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
Susan says
I am going to attempt this recipe with my cookie press, but I have a question not unlike many others in previous comments: I have Earth Balance Sticks, but I’m assuming you mean the buttery “Spread” in a tub made by Earth Balance. I haven’t seen Vitalife brand here in Virginia. Also, I just attempted a homemade butter using a culture of probiotic made with cashew milk. The predominate oil used is coconut, however, so it won’t be as buttery tasting, so I will probably avoid with this recipe. Just found a new spread which uses some almond oil in the spread, it tastes good, but I don’t know about tasting buttery…probably another one to avoid. I will probably use Earth balance sticks, just because I keep them on hand.
Robin Haber says
Is this recipe suitable to rollout and cut into shapes?
Aimee says
It is a much softer dough, so if you want to roll it into shapes, I would leave it in the fridge for at least an hour and then gently roll into balls and flatten slightly. If you don’t have a cookie press, an icing piper works just as well too!
Robin Haber says
Will this recipe work well with butter rather a vegan spread? My grandson has an egg allergy, but is not vegan. Thank you.
Aimee says
That is totally up to you! The vegan spread is a butter substitute so I’m assuming it would have the same effect.
Sandra Han says
Is icing sugar the same as powdered sugar in the US?
Aimee says
Hi Sandra. Icing sugar is the same as powdered sugar or confectioners sugar, yes.
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!
Aimee says
Hi Israel. I’m not sure where you are based but there are a lot of great options now. In the UK, Flora Buttery is a popular choice or in the USA/CAN Earth Balance Buttery is meant to be good. I would just look out for “buttery” style ones, usually sunflower based.
Gabby says
Flora Butter is AMAZING! It acts just like regular butter and makes the best replacement. Cannot wait to make these cookies, my favorite holiday cookie! Thanks for the recipe!
kat says
Hi! Is corn flour equivalent to either corn starch or corn meal? The grocery store’s here don’t carry something called corn flour. I’ve seen other recipes use white flour, will that work with this recipe?
Aimee says
Hi Kat, I’m glad you asked because I should have written “corn starch” which is much more clearer, just changed it now. It is definitely the starch you want! Hope you enjoy the cookies.
sarah dunsbee says
It’s not clear if you live in the UK ,was going to ask if it was cornflour!
The recipe looks wonderful,used to love getting those tins at Christmas and giving as gifts, many thanks