Vegan Hazelnut Shortbread Sticks

I’m not sure the name I selected for this recipe accurately portrays these delightful and slightly sweet nutty biscuits. In most cases, shortbread implies something Scottish…and these are not that.

The texture is like shortbread because of the ‘short’ gluten strands created by mixing the fat and flour together to create a crumbly interior and crispy exterior. And this is the main reason I chose the name shortbread. Well…it’s also because most people unfamiliar with German names will not know how to pronounce the real name – Haselnuss-Stängeli (or quite latterly hazelnut sticks).

Swiss people generally believe Haselnuss-Stängeli are only made during the Christmas holidays. But I respectfully disagree. They are popular throughout the year but mostly, Swiss tend to make them exclusively during the holiday baking season. As for me…I make them whenever I fancy a nutty and slightly sweet biscuit.

The original recipe (if there really is one) calls for milk, butter and eggs mixed with sugar, flour and ground hazelnuts. Making a vegan version turned out to be relatively simple…and I must admit, quite a bit tastier. The bonus in my opinion – the texture is like a nutty shortbread!

Difficulty: simple
Yield: makes about 25-30 individual biscuits cut into sticks