I recently created a recipe for some traditional Scottish Shortbread cookies. With such a simple recipe, I knew I could turn it into a gluten-free shortbread. After all, us gluten-free people want some indulgence, too! In fact, I decided to up the ante and make that rich, buttery shortbread, that is full of gluten and dairy, not only gluten free but also vegan AND with only 4 ingredients! Now that’s a challenge!! Check out my Gluten-Free and Vegan Scottish Shortbread cookie recipe.
For historical details and context of the traditional Scottish Shortbread, see my Simple Scottish Shortbread video or Simple Scottish Shortbread blog post with the recipe. For this post, let’s get right into this scrumptious recipe.
Gluten-Free & Vegan Scottish Shortbread Cookie Ingredients
For the ingredients, you’ll need rice flour, tapioca flour or starch, plant-based or vegan butter, and granulated sugar. You’ll want to add salt, if using unsalted butter.
Preheat Oven & Prepare Pan
This is a very easy and simple 4-ingredient cookie. That sounds impossible for a good gluten-free recipe, but it is NOT. This shortbread comes together very quickly. Begin by preheating the oven to 325˚F (163˚C). Then, line an 8×8-inch (or 9×9-inch) square baking dish with overhanging parchment paper. Use scissors to cut a slit at each corner down to the bottom of the pan so the corner flaps overlap, and the paper stays smooth and flush in the pan.
TIP: I like to snip off the internal flaps so they aren’t in the way.
Cream Butter & Sugar
In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or a spoon to cream 2 sticks (8 ounces) of softened butter until smooth. Add 170 grams (¾ cup) of superfine sugar (you can simply use a food processor to pulverize your regular granulated sugar to reach that superfine consistency, though not powder form.) Then, mix or stir again until well combined and the butter is light and fluffy.
TIP: If you forgot to soften the butter ahead of time by leaving it out to come to room temperature, dice it, place it in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds. That should soften it enough to mix.
Sift Dry Ingredients & Combine with Butter
In a separate bowl, combine 320 grams (2 cups) of rice flour, 61 grams (½ cup) of tapioca flour or starch, and ¼ teaspoon of salt, IF using unsalted butter. Stir until combined. Then, sift them into the bowl over the top of the butter mixture.
TIP: In baking sweets, I always add a little salt. I even add salt to my single serving of hot chocolate! Salt helps to balance out the sweetness in any dessert. If you use salted butter in your dessert, omit the salt. If not, you should always add at least a pinch. 😉
You could use a spoon or spatula to combine the ingredients, but I find that your hands are a better tool. In fact, using your hands is the traditional Scottish way of mixing the shortbread dough. The dough has been mixed enough when you can form a soft mass as you press some of the mixture together.
Press Dough in the Pan
I like the traditional Scottish “shortbread fingers” shape as they are very easy to create. So, I’m place my dough in a baking dish. You could make the “petticoat tails” by placing the dough in a pie or pizza pan. You could also make the “shortbread rounds” by rolling the dough in a log and cut out circles ~¼-inch or so thick. Nevertheless, for the rectangles, press the dough evenly into the parchment-lined baking dish. Press the mixture down using a spatula or your hands. You can finish of by using a small rolling pin to smooth out the top.
Create the Shortbread Shapes & Design
Use a knife to score the bars in 7 or 8 rows across and 2 rows down. The scoring should only be about ¼-inch down. The bars should be 3-4 inches long and an inch wide. Use fork tines to prick the dough in rows (4-5 per scored bar). The dough holes and rectangle scoring will somewhat close after baking, but you can redefine them when they exit the oven.
TIP: You can forgo all scoring and pricking until after baking. I have found that it’s helpful to have a scoring mark as a guide to cut the bars completely after baking. The bars may crumble a little more while cutting without scoring prior to baking. Ultimately, it’s up to you.
Bake, Cut into Bars, & Redefine Holes
Bake the Scottish Shortbread in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
After the shortbread has baked and while it is still warm, cut the shortbread (while still in pan) along the scored lines cutting all the way through to create the individual bars. Then, if you want, you can use the fork tines to re-prick the dough to redefine the holes. Finally, sprinkle superfine sugar over the top for a pretty bit of sparkle.
A Bit of Cooling
Allow the shortbread to cool for at least 15 minutes in the paper in the pan. Then, remove the shortbread using the overhanging parchment paper to a wire rack. Allow them to finish cooling on a wire rack. They need to cool completely, so they set up making them easy to separate.
Cooled & Closer Look
Notice how easily they separate after cooling. They snap nicely as a shortbread should, due to the butter. There is a bit of crumble and texture from the rice flour.
The holes are prominent after being redefined. You can see the sugar on top giving them a little sparkle.
Optional Mix-Ins & Storage
While these cookies taste great as they are, if you want to “dress” them up a bit, you can add dried fruit, nuts, chocolate, and even Earl Gray Tea (from the bag). You can also dip them into chocolate. See the recipe below for the quantities. Shortbread ages well with time, so leave the cookies at room temperature in a sealed container for days and enjoy!
Gluten-Free & Vegan Scottish Shortbread Final Thoughts
During recipe development, I tried a couple of different flours and combinations. I tried using coconut flour in this recipe. I really wanted to like it because I love coconut flour. However, the results yielded a very grainy almost a harden, sponge-like texture. Not great! I still ate them, but they weren’t the Scottish Shortbread I wanted. Ultimately, what tasted the best and had the texture I expect in a Scottish Shortbread was a combination of rice and tapioca flour. If you want to vary up the recipe a little and add coconut flour, you could try replacing a ½ cup of the rice flour with coconut flour. I think rice flour adds enough texture, though. Rice flour is in the traditional Scottish Shortbread cookie, thus this recipe consists of the those expected flavors and textures. The tapioca flour is very soft thus balancing out the grainy texture of the rice flour. Overall, this is a good combination, in my book.
Baker’s Perspective
If you look at the ingredient list on a package of gluten-free, dairy-free cookies, the list is insanely long. I’m so proud of this recipe because it only has 4 ingredients and the cookies are STILL good! This is such an simple and easy recipe. You can use regular butter in place of vegan butter. You can shape the dough into cookies instead of bars thus decreasing the baking time. For quicker prep, forget adding the holes and scoring the bars; just be sure to cut the bars completely as soon as the shortbread exits the oven. Once the shortbread cools, it will be too hard to make nice cuts into individual bars.
Taster’s Perspective
This is an all-around nice, thick, relatively snappy shortbread. While I only tasted this version, Scott tasted both the regular Scottish Shortbread and the Gluten-free, Vegan Scottish Shortbread. He was very surprised at how similar they were in flavor and texture and enjoyed them both. I, of course, really enjoyed the the Gluten-Free bars. I found myself craving them in the afternoon. There is just something about a sweet and buttery shortbread cookie for a snack. The thick bar was quite hearty. The cookie texture and simple flavors were tasty and satisfying; they hit the sugar craving. I really do love these bars. The best part about these cookies is they are simple, gluten-free, and vegan friendly. That makes me super happy!
Check out my YouTube video on making these bars. “Rich & Buttery, Gluten-Free & Vegan Scottish Shortbread Cookies with Only 4 Ingredients!“
Gluten-Free & Vegan Scottish Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 320 g (2 cups) rice flour
- 61 g (½ cup) tapioca flour or starch
- 2 sticks (8 oz / 226 g) of butter (plant-based, vegan butter works well) regular butter is fine
- 170 g (¾ cup) superfine sugar regular granulated sugar pulverized in a food processor is fine
- ¼ tsp salt if using unsalted butter
Optional Flavor Mix-ins
- 1 tsp vanilla or 1 vanilla bean, split and scrape the pod removing and using only the small beans
- ⅓ cup candied (crystallized) ginger, chopped or other chopped dried fruit like cranberries, raisins, etc.
- ⅓ cup chopped nuts almonds, walnuts, pistachios, etc.
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips/chunks
- 1 bag Earl Grey tea open 1 tea bag and pour the contents into the mixture
- 1 tbsp lemon zest lime or orange
Instructions
- Line an 8×8-inch (or 9×9-inch) square baking dish with overhanging parchment paper. Use scissors to cut a slit at each corner down to the pan so the corner flaps overlap, and the paper stays smooth in the pan. Preheat the oven 325˚F (163˚C).TIP: I like to snip off the internal flaps so they aren't in the way.
- In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or a spoon to mix butter until smooth. Add sugar and mix or stir again until well combined and the butter is light, fluffy, and pale in color.TIP: If you forget to soften the butter ahead of time (by leaving it out to come to room temperature), dice it, place it in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds. That should soften it enough to mix.TIP: If you don't have superfine (caster) sugar, place regular granulated sugar in a food processor and process until the granules are very fine (not powdered sugar fine).
- In a separate bowl, combine both flours and salt, if using. Then, sift them into the bowl on top of the butter mixture.TIP: Salt balances out sweetness, so adding a little is advantageous in sweet recipes or just use salted butter.
- Use a spoon or your hands to combine the mixture into a dough.TIP: Add in optional mix-ins at this time.
- Press dough evenly into the parchment-lined baking dish using your hands or spatula. You can finish of by using a small rolling pin to smooth out the top.
- Use a knife to score the bars in 7 or 8 rows across and 2 rows down. The scoring should only be about ¼-inch down. The bars should be 3-4 inches long and an inch wide. Use fork tines to prick the dough in rows (4-5 per scored bar). The dough holes and rectangle scoring will somewhat close after baking, but redefine them when they exit the oven.TIP: You can forgo all scoring and pricking until after baking. I have found that it's helpful to have a scoring mark as a guide to cut the bars completely after baking. The bars may crumble a little more while cutting without scoring prior to baking.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
- Once pan is removed from the oven and the shortbread is still warm, cut the shortbread completely (while still in pan) along the scored lines. If you want more defined holes, prick them again. Sprinkle superfine sugar over the top for a little sparkle.
- Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes. Remove the shortbread using the overhanging parchment paper and allow the bars to cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled, break apart and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Interested in some other sweet treat recipes? Check these out.
Simple Scottish Shortbread Cookies
Nutella Swirl Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Cookie Crust
Latin American Tres Leches Cake
Australian & New Zealand Pavlova
New Zealand Kiwi Quick Bread (Regular & Gluten Free)
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it. Check out my YouTube Channel as well to see videos of kitchen tips, blog bakes, and dishes.