Vegan Chocolate Orange Shortbread

Vegan chocolate orange shortbread - these delicious slice-and-bake cookies are rich, crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth.

They are easy to make, perfect for Christmas and can be baked right from the freezer.

These vegan chocolate orange shortbread cookies are richly flavoured, intensely chocolatey, melt-in-the-mouth and irresistibly delicious.

They are great special occasion biscuits, but are also nice to have in the biscuit tin for any old day.

They are easy to make, there's no need to roll out the dough, and they can be prepared in advance, frozen and baked right from the freezer!

What Do I Need To Make Vegan Chocolate Orange Shortbread?:

Vegan block butter: Please, for the love of holy baking, use a block butter/margarine to make these cookies, not the spreadable kind in a tub.

Spreadable will likely make the dough too soft, and the biscuits may be more tough as it contains more water. I recommend Naturli Vegan Block or Flora Plant Butter.

Caster sugar: You can use granulated sugar instead if you don't have caster.

Don't use brown sugar, coconut sugar, sweeteners or liquid sugars as that will affect the texture of the cookies.

Plain flour: Just regular plain (all-purpose) flour is best here. I haven't tried making these gluten-free.

Cocoa powder: I use a dark, Dutch processed one (just regular cocoa powder to those of you in the UK).

Cornflour: This helps to give the shortbread a lovely melt-in-the mouth texture. You can swap it for more plain flour if you don't have any.

Orange zest: Freshly grated orange zest gives a much better flavour than extract would.

Vanilla extract: Use a good quality vanilla extract for the best flavour. If you have it then vanilla bean paste would be amazing instead.

Chocolate: I use roughly chopped 70% dark chocolate which I think gives a better texture than chocolate chips would.

If you want these to have a really strong orange flavour then you can use orange flavoured chocolate.

How To Make Vegan Chocolate Orange Shortbread:

(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)

Sift together the plain flour, cornflour and cocoa powder.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Whisk in the orange zest, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

Add the dry ingredients and stir in until all the flour is moistened and no lumps of butter remain.

Stir through the chopped chocolate then use your hands to bring the dough together.

Form the dough into a log about 5cm thick - use your hands and roll it on a surface to get it as even as possible.

Wrap the log in baking parchment and refrigerate for 2 hours, and up to 3 days.

Use a very sharp knife to slice the log into 1cm thick slices. They may crumble a bit due to the chunks of chocolate, if this happens just use your hands to press the dough back into a round.

(If the dough has become too firm to slice, let it sit out at room temperature for about half an hour before slicing it).

Place the cookie slices slightly spaced apart on a couple of parchment lined baking sheets and pop them in the freezer for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven.

Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes. They should feel dry to the touch and be set around the edges. It is difficult to judge when they are ready so you may wish to bake a test one first to judge how long they need in your oven.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Top Tips:

As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!

Do not overwork the dough as that will develop the gluten in the flour resulting in chewy biscuits. Just mix it until it is fully combined then use your hands to bring it together.

If you want to make plain chocolate shortbread you can just omit the orange zest.

For extra orange flavour use an orange flavoured chocolate instead of plain dark chocolate.

The dough can be a bit difficult to slice due to the chunks of chocolate. Use a very sharp knife and if any of the slices crumble you can simply use your fingers to press it back into a round.

These cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for at least a week.

Can I Make The Dough In Advance?:

The log of dough will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Let it sit out at room temperature for about half an hour before slicing it if it gets too firm.

Alternatively, cut the log into slices and freeze them in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer-proof container. The cookies can be baked straight from the freezer, no need to defrost them first.

More Vegan Cookie Recipes:

• Vegan shortbread fingers
• Vegan pecan snowball cookies
• Vegan Linzer cookies
• Vegan vanilla sugar cookies
• Vegan chocolate pistachio biscotti
• Vegan biscotti with almonds and cranberries
• Vegan gingerbread cookies

If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess

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