stress enough how delicious and flavorful these cookies come out.
- Simple ingredients. You are looking at pantry staple ingredients you most likely already have on hand.
- Great for making in advance. These slice and bake chocolate chip cookies are perfect for keeping in the fridge or freezer to bake at a moments notice.
Vegan Updates to Shortbread Cookies
There are two ingredients that make these melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies deliciously dairy-free as well as vegan.
- Plant-Based Butter– In place of a traditional butter I used a vegan alternative. Specifically for this recipe I used Country Crock’s Plant-Based Butter Sticks.
- Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips– The vegan mini chocolate chips really shine in this cookie, I used Enjoy Life’s Mini Semi-Sweet Morsels.
How to Make Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Plant-based butter– Softened to room temperature. For this recipe I used Country Crock’s Unsalted plant butter sticks.
- Sugar– A mixture of granulated and powdered sugar keep these cookies soft and melt in your mouth delicious.
- Vanilla– Gives just a hint of extra flavor to the shortbread cookies.
- Flour– All purpose flour works great in this recipe.
- Salt– Helps balance the sweet flavor of the cookies and enhance the chocolate flavor.
- Chocolate Chips– I would highly suggest mini chocolate chips for this recipe but if you cannot find dairy-free mini chocolate chips you can always chop some regular sized chocolate chips or pulse them in a food processor.
Step-by-Step Directions for Vegan Shortbread with Chocolate Chips
- Beat butter + sugar: Beat together plant based butter, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar until well mixed.
- Add vanilla and mix until combined.
- Mix in flour + salt: With the mixer on low, spoon in flour and salt until just combined. Mixture should be a little crumbly.
- Fold in mini chocolate chips with a spatula and turn the dough out onto a long sheet of plastic wrap.
- Shape dough: Using the plastic wrap to help, shape the dough into a log roughly 4 inches in diameter.
- Chill: Wrap the log with the plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Prepare for baking: When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice the shortbread dough into ¼-½ inch thick slices. The chocolate chips might crumble the dough off on the sides but just scoop and clump it back together.
- Bake: Place the sliced shortbread on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 12-13 minutes.
- Cool: Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet 1-2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Making these shortbread cookies calls for a few kitchen tools you might want to have on hand such as:
- Stand mixer– Perfect for mixing the vegan butter and sugars together.
- Hand mixer– Great for mixing the butter and sugars if you don’t want to have a stand mixer in your home.
- Rubber spatula– Scrapes the cookie dough off the sides of the bowl.
- Rimmed cookie sheet– The ultimate cookie sheet for baking up a batch of cookies.
Serving Suggestions
These cookies are perfect as is, but sometimes you might want to dress them up or dish them out with another treat. Here are some of the ways I love to serve these shortbread cookies.
- Dipped on the bottom with melted chocolate
- Served with a hot cup of coffee
- Paired with a peppermint hot chocolate
- Crumbled over a bowl of vanilla ice cream
Storing and Freezing Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
There are two ways to make these cookies last for the long haul, proper storage or freezing.
Fresh baked shortbread cookies should come to room temperature before placing in storage. When you are ready to store them, place them in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
If you plan to freeze these cookies be sure to place them in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months after baking.
Alternatively you can make the shortbread cookie dough and wrap in plastic wrap followed by placing in a freezer safe container and storing in the freezer up to 3 months before you slice and bake the cookies.
Vegan Cookies to Bake Next
Craving more vegan cookies? Here are some of my favorite egg and dairy-free cookies to whip up!
If you tried this chocolate chip shortbread cookie recipe please let me know in the comments below!
You can also share a picture of it with me on Instagram by tagging @mylifeafterdairy so I can see all of your life after dairy adventures!
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Vegan Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
Melt in your mouth vegan shortbread cookies studded with mini chocolate chips. This simple shortbread recipe comes together with pantry-staple ingredients for a delicious cookie perfect for tea or coffee.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Chill Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 22 minuts
- Yield: 18 Cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup Plant Based Butter at room temperature
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- ¼ cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Mini Vegan Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Beat together 1 cup plant based butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, and ¼ cup powdered sugar until well mixed.
- Next, add 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix until combined.
- With the mixer on low, spoon in 2 cups flour and ½ teaspoon salt until just combined. Mixture should be a little crumbly.
- Fold in ½ cup of mini chocolate chips with a spatula and turn the dough out onto a long sheet of plastic wrap.
- Using the plastic wrap to help, shape the dough into a log roughly 4 inches in diameter.
- Wrap the log with the plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325°F and slice the cookies into ¼-½ inch thick slices.
- Place the sliced shortbread on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 12-13 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet 1-2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
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