Hazelnut Shortbread
November 26, 2012
in Cookies and Bars · Desserts

Shortbread

Shortbread is not bread
and shortbread is not short.
It is medium in length
and a biscuit, of sorts.

It was brought in the long boats;
the boats, which were long,
that belonged to the Vikings;
kings of Vi, who were strong.

And it commonly comes
in a tartan type tin
that is just long enough
to keep shortbread in.

- by Well-Wisher, as posted on ABC.Tales

I hope Well-Wisher doesn’t mind that I used his/her poem here.  It’s so cute and well, I couldn’t think of a thing to say about shortbread – at least not that I hadn’t said before (here and here) – and went looking for help.  You will see this shortbread again soon, but as team-player rather than the solo star.  I did a taste run to see if it would work as the crust for my pumpkin cheesecake and realized it was delicious on its own.  Though I admit it’s very 80s kind of dessert – this recipe would also work well as a crust for fruit pizza.

PS There’s still time to enter to win a $25 gift certificate from Compassion Couture.  Please visit the Virtual Vegan Blog to get your name added.

One year ago today: Tasteless and Slow-Roasted Tomato Sauce

Hazelnut Shortbread
Makes 8 wedges

1/2 cup hazelnut meal, toasted until a deep brown & cooled
1/4 maple sugar
2 tbsp. sunflower oil
2 tbsp. natural almond butter
1 tbsp. flaxseed meal + 3 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. almond milk
1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. powdered stevia (or use a 1/2 cup sugar rather than the 1/4 cup sugar)
dash salt
Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly spray a 9″ springform pan w/ oil.  Whisk together the hazelnut meal, flower, baking powder, stevia and salt and set aside.  In a large bowl, combine the maple sugar, sunflower oil and almond butter until creamy.  Stir in the flaxseed meal mixture and almond milk.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet – it’ll be a very thick dough.  Press the dough – I used wet fingers – evenly into the pan.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until baked through.  Let cool and then cut into wedges.
Shortbread

38 thoughts on “Hazelnut Shortbread”

  1. veganmonologue

    So little fat for shortbread, yet still delicious! A culinary feat. The way I imagine making vegan shortbread would be with quite a hefty amount of “butter”, but yours actually looks healthy. Brava!

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  6. annesturetucker

    Love this – Hazelnut Shortbread, and yes, I can just imagine how good that would be as crust for a sweet pizza too :-)

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  7. tearoomdelights

    I was wondering what you were going to replace the butter with and I must admit this looks marvellous. You need to hot-foot it over here and start flogging your delicious vegan alternative to all the tourists looking for shortie to take home from bonnie Scotland.

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  8. Somer

    This was sooo good. I think since I’ve had it in the combo act I’ll have to try the solo. I’ve got some lonely hazelnuts lingering in my pantry somewhere, and my S blade for the cuisinart finally arrived. Yay!

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  10. narf77

    That is some of the healthiest looking shortbread that I have ever seen…with Christmas coming up (traditional gluttonous indulgences allowed and excess shortbread to be downed with glee…) I need to make some and this recipe will allow me to eat some too! Cheers for making my Christmas more shortbready :)

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  11. Gabby @ the veggie nook

    Looks amazing my dear! I need to break out my bag of hazelnut meal and make these! I have been saving it for something special :)

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  12. tinykitchenstories

    I’m going to try to make this one grain-free and see how it goes! I love hazelnuts, and I think they’re underused here. Yum!

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  13. emmycooks

    I never would have thought that vegan shortbread was possible. Do you think I could use almond meal instead, just because I have it handy?

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  15. Sophie33

    Your vegan hazelnut shortbread looks amazing, Annie! Just so wonderful! I would drizzle hot vegan chocolate all over it! Ooh yes!

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  16. Cass @foodmyfriend

    These look awesome! My shortbread always crumbles so this is a very welcomed recipe! Must be that damned butter :P

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  22. Little Sis

    This looks lovely Annie. Thanks so very much for sharing it in time to add to the growing list of holiday baking.

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  23. Herbivore Triathlete

    I love shortbread and hazelnut, I never would’ve thought to make hazelnut shortbread! Wow, amazing and wonderful. I can’t wait to try this.

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