Don't Kiss Me, I'm Not Irish!

It’s true, I’m not. I am many other things…French, Indian, Haitian, German, probably some others that I might be forgetting…but as far as I know I am not one bit Irish. And to be honest, I’m not that big on St. Patrick’s Day. But I’m not a party pooper, festivities are fun no matter what they are celebrating! So I made something a little festive for the occasion/to satisfy a sweet craving.

These are vegan…woah. I can’t believe I’m eating so many vegan things lately. It’s actually unintentional because all I’m doing is avoiding dairy, which coincidentally a lot of times means I’m also eating vegan. Which I NEVER thought I was capable of! Just the word vegan kinda scares me (sorry vegan readers, I love you! <3), and whenever I think of vegan food I think of unpalatable non-food looking things. But man I was so wrong, and I love being wrong about this! I was actually a vegetarian for about a year but circumstances made me give it up (I’ll do a post on that story in the future maybe). Long story short, I am excited to be exploring the vegan world.

So these are actually Scottish cookies…my bad…I told you I’m not Irish…

Classic Scottish Shortbread Cookies

• 2/3 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. cold vegan butter replacement (like Earth Balance)
• 1/3 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 t. vanilla or almond extract

-Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a food processor pour in the flour and powdered sugar. Pulse a few times to combine completely.

-Add in the cold butter and pulse for about 1 minute, making sure not to mix too much (pulse just until the mixture becomes a dough ball).

-If you want to make cookie shapes, it’s best to put the dough and your cookie cutter in the fridge for about 15 minutes before rolling out the dough on a greased surface and cutting the cookies. For a more rustic cookie, just remove the dough from the food processor and use a large teaspoon or cookie scoop to scoop out pieces of dough. Use the bottom of a glass to flatten each piece.

-Arrange the cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until they begin to brown around the edges.

-Remove pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 1 minute on the pan before removing them to a cookie rack with a spatula.

(Can you tell I’m having way too much fun taking these pictures? 😉 )

-Allow to cool on the rack for 5 minutes before enjoying! Makes 10 large cookies.

My pictures are getting better right (indulge me here, people…)? I’ve been experimenting with some things I remember from going on shoots with my dad. Practice makes perfect! And so does a DSLR…but I guess that will have to wait.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! However you celebrate, I hope you have a good one! Thanks for reading.