Melt in your mouth Pine Needle Shortbread Cookies. This twist on traditional shortbread is delicious with a hint of piney, citrusy flavor. Delicate, fragrant, and sure to impress!
Did you know that pine needles are edible? Cue a twig and leaf-eating vegan joke.....I walked straight into that, didn't I?
But seriously, they are, and they are so good in shortbread cookies! They give this Pine Needle Shortbread a subtle and delicious piney, citrusy flavor that is so festive.
You need no special equipment to make these cookies. Just a bowl, a fork, and a baking tray. A cookie cutter is nice to use but if you don't have one the top of a mason jar or the rim of a cup or glass does the job too. A Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter is perfectly suited to the pine needle flavor though and they look so pretty!
Harvesting Pine Needles
I'm not usually much of a forager, but as far as I know, you can't buy pine needles for cooking anywhere. As I live in Canada, I am surrounded by more pine trees than you can imagine so sourcing them is easy. In fact, pine trees are pretty common wherever you are, so you shouldn't have much of a problem finding a willing donor.
Be sure to choose needles that aren't on branches really low to the ground (for obvious reasons) and be sure to choose trees that you know have not been sprayed with anything nasty. I would also recommend not using needles from your Christmas tree or wreath as they are often sprayed with pesticides or flame retardant prior to harvesting.
Choose a 'wild' tree away from busy roads and I would recommend tasting the needles (yes you'll be the crazy person in the forest tasting the trees). They all taste really different. Fir and spruce tend to have the best flavor and are the most fragrant and citrusy which works really well in my Pine Needle Shortbread Cookies.
Younger needles are best as they are more tender although they soften up when you cook them anyway so don't worry too much.
Be sure to read my notes about the trees you should not be harvesting needles from under "important - please read".
Important - Please Read
All varieties of pine needles are edible except Norfolk Island Pine, Ponderosa Pine, and Yew trees. They are easy to distinguish as their foliage is different to other pine trees. Norfolk Island Pine doesn't really have needles at all, its foliage is more like fronds or fern leaves. Yew trees have flat, wide needles that aren't sharp and they have red berries instead of pine cones, and Ponderosa Pine has very long, 4" - 12" long needles which because of their length makes the foliage look like fox tails. Avoid these varieties and be sure to stick to the traditional, short, cylindrical, pointy needles.
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Recipe
Pine Needle Shortbread Cookies
Author:Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (42 grams) powdered sugar , plus more for sprinkling
- ½ cup (100 grams) vegan butter , or refined coconut oil
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (see recipe note) *
- 1 heaping tablespoon pine needles (washed gently while attached to the twig and allowed to dry then stripped off the twig so only the loose needles remain - read my tips on harvesting these in the post above or the notes below)
- 1 ⅓ cup (165 grams) all purpose flour (plain flour in the UK)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put the flour and pine needles in a blender. Make sure the top is on tight and blend until the pine needles are chopped into little pieces throughout the flour. Don't be alarmed by the really strong pine smell. Once cooked it becomes very subtle. Using a blender is the easiest method for chopping the pine needles. You need the flour in there with them as otherwise it's such a tiny amount they would just fly around and not get cut. I found chopping the needles with a knife pretty tough (literally!). Scissors would be a better option if you don't have a blender.
- Combine the powdered sugar, salt, and butter in a bowl. Use a fork to mash together very, very well until you can no longer see any powdered sugar and it's light and fluffy.
- Pour in the flour and pine needle mixture and mix by hand until everything is combined. I start by mashing with a fork then stir together with a spoon at the end a bit. Do not over mix or use electric beaters here. Too much mixing will affect the texture of the finished shortbread.
- When done it should be slightly crumbly but hold together if you squeeze it tightly together in your hand. The drier you can get away with keeping the dough, the better the texture of your shortbread and you should not need to add any liquid at all.
- If the dough is starting to get a bit soft, stop and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes before continuing.
- Lightly dust a surface with flour and shape your dough into a ball. Roll out to about 3 - 4 mm thick then use a cookie cutter or mason jar lid/rim of a glass to cut into shapes. Place each one on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until they start turning very lightly golden around the edges and on the bottom. Keep an eye on them in the last few minutes as they can turn from ok to overdone very quickly. They will still feel slightly soft in the middle but will firm up as they cool.
- Leave them on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
NOTES
- I like a very slight salty edge in these cookies so used half a teaspoon of salt. If you are sensitive to salty flavours then just use 1/4 teaspoon.
Marcy says
Can I make these without the pine needles?
Nancy Boyce says
Wondering where the citrusy flavor comes from since there are no citrus ingredients in the recipe? Thanks! :D
Melanie McDonald says
The pine needles. They have a pine-y, citrus smell/flavour. They contain chemical compounds called terpenes made up from molecules which include pinene and limonene, hence the pine smell with a hint of citrus.
Nancy (Boyce) Rosario says
Wonderful! Thank you so much for replying, Melanie...I love all things Citrus, so am excited to make these! :D
Denise says
I would love to try making these today - they sound amazing! I did some foraging this morning and I think I found some type of pine, staying away from ones that you mentioned, but it does not technically have “needles” - it is the softer type. Does this still work? It doesn’t smell like pine. It tastes good, but more like spearmint than pine.
A Virtual Vegan says
Without seeing the tree or needles it's really hard to say. As long as you are sure it is a pine tree and the needles are edible then I'm sure a spearmint kind of flavour would work.
Kylie Tucker says
So, the flavor is absolutely amazing! I loved going out into the woods to pick pine needles, it felt quite fairytale like. My only issue with this recipe is that the dough was literally melting in my hands. I moved quite quickly when rolling it out and by the time I had cut the shapes it was too mushy to pick up. I popped the dough in the fridge for a few minutes and tried again with the same result. I ended up just spooning balls of dough on to the cookie sheet and baking them that way. It worked out, I followed the recipe exactly so I am just curious if you had any suggestions for me? I can't figure out what I did wrong!
A Virtual Vegan says
I totally agree about it being fairytale like to go foraging for pine needles. It really adds to the experience. Much better than just going to the shop!
Sorry you had melting issues. Vegan butter/coconut oil does have a low melting point (much lower than butter) so if the oil isn't really cold and hard before you start, or if the dough is mixed a little too much, or handled a lot with warm hands or made in a warm heated kitchen, or near a warm oven, it will get really soft. There's no getting away from that. My kitchen is always pretty warm so I usually stop once the dough is made and refrigerate it for 20 mins or so then roll it out and cut them once it's cold. I have added a note to the recipe about that in case anyone else has issues. So glad you enjoyed them regardless though!
Kylie Tucker says
That makes perfect sense. I'll make sure to chill my coconut oil first, then, immediately chill the dough before handling next time, because I will certainly be making them again! My boyfriend just ate 3 cookies in about 10 minutes! I really appreciate your quick response, I just love your blog!
Sara Faye Crumrine says
Hello
I live on five acres of pine ( lodgepole ) trees and I'm super excited to make these for Christmas gifts... Question. I would like to use vegetable oil instead of coconut oil.... Is this doable?
Melissa says
Wow Melanie! These were the coolest cookies I've ever made!
Sarah says
I had no idea that pine needles were edible! You're right—we have an over abundance of them here in the PNW—I'll have to "harvest" some next time I'm out in the woods!
A Virtual Vegan says
You can't beat free food! It's a great project for those adorable kiddos of yours too :O)
Mary Ellen says
I had never thought about eating pine needles before but these were delicious!
Dianne says
This is such a fun recipe!