If you love a good vegan shortbread or vegan lemon shortbread, or shortbread-textured cookies like these vegan almond flour cookies, this vegan sablé is for you! Anytime is a good time for this tender, crumbly cookie, but I especially love baking up these delicious treats around the holidays. They make the perfect little gifts for family and friends!

What is a sablé?

A sablé is a French cookie with a “sandy” texture (sablé = sand in French). The chief difference between a sablé and a Scottish shortbread is that a sablé dough includes eggs. This makes the sablé even more tender and delicate than a shortbread is. Yum! In my vegan sablé I don’t use any eggs, of course, but almond flour stands in nicely, adding that necessary grittiness and softness to the dough. The result is a perfectly textured cookie that needs just five ingredients, is easy to make, and has oodles of buttery flavor.

Why choose this vegan sablé recipe?

Buttery and delicious. These sablé cookies have the perfect buttery flavor, thanks to the vegan butter and almond flour. Perfect texture: The vegan sablé melts in the mouth, as it should. Even if you’ve had the non-vegan version of these cookies before, you won’t miss the eggs. Simple recipe. This recipe is pretty straightforward but because handling a buttery, delicate dough takes some practice and experience I’d give it a three out of five on the difficulty scale. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it if you are a newer baker: remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained! Soy-free recipe, can be nut-free. Leave out the almond flour if you are nut-free. I haven’t tried these cookies with gluten-free flour but I expect the recipe would work with a gluten-free, all-purpose flour.

Ingredients

Vegan butter. This recipe does need a good amount of butter for the best flavor. Use a homemade vegan butter or a store-bought brand of your choice. Granulated sugar. Any granulated sugar will work in this recipe, including coconut sugar and turbinado sugar. However, a lighter colored sugar, like cane sugar, is preferred for that buttery hue in the baked cookie. This dough itself doesn’t need much sugar, but be sure to sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a bit of sugar before baking for a classic, crackly French sablé. Unbleached all-purpose flour and super fine almond flour. You need just a small amount of almond flour but it really helps with the flavor and texture of these cookies. Pure vanilla extract. This adds the perfect hint of sweetness and amps up the flavor.

How to make vegan sablé

Storage instructions

Room temperature: You can store the cookies at room temperature for up to a week. Refrigerate: Store the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month. Freeze: Freeze the cookies for up to four months. You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to three months. Thaw in the fridge, roll out and cut into cookies before baking.

More delicious vegan cookies

Recipe card

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