These four ingredient vegan shortbread cookies are topped with edible flowers for a beautiful floral touch that’s surprisingly simple to do. Try these simple cookies with flowers from your garden or the market this summer!
I love adding unexpected flavours like herbs and flowers to desserts. Rosemary brownies and rosemary shortbread, bay leaf custard, basil ice cream, lavender muffins, the list goes on.
We have a whole tutorial on baking with herbs! There’s something special about the combination of garden bounty with rich desserts that reminds me of my home on Vancouver Island, and its deep hippie roots.
These little wholegrain vegan shortbread cookies are just the type of thing you’d see in any gulf island farmers market or hippie dippy wholegrain cafe. They are rich and “buttery” (use equal amounts of dairy butter if desired), and melt in your mouth.
For best results when using vegan (dairy free) butter, look for brands like Miyoko’s or ones that aren’t made out of palm shortening (which besides being environmentally unfriendly, leave for greasy cookies).
You only need four ingredients to make these floral cookies. Whole wheat pastry flour, vegan butter, and cane sugar, plus the flower toppings. Don’t worry about the flowers burning in the oven, as you’re using fresh flowers and the cookies don’t need to bake for too long – but note that oranges and purples tend to hold their colour best.
*Note I got my edible flowers from Whole Foods (in the herb section) plus some from my own garden. To learn more about edible flowers, check out our post on how to choose edible flowers.
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These four ingredient vegan shortbread cookies are topped with edible flowers for a beautiful floral touch that’s surprisingly simple to do. Try these simple cookies with flowers from your garden or the market this summer!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup vegan butter
- 1/2 cup natural cane sugar
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flower
- Edible flowers
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream the sugar and vegan butter together with an electric mixer until creamy and smooth.
- Slowly add the pastry flour 1/4 cup at a time, mixing until just combined (you may want to use your hands to help it come together at the end).
- Take the dough and flatten it into a disk. Wrap with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
- After chilling, roll the cookie dough on a lightly floured surface to just over 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick. Cut desired shapes (I used a 6 1/2 cm round). Garnish each cookie with flowers and/or edible herbs. When all the cookies are decorated, lightly roll the rolling pin over the dough to make sure all the flowers are adhering to the cookies. Chill the cookies for another 30 minutes.
- To bake, preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Bake the cookies on a parchment lined tray for 8-12 minutes, depending on size, or until lightly golden. Let them cool on the cookie tray for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool fully.
Keywords: vegan shortbread
2pots2cook says
April 9, 2018 at 8:35 amAm I dreaming ? I haven’t seen something that elegant for a long time. Thank you for making my day beautiful !
★★★★★
Sophie Mackenzie says
April 16, 2018 at 1:16 amThank you so much! I’m delighted to hear you love them as much as I do :)
Stephie says
April 12, 2018 at 12:35 pmThese are the prettiest cookies I’ve ever seen! I think you just became my new favourite blog :)
Sophie Mackenzie says
April 16, 2018 at 1:14 amAh, thank you so much Stephie! You’re too sweet. Hope you get a change to try floral shortbread yourself :)
Maria Koutsogiannis says
April 29, 2018 at 8:34 amThese are beautiful! Makes me want to plant all edible flowers in my garden!
Sophie Mackenzie says
May 2, 2018 at 11:42 amThank you Maria! I’m right there with you. My favourite ones to grow have got to be pansy’s, nasturtiums, and corn flowers (all super low maintenance!)
Candace says
May 9, 2018 at 8:42 amSooooo pretty!!! 😍
Sophie Mackenzie says
May 14, 2018 at 12:41 pmthank you Candace!
Aneesah says
August 15, 2018 at 3:07 amHi. These are incredibly pretty. Just wanna know if the flowers lose color whilst baking? And how do I ensure they don’t burn from the heat of the oven? Thanks
★★★
Sophie Mackenzie says
August 16, 2018 at 12:14 amHi Aneesah, yes the flowers get a little less vibrant but oranges and purples tend to whole the colour the best. As far as burning goes, as long as they are fresh they shouldn’t burn (the oven is not hot enough and they’re not in their for too long).
<3