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Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies [Vegan & Allergy-Friendly]

Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies are delicious, take only one bowl, and are free of gluten, animal products, and all major allergens!

  • Author: Robby Burroughs
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 45 minutes
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 50 minutes 1x
  • Category: baking
  • Cuisine: vegan

Ingredients

Scale

Shortbread

250 grams of major-allergen-free flour, such as Pillsbury Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour Blend

100 grams of powdered sugar

1 tablespoon of finely-chopped fresh rosemary

Zest of 1.5 lemons

⅛ tsp fine salt

⅔ cup of canola oil

Icing

100 grams of powdered sugar

Zest of ½ lemon

Juice of ½ lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease an 8×8 glass pan with canola oil.

In a large mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients (allergen-free flour, powdered sugar, chopped rosemary, lemon zest, and salt) and combine thoroughly with a whisk.

Add canola oil to the dry ingredients and mix just until the dough comes completely together.

Pour dough into greased pan and flatten to uniformity across the entirety of the pan. Using a fork, poke holes across the whole the top of the shortbread (this keeps it from puffing oddly).

Bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes, until the edges that can be seen through the side of the pan just start to turn golden-brown.

While the shortbread is baking, add 100 grams of powdered sugar and zest of the remaining ½ of a lemon to a small mixing bowl, and combine with a whisk or spoon. Then, slowly start adding the freshly squeezed lemon juice to the bowl, stirring constantly. Add just enough juice to get to desired texture (mine ended up being most of the ½ of the lemon).

Once the edges of the cookies are starting to brown, remove the pan from the oven and let the shortbread cool in the pan for 20 minutes.

Once the shortbread has cooled, use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut the shortbread into desired shapes, and remove the shortbread from the pan onto a serving plate.

Drizzle the icing onto the shortbread cookies, as much as desired.

Notes

Please note that we’ve given some of the measurements in this recipe by weight only, instead of also in volume (cup measurements). That’s because gluten/allergy-free flours vary widely, so weight is a much more reliable measure.

We tested this recipe using Pillsbury Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend, so using another flour may lead to variations in baked texture.

As an alternate to cutting the cookies after the fact, you can score the dough into your desired cookie shapes before it goes into the oven. You’ll still need to actually cut the baked cookies with a knife or bench scraper.

Keywords: vegan baking, shortbread cookies