Vegan Easter biscuits - a vegan version of the traditional West Country Easter Biscuit. These crisp cookies are lightly spiced, studded with currants and a touch of lemon and are very quick and easy to make.
I don't have a huge number of Easter recipes on the blog; mostly because apart from eating chocolate and hot cross buns, it just isn't a holiday that I bother with.
That needs to change however, because as with any holiday, there are a lot of tasty Easter foods to try!
These vegan Easter biscuits are a vegan version of a traditional West Country biscuit that is given to guests on Easter Sunday. They are crisp, lightly spiced, studded with currants and very, very moreish!
The traditional version contains egg, butter and milk, but I've re-worked Mary Berry's recipe to make it vegan, egg and dairy free but just as delicious.
They are also very quick and easy to make as the dough doesn't require chilling before baking so you can have a batch ready in under half an hour!
How To Make Vegan Easter Biscuits:
(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)
Start by whisking together vegan butter/margarine, caster sugar and lemon zest until it is smooth and creamy then whisk in cornflour (cornstarch), baking powder and mixed spice (or pumpkin spice).
Add plain flour and currants and mix everything together. Gradually add just enough milk to bring the mixture together into a ball of dough.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm/1/4 inch thick. Use a fluted 6cm round cutter to cut out as many rounds as you can. Bring the scraps together, knead very briefly then re-roll and cut out more biscuits.
Place them spaced apart on a couple of baking parchment lined baking sheets and bake for ten minutes. Meanwhile, mix together maple syrup and milk in a small bowl.
Lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with the maple syrup mixture and sprinkle with caster or granulated sugar then return them to the oven for five minutes until pale golden and cooked through.
How Long Will These Vegan Easter Biscuits Keep?:
These biscuits keep well in an airtight container for up to a couple of weeks.
A Word On Vegan 'Butter':
It is very important that you use the right kind of butter substitute for these vegan Easter biscuits. The spreadable varieties in a tub have too low a fat content and may result in overly tough, chewy biscuits.
Any variety that comes in a solid block should be fine. I love Naturli vegan block which is available from Sainsbury's; but Stork block (labelled as best for pastry) or Vitalite block (not tub) will also work well. In the US I believe that Earth Balance buttery sticks would be the correct product to use.
More Easter Recipes:
- Vegan hot cross buns
- Chocolate orange hot cross buns (vegan option)
- Vegan Simnel cake
- Vegan carrot layer cake
- Easy vegan chocolate cake
- No-bake chocolate stem ginger tart (vegan)
- Vegan steamed chocolate pudding
- Orange and almond cake with chocolate buttercream (vegan)
- Vegan vanilla cake with berries and jam
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Vegan Easter Biscuits
Ingredients
Dough:
- 110 g (scant ½ cup) vegan butter/margarine (the solid stick kind, NOT spreadable) softened
- 80 g (⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp) caster (superfine) sugar
- finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 10 g (1 Tbsp) cornflour (cornstarch)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp mixed spice (pumpkin spice)
- 200 g (1 + ⅔ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 70 g (2.5 oz) currants
- 1-2 Tbsp non-dairy milk
Glaze:
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- 3 tsp milk
- caster or granulated sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
- whisk together the vegan butter/margarine, caster sugar and lemon zest until it is smooth and creamy.
- Whisk in the cornflour (cornstarch), baking powder and mixed spice (or pumpkin spice).
- Add the plain flour and currants and mix everything together with a wooden spoon. Gradually add just enough milk to bring the mixture together into a ball of dough.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm/1/4 inch thick. Use a fluted 6cm round cutter to cut out as many rounds as you can. Bring the scraps together, knead very briefly then re-roll and cut out more biscuits.
- Place them spaced apart on the prepared baking sheets and bake for ten minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the maple syrup and milk in a small bowl.
- Lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with the maple syrup mixture and sprinkle with caster or granulated sugar then return them to the oven for five minutes until pale golden and cooked through.
- Transfer the baked biscuits to a wire rack to cool then store in an airtight container.
Notes
Clare
Hi,
Could plain gluten free flour be used? If so, are there any adjustments to be made?
Hoping to try these today.
Thanks
hannahhossack
Hi Clare, I haven't tried making these gluten free I'm afraid. I suspect that they might be a bit crumbly and you may need a drop more milk.
Paula
Hi Hannah- I really like this recipe I just wanted to ask if you think it would be ok to freeze the dough. I don’t want to make them and eat them all in one go! Thank you!
hannahhossack
Hi Paula, so glad you enjoy them! Yes that should be fine; you could either freeze the ball of dough then let it defrost in the fridge before rolling it out; or you could cut out the biscuits then freeze them. You could even bake them straight from the freezer, they would just need an extra minute or two in the oven.
Paula
Thank you!