Dairy Free & Vegan Shortbread Recipe

We had so many fabulous entries for the recipe competition that choosing a favourite was really hard. However, we’ve picked a winner for the August entry of our "Made With Moo Free" competition. A big ‘thank you’ to Imogen who sent in a recipe for dairy free and vegan Chocolate Shortbread.

INGREDIENTS

• 120g of Moo Free Baking Drops (available from Tesco)
  You can substitute Choccy Buttons or Mini Moo Original Bars if you don't have a Tesco store near you.
• 75g of caster sugar
• 150g Dairy free/vegan spread
• 250g of plain flour (gluten free if required)

EQUIPMENT

• 1 mixing bowl
• A whisk
• Baking scales
• A glass bowl or jug
• A small saucepan
• Cookie cutters
• A rolling pin
• A chopping board or pastry board
• A baking tray
• Grease-proof paper

METHOD

1. First, preheat the oven to 180°C Fan/160°C. Then place the grease-proof paper on the baking tray.
2. Next, measure out the margarine/spread and caster sugar in separate bowls and pour into the mixing bowl. Mix with the whisk until you cannot see any caster sugar (it should look yellow in colour).
3. Measure out the plain flour and pour into the mixing bowl. Whisk until all the flour has been mixed in.
4. At the same time, pour the chocolate into a glass bowl or jug (break up the bars in to smaller prices if you are using those instead of baking drops).
5. Boil water in a saucepan.
6. Next, put the saucepan on a low heat and place the glass bowl or jug containing the chocolate on top of the saucepan. Let the chocolate melt until fully dissolved.
7. When the chocolate has melted, add to the mixing bowl and whisk until the mixture has turned brown.
8. Place the chopping or pastry board on a clean, flat surface and roll out the mixture using a rolling pin until it is just less than 1cm thick. Use a small amount of the plain flour sprinkled on the rolling pin and pastry board so that the mixture does not stick to it.
9. Use the cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the shortbread dough and place these shapes on your pre-prepared baking tray.
10. Put your shortbread biscuits in the oven for 25 minutes. The biscuits will appear soft when you first take them out of the oven, but they will harden after 10 minutes.
11. Take the shortbread biscuits out of the oven, leave them to cool for at least 10 minutes and then enjoy!