These dairy-free/egg-free Christmas biscuits have everything you need in a festive bake: warmly spiced, fruit-studded, and very easy to make! Packed with cranberries, raisins, and candied orange - every bite has the classic fruity flavours associated with Christmas. At the same time, the cinnamon, ginger and cloves bring a classic Christmas aroma straight from the oven. Perfect for cookie tins, gifting and festive afternoon tea, this simple vegan biscuit recipe will win you many fans! Of course, they are not just for Christmas; they will be a hit any time of the year!
Why You'll Love These Easy Dairy-free Christmas Biscuits
- Big on festive flavour: Cosy spices - cinnamon, clove and ginger in every bite
- Packed with fruit: tangy cranberries, chewy raisins and zesty candied orange.
- 100 % vegan: No eggs and no dairy, but no compromise on the buttery, crumbly biscuit experience.
- Easy to make: With simple steps and a total preparation and cook time of only 45 minutes.
- Perfect for edible gifting: These biscuits travel well in cookie tins and look lovely wrapped in a red ribbon!
- Great for batch cooking: You will need to cook large batches, as I can guarantee they will go quickly!
- Crowd pleaser: Ideal for a mixture of diet requirements. Everyone can enjoy them.
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Key Ingredients and Notes
These ingredients deliver a bold, festive flavour with minimal effort.
- Plain flour, vegan block butter and icing sugar: Together, they give the biscuits a crumbly, buttery texture with a finer, softer crumb, a bit like shortbread.
- Dried cranberries: Give a tangy edge and are classically "Christmas".
- Raisins: Naturally sweet and chewy. Another favourite in festive recipes.
- Candied orange: Provides a citrusy element and is very nostalgic. I make my own candied orange. It is pretty straightforward.
- Cinnamon powder: Sweet and warming - a classic Christmas spice.
- Clove powder: Deeply aromatic.
- Ginger powder: Adds some gentle heat and a little kick.
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Vegan Christmas Biscuits
To begin:
- Roughly chop the candied orange, raisins and dried cranberries.
- Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl to remove any lumps.
- Dice the vegan block butter.
- Ensure the vegan block butter is at room temperature.
- Add the butter to the bowl with the icing sugar, and whisk together with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy.
- To the same bowl, add the flour, spices, and dried fruit, and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Flatten the dough to a disk. Cover with parchment paper and refrigerate for 1 hour to chill the dough.
- After 1 hour, remove the dough from the fridge and leave it to rest for 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle flour onto your countertop and roll out to approximately 3mm thickness.
- Using your chosen cookie-cutter, stamp out your biscuit shapes.
- Optionally, you can decorate the biscuits with almond slivers. Wet one side of the biscuits and lightly press the almond slivers into the dough.
- Line your baking trays with parchment paper.
- Transfer the biscuits onto the trays, leaving gaps between them.
- Bring together the dough offcuts, re-roll the dough to 3mm thickness, and stamp out the remaining biscuits.
- Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 140ยบC
- Bake until lightly golden brown - about 18-20 minutes.
- Once baked, place the biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.
- Once completely cooled, transfer to an airtight container for storage.
Substitutions
You can substitute the dairy-free butter with dairy block butter.
You can use any dried fruit, such as apricots or sultanas.
Variations
If you like chocolate, you can finish the baked biscuits by piping or dipping one side in melted dark or white chocolate.
Equipment
You will need the following equipment to make these vegan Christmas biscuits:
- Rolling pin.
- Baking trays (x3).
- Seive.
- Electric whisk.
Storage
Store in an airtight tin for 7-10 days. Air-tightness is crucial to maintain texture. Use a metal tin to keep them crisp and add a small amount of kitchen paper to absorb moisture.
Chefs Tips
Use block butter rather than vegan spreads to achieve the best biscuit crumb.
Weigh everything. Baking is quite unforgiving, and minor changes to the stated weight really show. Digital scales are a must.
Don't overwork the dough. Mix just until everything comes together.
Make sure to chill the dough as indicated, even after cutting the biscuit shapes. Chilling will prevent them from spreading during baking.
Rotate the baking tray halfway through the bake to give the biscuits an even colour.
Make sure you cool them before storing, otherwise they will soften and lose their crisp finish.
FAQ
You can, but I do not recommend it. Vegan block butter helps the biscuits keep their shape and stay crumbly. Vegan spread has a higher water content and makes the biscuits spread more when baking.
A common culprit is warm dough or fat from not chilling the dough before baking. Also, bake on parchment paper or silicone, not a greased baking tray.
If you want neat biscuits, then yes, you need to chill the dough. Chilling slows the speed at which the fat melts in the oven.
Yes, you can by replacing the flour with a gluten-free flour. Look for brands recommended for biscuits/cookies.
Yes. Wrap well before freezing. Thaw in the fridge before rolling with a rolling pin.
Absolutely. Perhaps you can try sultanas or currents and chopped apricots or cherries, and replace the candied orange with candied lemon or lime. I chose the raisins, cranberries and candied orange because they are so classically Christmas.
Yes - you can experiment with spices. The spice theme of the spices used was warm, festive, Christmas spices - the mulled wine spice vibe.
Related
Looking for other sweet-treat ideas for a party or special occasion? Try these:
๐ Recipe
Vegan Christmas Biscuits (Festive Dairy-Free Cookies)
Equipment
- 3 Baking trays
- Electric whisk
- Cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 300 g Plain flour
- 200 g Vegan block butter
- 60 g Icing sugar
- 40 g Dried cranberries
- 40 g Seedless raisins
- 30 g Candied orange
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon powder
- ยฝ teaspoon Clove powder
- 1//4 teaspoon Ginger powder
- Almond flakes optional
Instructions
- Roughly chop the candied orange, cranberries and raisins.
- Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl.
- In the same bowl, add cubed, room-temperature butter and whisk until pale and fluffy.
- Add the plain flour, spices and dry fruit and mix to combine. Transfer to the counter and knead briefly to form a dough. Now flatten the dough into a disk, cover it with parchment paper, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Remove the dough from the fridge after 1 hour and let it rest on the countertop for 5-10 minutes.
- Line the baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.
- Sprinkle the flour onto your work surface. Place the dough on it and roll it to about 3mm thickness. Stamp out squares using your chosen cookie cutter. Transfer the cut biscuits to your lined baking trays, spacing them slightly apart. Bring the off-cuts together and re-roll and stamp out more biscuits with your cookie cutter and transfer to a baking tray. You will end up with about 25 to 30 biscuits.
- This is optional: If you wish to decorate with flaked almonds, brush the side of the biscuit with a bit of water, then gently press the flaked almonds down.
- Chill all of the cookies to firm up, for about 30 minutes before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 140 ยฐC and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until pale golden around the edges. Turn the baking trays half way through to ensure even colouring.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a baking tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool thoroughly, before transferring into an airtight container.
Food Safety
- Wash your hands regularly while preparing, handling and cooking food.
- Wipe down countertops and high-contact points regularly.
- If you cook meat and fish, do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat. Use separate chopping boards for meat and fish. Wash your chopping boards immediately after use.
- Thoroughly cook food to a minimum temperature of 165 ยฐF (74 ยฐC).
- Don't leave food at room temperature for extended periods (more than 2 hours).
- Store food correctly.
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