Coconut Shortbread Cookies

For Christmas, my mom bought a giant box of Walkers’ Scottish shortbread cookies. These cookies, and shortbread in general, are so buttery and deliciously crumbly. I had to try and make a vegan version!

After perusing the internet to see what the proportion of butter to flour was and thinking about if coconut oil would be a good fit, I decided to try it out.

I have to say, for a first attempt these are quite scrumptious! and really easy to make too!

Here is what you need:

1/2 coconut oil set at room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract (use less if you like)
water (1 or 2 tbsp)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 cup of gluten free-flour (my mom gave me a bag of GF flour from Baking Co.)
1/4 cup shredded coconut (I used unsweetened)

Here is what you need to do:

In a large bowl, cream the coconut oil using a hand mixer until it is smooth (about one minute).
Add the vanilla extract, sugar, and 1 tbsp of water. Mix until everything is well combined and smooth. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of bowl.
Add the flour and use a spatula to mix it in. Using the spatula helps keeping the coconut oil cool. I find that using your hands warms it too much.
The mix should feel soft and slightly crumbly, but you should be able to gather it in your hands and form a log shape with it. You can add a little bit of water or flour to adjust the consistency.
On a piece of parchment paper, spread the shredded coconut. Put the log on it and roll it in the coconut. Use the parchment paper as you would a sushi mat and even out the log. Wrap the dough in the parchment paper.
Set the log in the fridge for 30 minutes for the dough to hardened.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Cut out the log in 18-20 cookies using a sharp knife. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Let the cookies in the oven for 10 minutes. Turn of the oven and let them sit in there for another 10 minutes. Take them out and let them cool.