Vegan Coffee Shortbread Cookies (Costa Coffee Copycat)

Because shortbread is such a sturdy little biscuit, these are perfect to give away as gifts to the coffee lover in your life. And you can always use decaf coffee too!

This was inspired by my original shortbread fingers on this site (and this post has lots of tips on how to make the perfect shortbread every time), and I also highly recommend that you try my sourdough shortbread cookies!

Shortbread is possibly the easiest biscuit to make, regardless of whether you have to make dairy-free or not. You simply pop all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat them all together. This is a dough that is designed to be quite hard, quite sturdy. You are not particularly looking for a soft, flaky texture.

For that reason alone, I love shortbread. It's good nature makes it so adaptable for different flavours, and it's sweet, gentle flavour complements so many bolder flavours and textures.

Coffee shortbread is not something I had considered until I had that first taste in Costa Coffee. And I was hooked. But I knew I could veganise this recipe, saving myself £4 per box and creating something much nicer and much kinder.

Note: I use ground coffee, the kind you would use in a cafetiere, instead of instant. The reason is that I think ground coffee gives a stronger depth of flavour but it doesn't overpower the shortbread like instant would (it would dissolve in the cooking process).

My vegan coffee shortbread cookies have a nice longevity which means you can give them as a gift to the coffee lover in your life, or, if you're like me, enjoy one for breakfast, with a black coffee. You can never have too much coffee!

Finally, if you're a decaf drinker, no problem! Simply use your favourite brand of ground decaf coffee instead. All the flavour without the palpitations.

• plain flour and semolina
• great quality vegan butter
• ground coffee
• sugar
• vanilla for a subtle balancing of flavours

HINT: If your butter is very soft, I suggest chilling the dough before rolling out. Using very soft butter in shortbread can cause the cookies to spread a little during baking.

(This is ONLY a list of ingredients for the recipe; please see recipe card below for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Mix well until you have a cohesive ball of dough.

Roll out to ½" thick and cut into 3" rounds

Place 1" apart on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake for 20 mins.

• Coffee - use decaf coffee if desired
• Flour - replace with gluten-free flour if desired
• Nuts or chocolate chips - add some finely chopped hazelnuts or great quality dark chocolate to the mixture for a mocha flavour cookie

Store the baked and cooled cookies in an airtight tin. They will be good for at least two weeks.

You can chill the dough for up to a week in the fridge (placed in a ziplock) or you can freeze it for up to 6 months (wrapped tightly in clingfilm).