Spiced Rum Glazed Butter Cookies with Apricots

Spiced rum brushed on warm shortbread. That’s the whole thing. Dough comes together in maybe ten minutes, bakes in under half an hour, and you’ve got these buttery little discs that taste like they took hours. They didn’t.

Why You’ll Love These Rhum Glazed Raisin Sablés

Takes 40 minutes total — 15 to prep, 25 in the oven. Vegan butter works exactly like real butter here. Not a compromise. Better, honestly. The glaze soaks into the warm cookies instead of sitting on top like frosting. You get this glossy, almost candied surface that stays tender all the way through. Makes about two dozen. Keeps for days in an airtight container, tastes better the next day. And they’re homemade shortbread from scratch — sounds fancy, tastes fancy, but the dough’s just flour, butter, sugar, and spiced rum.

What You Need for Homemade Sablés Recipe

All-purpose flour. 105 grams. Unbleached works best. A pinch of salt — actually a real pinch, not whatever you think that means. Ground cinnamon. Just a quarter teaspoon. Vegan butter. 100 grams, softened to the point where your thumb leaves a dent. Granulated sugar. 90 grams. Spiced rum. Two tablespoons total — one goes in the dough, one in the glaze. Vanilla extract. Half a teaspoon. Chopped dried apricots. A quarter cup. Not raisins, despite the name — apricots work better, stay chewier. Icing sugar. A third cup. That’s all.

How to Make Rum and Raisin Shortbread Cookies

Set your oven rack to the middle position. Preheat to 350°F. Line a baking tray with parchment or silicone. You need this — they’ll stick otherwise.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cinnamon. Set it aside. In a larger bowl, beat the vegan butter and sugar together until it goes light and fluffy. Takes about two minutes with a hand mixer. Three if you’re doing it by hand. You’ll see it pale slightly. That’s when you know it’s ready. Add the spiced rum and vanilla. Mix until you can’t see the liquid anymore. Pour the dry mix into the wet mix slowly — don’t dump it all at once or you’ll have flour clouds everywhere. Fold it in gently. Once it’s mostly combined, fold in the chopped apricots. Don’t overmix. The dough should come together but still feel slightly loose.

Using a 15 ml scoop — that’s a tablespoon if you don’t have the actual tool — portion out the dough onto your counter. Roll each piece into a ball using lightly floured palms. Space them about an inch apart on the tray. They won’t spread much, but they will spread.

How to Get Rum Glazed Shortbread Crispy and Perfect

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. The edges should turn light golden. Watch closely in the last five minutes — that’s where things go from perfect to overdone in about ninety seconds. While the cookies bake, mix the icing sugar with the spiced rum. You want it smooth but still thick enough to brush on without running off the cookie. Takes a minute of stirring, maybe less.

The moment the cookies come out of the oven, brush the glaze on generously. It’ll soak right in because they’re still warm. Let them sit on the tray for ten minutes. They’ll firm up slightly. Apply a second coat of glaze. This part matters — one coat feels thin. Two coats gets you that candied look. Let them cool completely on a wire rack. Don’t stack them or move them while they’re still warm. They’ll crack.

Vegan Shortbread Tips and Common Mistakes

Softened vegan butter matters more than you think. Cold butter won’t cream properly, and you’ll end up with dense, gritty cookies. Room temperature. Soft enough that you can push your thumb into it.

Don’t skip the second glaze coat. I tried it once with just one. Too subtle. Two coats and you actually taste the rum.

The apricots shouldn’t be finely chopped — just roughly cut into small pieces. They need texture. If you do use raisins instead, soak them in rum for five minutes first. They’re dryer and they’ll pull moisture out of the dough.

Cinnamon. Don’t double it. A quarter teaspoon is enough. More and it tastes like you’re eating a spice cookie, not a buttery shortbread with cinnamon in the background.

Store them once they’re completely cold. If you put them away warm, the residual heat creates condensation in the container and they go soft and weird. Cold first. Then the container.

Spiced Rum Glazed Butter Cookies with Apricots

By Emma Kitchen

Prep:

15 min

Cook:

25 min

Total:

40 min

Servings:

22 biscuits

Ingredients

• 105 g (¾ cup) all-purpose flour unbleached
• 1 pinch salt
• 100 g (7 tbsp) unsalted vegan butter softened
• 90 g (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) granulated sugar
• 20 ml (1 tbsp + 1 tsp) spiced rum
• 2.5 ml (½ tsp) vanilla extract
• 35 g (¼ cup) chopped dried apricots
• 1.5 ml (¼ tsp) ground cinnamon
• GLAZING
• 50 g (⅓ cup) icing sugar
• 25 ml (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) spiced rum

Method

1. PREP
2. 1 Set oven rack mid-level. Preheat oven 175 °C (350 °F). Line baking tray with parchment or silicone mat.
3. 2 In medium bowl, whisk flour, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
4. 3 In large bowl, beat vegan butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add spiced rum and vanilla extract, mix well.
5. 4 Slowly incorporate dry mix into wet. Fold in chopped apricots carefully.
6. 5 Using 15 ml scoop, portion dough. Roll into balls with lightly floured palms. Place spaced on tray.
7. BAKING
8. 6 Bake for 22–25 minutes or until edges turn light golden - watch closely near end.
9. GLAZING
10. 7 While baking, mix icing sugar with spiced rum till smooth.
11. 8 Immediately remove cookies from oven. Brush top surface generously. Let rest 10 minutes.
12. 9 Apply second glaze layer. Cool completely on wire rack.
13. 10 Store in airtight container once cold.

Nutritional information

Calories

110

Protein

1g

Carbs

14g

Fat

6g

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Frequently Asked Questions About Homemade Sablés Recipe

Can I use regular butter instead of vegan butter? Yeah. Same amount. Vegan butter and dairy butter have different water content sometimes, so the dough might be slightly softer or stiffer, but it’ll work. Taste difference is basically nothing.

What if I don’t have spiced rum? Use regular rum. Add a tiny pinch of nutmeg and clove to the glaze. Or just use vanilla rum. Not the same, but it works.

Do these cookies need to be refrigerated? No. Airtight container at room temperature. They keep for about five days. Sometimes longer. Haven’t had them last that long without getting eaten.

Can I make the dough ahead? Make it, wrap it, refrigerate it. Bake it whenever. The dough actually develops more flavor after a day. Roll and bake from cold — they might take an extra minute, but nothing breaks.

Why does the glaze soak in instead of sitting on top? The cookies are still hot when the glaze goes on. Heat opens everything up. Cold cookies and cold glaze just sit there. Doesn’t work the same way.

What size should the cookie balls be? Fifteen milliliters. A tablespoon. If you eyeball it and they’re roughly the size of a marble, you’re fine. Bake time might shift by a minute or two depending on actual size, but watch for the golden edges.