Vegan (& Gluten Free) Pecan Shortbread Cookies
These delicious, buttery cookies are full of toasted pecans! They are very versatile, and you can make an assortment of beautiful cookies from one dough!
Ingredients
- 480 g (3 3/4 c) Gluten Free Flour
- 7.5 g (1 1/2 tsp) Baking Powder
- 240 g (2 3/8 c) Pecan Halves (or 2 c chopped)
- 340 g (3 sticks) Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
- 225 g (1 1/8 c) Vegan Sugar
- 15 g (1 TBS) Vanilla Extract
- 4.8 g (3/4 tsp) Salt
- 45 g (3 TBS) Plant Milk (I use Silk Soymilk)
- Vegan Powdered Sugar (optional)
- Vegan Chocolate Chips (optional)
- Shortening (if tempering chocolate)
Instructions
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Start by toasting your pecans in the oven for five to eight minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Watch them carefully to be sure they do not burn. They should be fragrant and lightly browned. Set the pan aside to cool.
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This is one of the rare recipes where I use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks instead of the spread, and you want to use them cold right out of the fridge. Cut each stick into eight pieces and add them to your mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed until the Earth Balance is smooth.
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Add the sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix on medium-low speed for several minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Gradually add the plant milk while the mixer is running.
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Add the baking powder to the flour and whisk to combine. Add one-third of the flour mixture at a time to the creamed mixture, mixing after each addition.
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Finely chop your toasted and cooled pecans, then mix them into the dough. Scrape down the bowl and mix with a sturdy spatula to be sure the pecans are evenly distributed.
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Divide the dough into fifty pieces and shape as desired. If you have a scale, each piece of dough weighs 27 grams. If you don’t, each piece should be about 1 1/8″ in diameter.
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Chill the shaped cookie dough for one hour. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the chilled cookie dough for 16 to 19 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Let them cool on the pan for five minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
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See blog post for shaping and decorating suggestions. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- You should be able to use any gluten free flour blend that has xanthan gum already added if you can’t find this one, and this recipe should also work with all-purpose wheat flour. I highly recommend weighing any flour, however, because different flour blends have different densities, and measuring flour is inaccurate anyway. If you do measure, spoon the flour into your measuring cup, then level it with a straight edge.