I have been craving shortbread lately, so I recently made some chocolate orange shortbread cookies, but I thought something with vanilla might be good too! Maybe something for upcoming Valentine’s Day with some raspberry jam! So I made some heart shaped Vegan Raspberry Shortbread Sandwich Cookies! I wasn’t sure how they would turn out, because although I have made variations of this shortbread dough many times, I wasn’t sure how it would behave as cut out cookies, since I am usually lazy and just bake it in a pan. But it turned out perfect! Will definitely be doing this again.
I used Earth Balance for the vegan butter in these, since shortbread needs a good amount of butter and it works well, but you can use whichever vegan butter you have on hand. They have granulated sugar, but if you preferred something less processed like maple sugar that would be good as well, they will just be darker cookies. For the flour I used whole wheat pastry flour because it is what I prefer, but if you don’t have any on hand regular all purpose flour would work as well. Or even a gluten free all purpose baking flour for a gluten free option (I have use Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all purpose baking flour and it works well). I used vanilla bean powder in these, but you can just use vanilla extract if you prefer, a tsp.
I wanted to cut these into hearts, because I love cutesy Valentine’s Day stuff, it is one of my favorite holidays decoration wise. I also just love hearts! This dough rolled out pretty nicely, but if you find it is too soft, you can refrigerate it briefly. I also recommend using a spatula to move the hearts once you cut them out to prevent stretching.
These cookies smelled amazing while baking! I knew they would be delicious! To make them pretty and even tastier, I drizzled the top cookies with some vegan white chocolate! I filled them with some really good raspberry jam that Eric’s Dad made and they were amazing! I love the combination of a sweet tart raspberry filling with vanilla cookies or cake! If you are in the mood for some delicious cookies, or something festive for Valentine’s Day, definitely give these Vegan Raspberry Shortbread Sandwich Cookies a try!
Vegan Raspberry Shortbread Sandwich Cookies
Makes 14 larger sandwiches
Ingredients:
- 1 cup or 2 sticks Earth Balance or other vegan butter, softened
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup unbleached granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- granulated sugar for topping
- 1/2 cup vegan white chocolate chips (I used Pascha brand)
Filling:
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sea salt, sugar, and lavender until the butter and sugar are well incorporated.
- Mix in the vanilla extract and baking powder until well incorporated.
- Mix in the flour until the flour is incorporated.
- Turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment, and roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Place on a sheet pan and put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Cut into medium sized heart cookies, and use a spatula to transfer them to a parchment lined tray (being careful not to stretch them). Re-roll any scraps and cut also. Sprinkle cookies with granulated sugar.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until set.
- Remove from the oven, and let cool completely.
- Lay out half of the cookies. Melt the vegan white chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, or in the top of a double boiler. Drizzle over half the cookies, and let set (it will set quicker if you set them in the refrigerator). Once the white chocolate has set, spread the bottom side of the other half of the cookies with the jam, then top with the white chocolate drizzled cookies.
- Enjoy!
Shortbread keeps for 1 week at room temperature in an airtight container or 4 months frozen in an airtight container.
