Vegan Sugar Cookies - The BEST Easy Recipe! (2024)

This recipe for the perfect frosted vegan sugar cookies is soft, chewy, fluffy, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

Vegan Sugar Cookies - The BEST Easy Recipe! (1)

The best vegan sugar cookie recipe

With no butter, no eggs, and no dairy required, people are always amazed at just how wonderful these buttery sugar cookies taste.

Plus, unlike many other vegan sugar cookie recipes, this one can be made with only basic cookie ingredients.

In fact, you may already have everything in your kitchen needed to make the chewy vegan cookies for dessert tonight.

And yes, the recipe totally works with cookie cutters!

Also try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Vegan Lofthouse sugar cookies

Have you ever tried a Lofthouse sugar cookie?

These soft homemade vegan sugar cookies are sure to remind you of the cake-like decorated sugar cookies you can find at the grocery store.

They are perfect for Valentine’s Day, Christmas cookie trays, birthday parties, holiday parties, or simply just because.

The recipe is also easy to customize.

I will often add a few drops of almond extract, coconut extract, pure peppermint extract, or maple extract for a fun flavor twist.

Or turn them into vegan chai cookies by stirring a sprinkle of cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, ginger, and ground cloves into the batter before adding the liquid ingredients.

You might also like this Vegan Cheesecake – No Cashews

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Ingredients for vegan sugar cookies

The cookies require no flax eggs or chia eggs, just everyday sugar cookie ingredients.

To make the recipe, you will need flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, oil or dairy free butter, nondairy milk, and pure vanilla extract.

Tested flour options that work include white all purpose flour, oat flour, and whole grain spelt flour, which is my favorite. Do not use almond flour or coconut flour.

For dairy free and gluten free sugar cookies, use oat flour. I have not tried all purpose gluten free flour, so be sure to report back for other readers if you experiment.

If you prefer a grain free and paleo option, try these Keto Cookies.

Another granulated sweetener can be substituted for white sugar, including refined sugar free coconut sugar, date sugar, or a no sugar option like xylitol. Pure maple syrup and agave are options we have not tried and therefore cannot recommend.

These sugar cookies can either be oil free or made without vegan butter. Even when using real sugar and vegan butter, they only have about 70 calories each.

The oil version, which uses melted coconut oil or vegetable oil, will have more of a crispy, shortbread texture, while the plantbased butter version is softer.

Both options are really good, so it is entirely your choice.

Finally, milk of choice refers to any vegan milk alternative. You may use oat milk, soy milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, almond milk, or whatever you have in the refrigerator.

Trending Right Now: Vegan Brownies

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Easy step by step recipe video

Above – Watch the vegan sugar cookie recipe video

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How to make egg free sugar cookies

Get out a large mixing bowl, and add all dry ingredients to the bowl.

Mix these ingredients very well before adding the oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir everything together to form a sugar cookie dough.

The dough should look dry at first. Keep stirring, and it will achieve a cookie dough texture after about a minute of stirring. You can also use a stand mixer if you own one.

Either smush the dough into one giant ball and then roll into cookie balls, or transfer the dough to a gallon sized bag and form a ball from inside the bag.

If you are not ready to bake right away, you can make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate overnight or for a few days.

When ready to bake cookies, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fold the Ziploc in half, then roll out the dough inside until it takes up the entirety of the other half of the bag.

Cut open the bag, and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.

Place the sugar cookie shapes on a baking tray. Bake on the center rack of a properly calibrated oven for eleven minutes.

The cookies should look underdone when you remove them from the oven. Let the pan cool for at least ten minutes before handling the cookies, because they continue to firm up as they cool.

To prevent the frosting from melting, make sure the cookies are no longer hot before adding any icing.

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Plant based sugar cookie frosting recipe

If you want to cut out the sugar cookies and add icing, feel free to use your favorite buttercream or vanilla frosting recipe.

Below is the icing I used, adapted from my Easy Cinnamon Rolls.

Beat room temperature 8 oz store bought or homemade vegan cream cheese with 4 oz vegan butter spread, 2 cups powdered sugar, and 1 tsp pure vanilla extract.

Add a little milk of choice as needed.

Or for a healthier option, you can frost the sugar cookies with melted Coconut Butter and add sweetener of choice as desired or even mashed banana. I opted to garnish the finished cookies with rainbow sprinkles for presentation.

(Note: the cookies can also be rolled into balls an flattened a little before baking if you want thicker cookies instead of cut outs.)

*Here’s a recipe for Vegan Snickerdoodles

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Vegan Sugar Cookies

This easy vegan sugar cookies recipe is soft, chewy, fluffy, and delicious!

Vegan Sugar Cookies - The BEST Easy Recipe! (9)

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Print Recipe

Cook Time 11 minutes minutes

Total Time 11 minutes minutes

Yield 15 -20 cookies

5 from 327 votes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour (spelt, white, or oat flour) Or make these Keto Cookies
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar (unrefined if desired)
  • 6 tbsp oil or melted vegan butter
  • 1 1/2 tbsp milk of choice
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

  • *If you want to frost the cookies, feel free to use your favorite icing. The frosting recipe I used is written out earlier in this post. And if you’re a visual person, be sure to watch the video above that shows how to make the cookies!

    Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients to form a dough. It will be dry at first but should turn into cookie dough within a minute of stirring. Either smush dough into a big ball and then roll into cookie balls, or transfer to a gallon-sized ziploc and smush into a ball from inside the bag. If desired, you can refrigerate the dough overnight or even for a few days. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 F. Fold the bag in half, then roll the dough out from inside the bag until it takes up the one half of the bag (as shown in the third photo in this post). Cut open the bag, cut out shapes, and place on a baking tray. Bake 11 minutes. They’ll look a little underdone, so let them cool and do not touch them for at least 10 minutes. Be sure the cookies are completely cooled before frosting them, or the frosting will melt.

    View Nutrition Facts

Notes

Still craving cookies? Try these holiday favorite Snowball Cookies.

Have you made this recipe?

Tag @chocolatecoveredkatie on Instagram

More Holiday Vegan Cookies

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Tahini Cookies

Healthy Pumpkin Cookies

Healthy Cookies Recipes

Coconut Flour Cookies

Vegan Sugar Cookies - The BEST Easy Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making cookies soft and chewy? ›

Cornstarch gives the cookies that ultra soft consistency we all love. Plus, it helps keep the cookies beautifully thick. We use the same trick when making shortbread cookies. Egg yolk: Another way to promise a super chewy chocolate chip cookie is to use an extra egg yolk.

What ingredient makes cookies harder? ›

Baking powder

Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate and acidic salts. The reaction of these two ingredients results in a cookie that is soft and thick, but slightly harder.

What makes sugar cookies puff up? ›

Baking soda encourages spreading while baking powder puffs the cookies up. If your recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of baking soda, you would use 3 to 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Caution: This could result in an unwanted flavor shift.

How to make chewy vs crunchy cookies? ›

Use a higher ratio of white to brown sugar

While brown sugar keeps your cookies moist and soft, white sugar and corn syrup will help your cookies spread and crisp in the oven. Using more white sugar in your cookies will result in a crispier end product.

Should I use baking soda or baking powder in cookies? ›

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

What are 3 factors that contribute to a chewy cookie? ›

The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.

What helps sugar cookies keep their shape? ›

Sandwich your dough between two sheets of parchment, roll, then freeze; it makes cut-out cookies a breeze! If you plan to store it for only a few hours or days, there's no need to overwrap the baking sheet; for longer storage, wrap the entire baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap before freezing.

How do you keep sugar cookie dough from spreading? ›

Chilling cookie dough helps prevent spreading. The colder the dough, the less the cookies will over-spread into greasy puddles. You'll have thicker, sturdier, and more solid cookies. Whenever I make cookies, I plan ahead and chill the cookie dough overnight.

Why do you put corn syrup in cookies? ›

So, when you mix corn syrup into your cookie batter, all of that moisture will make and keep your baked cookies deliciously tender. The texture of cookies benefits from corn syrup as well. As you combine your ingredients to make your cookie batter, corn syrup will pull some of the surrounding air into your batter.

What does cornstarch do in cookies? ›

What does cornstarch do in cookies? Like in this case, when the amount of cornstarch is higher than the flour, the texture of the cookies will get more crumbly, favoring that melt-in-the-mouth texture that we all love.

What is a drop cookie definition? ›

a cookie made by dropping batter from a spoon onto a cookie sheet for baking.

What is the secret ingredient to keep cookies soft? ›

There's an ingredient that will make your cookies extra flexible and soft. It's corn syrup. That's it! That, my friend, is the secret ingredient to the best SOFTEST chocolate chip cookies.

What is the trick to keep baked goods like cookies soft? ›

It may sounds like a myth, but a slice of bread can help soft cookies retain their moisture. Add a slice of bread, along with your baked cookies, to an airtight container and store them at room temperature.

What determines the moistness of a cookie? ›

Butter contributes milk solids and water to a cookie, both of which soften it. Brown sugar contributes molasses – again, a softener. Using lower-moisture sugar (granulated) and fat (vegetable shortening), plus a longer, slower bake than normal, produces light, crunchy cookies.

Why are my cookies hard instead of chewy? ›

According to The Kitchn, this occurs when you over-mix the dough. Mixing the dough naturally causes gluten to develop in the flour, and while you do need a good amount of gluten to give your cookies structure, too much of it will result in hard cookies.

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