Vegan slice and bake chocolate orange shortbread cookies are perfect little bitesize pieces of nutty, spicy cookie heaven! So simple to make, no rolling and just a few ingredients!

I can’t help but wonder if there’s going to be the same volume of Christmas ‘panic’ this year.  Presents being frantically bought and wrapped, last minute food shopping, hastily written cards.  Or with a very different looking Christmas things might be a little slower, with more time to enjoy whatever this year’s festivities look like.  Either way, make ahead, slice and bake vegan chocolate orange shortbread cookies are practically mandatory 😉

What are slice and bake cookies?

They’re simply cookies that you don’t roll out in the traditional way – with a rolling pin then use a cutter to cut the dough into shapes before baking.  Instead you form the dough into a giant sausage (or two!), wrap in parchment and chill in the fridge.  Then when you want to bake your cookies you just slice the sausage into segments, pop on a tray and 15 minutes later, fresh, warm cookies.  YUM.

The other beauty of these cookies is you can make a couple of recipes worth in advance and keep the rolls in the freezer.  I know unexpected guests are not so likely this year, but an unexpected need for a freshly baked cookie IS an actual thing.

If you’re the generous kind, these rolls of cookie dough, wrapped in natural parchment and tied with string make a great gift for a cookie lover.  Or anyone.  At any time of the year.  Because if you can’t see the downright healthy benefits (for the soul of course) of a warm, spicy, orangy, studded with chocolate chips cookie, well, I’m not sure we can be friends.

And if you want more melt in the mouth buttery cookies, try these Soft Vegan Lemon Sugar Cookies from Veggie Fun Kitchen!

How to make slice and bake shortbread cookies:

Gather your ingredients.  These aren’t the cookies that have a shopping list of ingredients.  Just 7 different things are needed, most (if not all) of which you probably already have.  Butter, sugar, flour, an orange, some chocolate chips, some pecans (or preferred nut) and a dash of nutmeg.  Christmas in a cookie right?  I think I associate the classic chocolate orange combo with Christmas because of the family tradition of the famous Terry’s segmented ball only ever being in the house at Christmas.  Same with the Matchmakers.

Chop the pecans and chocolate chips.  Yep, the chips need to be chopped!  This is simply because you’ll be cutting through the dough so you don’t want large chunks of either nut or chocolate to have to cut through as well.  You just want small nibbly bits of chocolate.

Cream together the butter and sugar.  This just means beating the two together until pale and fluffy.  If you’re using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment you can use butter straight from the fridge, otherwise you’ll need to allow it to soften first.  I recommend using vegan butter over margarine from a flavour standpoint.  Shortbread to me should be rich and buttery.  I’ve not tested it but margarine might not provide enough structure to the baked cookie, leading to cookies that might spread a lot more and be a different texture.

Stir or beat in the remaining ingredients.  If you’re using a stand mixer just beat it together enough to form the dough.  At this stage you don’t want to over mix.

Divide the dough roughly in half.  Then form each half into a long sausage, wrapping in parchment paper, cling film or foil.  Don’t worry if the rolls are a bit bumpy before wrapping, once they’re wrapped you can smooth the shape a little better.

Chill the dough rolls.  Ideally chill for at least an hour.  You want the butter to harden again meaning the cookies shouldn’t spread too much upon baking.  These rolls of dough keep quite well in the fridge for a few days or you can put in the freezer to keep for longer if you’re making them a while in advance of needing.

Slice and bake!  I slice pieces around 1/2 inch (just over 1 cm) thick.  You’ll want to literally ‘slice’ with a sharp knife – use a sawing motion to cut the cookie rather than pushing the knife down.  This is so you cut through any of the pieces of chocolate or nut rather than pushing them through the dough.  Space them a little bit apart on the tray but they don’t spread too much.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Yep, just 15 minutes before you can enjoy warm chocolate orange shortbread cookies fresh from the oven.  Not that we’d ever do this but you could keep slicing and baking while you eat for a fairly constant supply of warm cookies.

We LOVE cookies.  Here are some of our tried and very well tested favourites (all vegan too):

Coconut, Almond and Chocolate Cookies – super simple, quick to bake cookies.  Half dipped in chocolate.  Need I say more?

Chia Chocolate Cookies – THE simplest cookies ever!  But so delicious.

Mincemeat Cookies – another make ahead, warm from the oven cookie.  Keep the batter in the fridge and scoop and bake fresh.  Great for breakfast or afternoon snack.  Also great for using up leftover mincemeat!

Chocolate Chunk Cookies – with tahini and almond butter.  You can thank me later.

I’d love to hear from you if you make these slice and bake Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookies! Just leave a comment as it’s so helpful and I love to hear how the recipe worked out for you! Thank you so much!

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