Buttery Danish cookies or Spritz cookies made dairy-free, but with all the familiar flavour of the classic biscuits you get in a tin! These are great fun to make (especially if you have a cookie press, although it’s not essential) and make wonderful homemade gifts.
I was so pleased with how beautiful and delicious these little vegan Danish butter cookies turned out, when I first created this recipe.
And I have been making them regularly ever since, especially at Christmas.
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The three main things I love about this recipe: the melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness, how fun they are to make and how beautiful they look (for the short while before they’re all eaten).
This post includes a step-by-step recipe, tips and a short guide on how to create a festive gift tin to store them in.
Creating a Danish Butter Cookie gift tin
Aside from eating the cookies, and playing with the cookie press, this is one of the best parts.
I love displaying these beautiful cookies in a tin, regardless of whether I’m giving them away as gifts or keeping them for myself.
You’ll just need the following:
- A batch of these Vegan Danish Butter Cookies (Recipe at the bottom of this post)
- An empty medium round tin with lid (an old cookie tin is perfect)
- Plain cupcakes cases
- Extra sugar for sprinkling
It will depend on the size of your tin, but I used 7 cupcake cases to place around the inside edges of the tin and 1 for the centre (8 total).
Fill each cupcake case with 3-4 cookies.
Sprinkle generously with white granulated sugar.
Now create a second layer on top of those cases and repeat.
Recipe FAQ
Not at all! You can simply roll the dough into small balls and press with your fingers or a fork. If you use this method, refrigerate the dough for about 20 minutes beforehand for the best result.
Or, use an icing bag + a star shaped nozzle to create wreath shapes (you can see I’ve used this method for some of the cookies pictured).
This can happen when the weather gets really cold OR if the mixture is overworked or too dry.
If you’re using a piping bag, you can “massage” the bag to warm up and loosen the mixture.
The other solution is to return the mixture to the bowl, and without overworking the dough, mix in a small amount of dairy-free milk, until you have a softer consistency.
If all else fails, chill the dough and roll or cut out shapes instead!
Try chilling your tins beforehand, this usually solves the problem. I put the lined baking tins in the freezer for about 15 minutes before adding the cookies to bake.
Despite being dairy-free, these cookies will be just like how you remember the original.
In fact, many shop bought Danish Butter Cookies are made with vegetable oils, making them more shelf stable and are therefore vegan-friendly.
I recommend a good-tasting vegan butter alternative, such as Naturli block, Vitalite or Earth Balance Buttery. Found in most supermarkets.
If you can’t get hold of a vegan butter and can only find margarine, one of my readers, Maria, has a great tip: Use butter flavouring. It is usually vegan-friendly.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Danish Butter Cookies
Vaniljekranse aka Danish Butter Cookies are THE essential Christmas cookie, in my opinion. This is a vegan recipe for those who miss this nostalgic taste...
Ingredients
- 200 g / 7 oz dairy-free buttery spread
- 130 g / 4.5 oz confectioner's sugar
- 310 g / 11 oz plain flour
- 1 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp almond milk, if needed
- 2 tbsp white sugar, for decoration
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C / fan 160C / 350F. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
- Mix together the dairy-free butter and icing sugar to create a soft buttercream.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, minus the milk, and mix until just combined. If the mixture is too dry, add the 1 tbsp of milk or more until a soft but firm batter is formed.
- Create the cookie shapes either using a cookie press, piping bag or simply dropping a tsp of batter onto the sheet.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, regularly checking to make sure they are baking evenly. Turn your baking sheet around to face the other way half way through, if necessary.
- Let cool for 10 minutes on a cooling rack then sprinkle with sugar. Enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Yield 60 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 49Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 0mgSodium 22mgCarbohydrates 7gFiber 0gSugar 3gProtein 1g
Shirly says
Hello,
What kind of vegan butter have you used?
joe says
Howdy..
Just made these today and have already half of them before they have cooled down completely ha! They’re exactly the real thing. I used cake flour which I made myself (Google) and omitted the cornflour cos cake flour contains this.
Butter home made too and naturally vegan. Excuse my repetition. Google to find out how.
As a favour would you be so kind as too post a vid how to use a biscuit(cookie) press. None came out as yours just a heap of pastry!!
Tks
Nancy says
These cookies are fabulous. I gave the recipe out already to a few friends. The first time I made them I didn’t realize corn flour is the same as corn starch. I also used a vegan butter that wasn’t good for the recipe. I made again with Earth Balance and the cornstarch. They were hard to press out of pastry bag so I removed the tip and made button shapes. I also sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. They are fantastic!!!!
Aimee says
So happy you enjoyed them! Thank you for taking the time to let me know, Nancy :)
Richa says
Hi I tried these cookies but mine came out soft after the baking time. The bottoms were browned and edges hard but the centre was soft. What could have possibly gone wrong?
Thanks
Aimee says
Oh no! Apologies if this is a stupid question… but did you let them cool before asking this? Hopefully they have now cooled and firmed up now into a crisp, crumbly shortbread. When they first come out of the oven, they will be soft but need a while to set.
If they remained soft however, I think the oven temperature would be too high. If you’re using a fan oven, make sure to lower slightly to 160C.
Hope they still tasted good, regardless and sorry to hear this happened. Let me know if you require any further assistance figuring it out.
Kathy says
I cannot thank you enough for this recipe. These are absolutely delicious! Didn’t even need the extra sugar on top, perfect just the way I remembered them.
Many thanks
Aimee says
Delighted to hear that! Thanks Kathy
ISRAEL GAREDEW says
Thank you a lot for this. I was looking for a vegan butter cookie & now I found this, so I’ll give it a try @ home, but one thing though. Can you please tell us which good tasting VEGAN BUTTER you suggest us to use please? I don’t really know which one tastes better! All I tried b/f were disgusting!!!
Thank You & Hope to Hear From You Soon!
APow says
I’m not usually one to comment on recipes but I just made these and I am such a happy lady! They came out so deliciously. I used earth balance sticks and did not have to add the milk. I also added a 1/2 tsp of almond extract. I pressed them with my vintage cookie press and they worked perfectly! I’ve always wanted to attempt a vegan spritz but never found a recipe that seemed right to me until now! Oh I also made a few as thumbprints and added 1/4 tsp of jam to those and they are also lovely.
Aimee says
Ah, that makes me very happy! Thanks for the comment, Alexandra :)