Light, crisp and delicate, my vegan version of the classic Danish Butter Cookie makes absolutely melt in the mouth delicious cookies!

This Danish Butter Cookies blog post and recipe are sponsored but all opinions, as always, are completely my own.

I have such fond memories of Danish Butter Cookies.  Those special biscuits that came in a beautiful tin whilst inside sat sparkling cookies, nestled in their own paper cases  Fancy cookies that were only ever purchased at Christmas time.  Oh how I loved them, all sparkly with sugar and so melt in the mouth and moreish.

Do they make these cookies any other time of they year?  And does anyone buy them?

Random other question – why can I no longer get cornflour in Tesco?  Do other supermarkets stock it?  Limited to shopping being delivered since becoming car-less, I’m at the behest of what Tesco has to offer.  And no cornflour AT ALL?

When I received the Butter Flavouring from Foodie Flavours this was the first recipe that sprang to mind.  How could I resist?  the flavour of my childhood Christmases … made vegan!

Just a few ingredients are needed for this simple vegan recipe that makes quite a few biscuits – perfect if you’re looking for a homemade gift idea!  I’ve been consciously trying to gift more mindfully the last couple of years.  Moving into (and back out of) a caravan really brought home just how much STUFF you accumulate.  Stuff you never use.  Stuff you forget you even have.  And it seems something edible and downright nibbly tends to be very well recieved!

Lets talk flavouring

Why add butter flavouring to a recipe that already contains butter (I hear you ask)?  Well, vegan butter on it’s own isn’t half bad flavour wise.  And some are actually rather good.  But I wanted my butter biscuits to scream that iconic rich buttery flavour I remember so well.

And while you can make the cookie batter by hand but it will help enormously if you’ve got a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.

How to make vegan butter biscuits:

Start by making sure your butter is soft.  Otherwise you’re going to need Popeye arms to pipe the batter.  Either take it out of the fridge the night before or soften it in the microwave.  Though I do need to mention, we want the butter soft NOT melted so don’t go too nuclear with the microwave!

Beat the butter until pale.  Then add the icing sugar, cough in the cloud of sweet dust and beat that in too until the mixture is creamy and fluffy.  Scrape down the bowl and paddle from time to time so that it’s all getting well mixed in.

Add the Butter Flavouring.  I added around 30 drops for this cookie recipe.  And to me that was enough.  It gave the baked cookies a really rich flavour without being cloying or overpowering.

Add the flour, cornflour and vanilla and beat just until everything is mixed together.  The cornflour helps stabilise the dough and prevents them spreading too much.  I’ve also used Foodie Flavours Gorilla Vanilla organic extract.  You can read about why here and I’ve been asked a few times to recommend a really good vanilla.  Well this is it.  Vanilla extracts can be like balsamic vinegar – you tend to get what you pay for.  Sure you can can get a vanilla-ish flavour from the cheaper bottles but sometimes it’s really worth the little extra for layers of heavenly flavour.  And it helps the gorillas 😉

If the dough is feeling too stiff to pipe you can add a few drops of boiling water.  You want a sticky dough that you can pipe.

Spoon the dough into a large piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.  To make it easier you can draw on the underside of some parchment to guide you while you pipe.  Pipe whatever shapes you fancy until you’ve used up all the mixture.

Put the trays of raw biscuits into the fridge for around 30 minutes.  This hardens the butter and also helps them not to spread while baking.

Before you put them in the oven sprinkle them with sugar.  The coarser the sugar the better.  I only had demerara that was course but you can use regular granulated or even sugar nibs for an extra sweet crunch!

Bake until golden and just set – they will firm up a little more as they cool.

How to store your baked cookies:

Store in an airtight container once completely cooled.  The cookies keep well for up to a week at room temperature.

Have you heard of the Swedish tradition of fika?  These cookies pair especially well with a warm beverage as an afternoon treat.  I support anything that advocates this kind of behaviour 😉

Looking for even more vegan cookie recipes?  Try these:

Chocolate and orange shortbread cookies

Cinnamon sugar cream cheese cookies

Chia chocolate cookies

White chocolate and raspberry cookies

I’d also love to hear from you if you make these vegan Danish Butter 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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