Christmas Shortbread with Orange and Chocolate

Little Christmas cookies are one of those traditions that cross the generations. Their history takes us in particular to Central Europe, where baking cookies over the holidays is an old custom.

In France the tradition is most deeply rooted in Alsace, with the famous Bredele — small cookies made during Advent, cut into stars, hearts, fir trees or other festive shapes. Every family has its recipes, often handed down from generation to generation, and making them has become a true Christmas ritual.

As for shortbread itself, its history is also tied to France and to the town of Sablé-sur-Sarthe. Tradition has it that in the seventeenth century, around 1670, these little cookies were popularized at the court of Louis XIV, thanks in particular to the Marquise de Sablé.

Today these cookies are part of the magic of Christmas. We make them as a family, we give them in pretty tins, we eat them with hot chocolate or coffee, and above all we take pleasure in sharing them.

A recipe simple in appearance… but what work

I can assure you this recipe gave me a hard time.

Looking at a little Christmas cookie, you might think nothing could be simpler. A few ingredients, a dough to roll out, some nice cutters and a turn in the oven. And yet…

Recreating a genuine shortbread cookie in a fully plant-based, gluten-free version was a serious challenge.

It took a great many attempts to find the right balance between the flours, the fats and the other ingredients. I was of course after a good cookie, delicately crisp and melting in the mouth — but not only that.

There was one technical aspect I cared about particularly: getting a dough supple enough to roll out, but firm and resilient enough to be cut with a cutter, lifted and moved to a baking sheet without breaking or losing its shape.

And believe me, it was far from a given.

For a long time my attempts did not satisfy me. Sometimes the dough was too crumbly, sometimes too soft, sometimes impossible to handle properly. It was particularly frustrating, because I wanted to recover those very simple gestures you make almost automatically with a traditional shortbread dough.

When you work with wheat flour, you do not always realize how much the gluten makes certain handling possible. It is often when you have to do without it that you truly understand its role.

So it took patience, persistence and a great many adjustments before I finally got a dough that fully satisfied me.

And today I am particularly happy and proud to be able to pass this recipe on to you.

Orange and chocolate, a deliciously wintry pairing

For this first version of my Christmas cookies I chose a pairing I love enormously: orange and chocolate.

For me it immediately evokes winter, the end-of-year holidays, the smells drifting out of the kitchen and that very particular atmosphere of getting ready for Christmas.

The orange brings its fresh, fruity, fragrant notes, while the chocolate answers with its richness and intensity.

It is a pairing that works wonderfully and turns a simple little cookie into a real festive sweet.

I wanted to offer you cookies as pleasant to make as to eat, ones you can have fun with using your finest cutters, making Christmas shapes and sharing a lovely moment in the kitchen with children.

Other versions will certainly join this collection, notably with the traditional Christmas spices I am particularly fond of.

But to begin with, I wanted to give you this orange and chocolate version, full of sweetness and indulgence.

The pleasure of making things yourself, and of sharing them

What makes me particularly happy about this recipe is having managed to recover the markers of a real shortbread cookie — in its texture as much as in its preparation and handling — while using only plant-based, gluten-free ingredients.

Because in the end, being able to roll out a dough, cut lovely shapes and make your Christmas cookies without difficulty is also recovering the pleasure of baking freely, without the feeling of having to give something up.

I sincerely hope this recipe brings you as much happiness to make as I have today in passing it on.

May these cookies find their place on your festive tables, in your pretty tins, under the tree, or simply at an afternoon snack shared with family.

I wish you wonderful moments, lovely times in the kitchen and above all a great deal of pleasure in treating young and old alike.

And as always, do come and tell me how it went, share what you made on my social media or write to me directly by email. It is always an immense pleasure to see your creations and to know that my recipes come alive in your kitchens.