It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our neighbourhood and in the stores. I am not ready yet to buy my tree and put up my lights, because I’m still pining for my garden and warm weather. Today, it is not Thanksgiving in Canada but we have our Black Friday sales already starting. I have been out and that’s enough shopping for me!

This year I am embarking on a quest to become a better and more prolific baker of cookies. I am therefore beginning my bake a cookie a day project. I’m not sure how many types I will get to bake but I’m hoping for 12. I hope to turn the 12 days of Christmas in to the 12 cookies of Christmas or the 12 days of cookies?

Here https://gardenlove.food.blog/2019/11/23/how-to-bake-the-best-cookies/

Yesterday I posted my first recipe – my father in law’s traditional shortbread cookie. Today, I am going to post our vegan version. I had meant to move on to a different type of cookie entirely, but I had to cook vegan on the past weekend. Our daughter had surprised us with a visit, so I urgently needed vegan shortbread cookies. I tried these last year and she loved them.

When I bake vegan, I leave out of course all dairy, eggs, meat by-products, gelatin and marshmallows (which contain gelatin). Using a vegan margarine is a great substitute for butter – but be careful – I just assumed that all margarines were vegan, being made with vegetable oil. This is not the case, as mahy margarines use milk by-products – check the small print. Why on earth do we need milk by-products in a vegetable based spread? Who knows, but because of this I use products that are specifically labelled as Vegan. In this case I am using Vegan Becel Margarine.

Vegan Shortbread Cookie Ingredients:

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 Cup Vegan Becel Margarine

Method:

This is a small batch recipe – so it’s a little easier to put together than the previous shortbread recipe – and the Vegan margarine is already soft. Mix together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add margarine – cut in with a pastry cutter and mix together until crumbly. Shape dough into a ball – I use parchment paper to squeeze it all together without using my fingers. Flatten the dough between parchment paper, and then cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated 300 degree F oven for 35 minutes.

These cookies do not brown – so don’t wait for that as they dry out and will taste a little bit burnt. These cookies have a dry crisp texture – so I would prefer to shape them a little more thinly – like little wafers! Some people may enjoy a little bit more sweetness as well.