These right here, are truly the perfect vegan sugar cookies! Let me explain why:
- They are super easy to prepare. Just 9 easy ingredients to make the cookie dough.
- Unlike most sugar cookies, these actually taste delicious. They are soft, sweet, buttery perfection.
- The dough works perfectly with cookie cutters making them a fun cookie to shape and decorate however you like!
This vegan sugar cookie dough works beautifully for any kind of cookie cutter. If you want to attempt detailed snowflake cookie cutters or simpler kid-friendly Christmas cookie cutters, these cookies will hold up. If it's not the holiday season, you can use any kind of cookie cutter to create whatever shape you like, hearts, animals, letters, or numbers, making them perfect vegan sugar cookie for any time of year!
What I love most about these vegan sugar cookies is that they are not only great for cookie cutters, but they actually taste good. I find so many cut-out cookies are just hard and flavourless. The key that I learned from Sally's Baking Addiction is to use both vanilla extract and almond extract to really enhance the flavours. The result is sweet, light, soft, buttery, and totally addictive (Sally was right about that addiction thing).
To make perfect vegan sugar cookies:
Whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
Mix together the chia or flax with the water in a small bowl and let thicken. Then add that along with the remaining wet ingredients to a bowl, and beat the wet ingredients together until they are soft and fluffy.
Then add the wet into dry and mix until a dough is formed.
For the vegan butter, I used Earth Balance Buttery Spread, but I have found that sometimes the moisture levels in vegan butters are different, so if your dough does not come together, add up to 1 tablespoon of water until the dough just comes together.
Collect the dough into a ball, and place it between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll the dough out until it's ¼ inch thick. Put the parchment paper covered dough on a baking tray and pop it in the freezer for 15 minutes, or in the fridge for 30 minutes. This cools the dough, so the cookies are easy to cut out, and they will hold their shape in the oven.
Once cooled, remove the top piece of parchment and cut out your cookies. Re-roll the remaining dough and cut out more cookies, cooling the dough if needed. Bake the cookies until just lightly golden underneath. Let cool completely before icing.
To make the icing, mix together the powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons of plant-based milk or water. Add more liquid as needed until desired consistency is reached. Mix in vegan food colouring as desired.
Use a piping bag or a plastic bag with the corner cut off to decorate your cookies as you like! Have fun 🙂
ICING TIPS:
- For an extra white icing, I find using full-fat coconut milk as the liquid in the icing works best.
- The icing recipe makes enough to lightly decorate the cookies. If you want to heavily decorate them (like I did), double the recipe.
- Try not to eat them all before you finished icing them!
Common Questions:
- What food coloring is vegan? Most food coloring listed as "natural" is vegan because they are derived from plants. There is an exception though: carmine. Carmine is not vegan as it contains "cochineal", which is derived from bugs. Be sure to read and research the ingredients list before purchasing just to be safe 🙂
- Can I freeze sugar cookies? Yes. The best way to freeze sugar cookies is to wait form them to thaw, then either freeze them wrapped on a baking sheet in a single layer, or in an air-tight container. If stored in the freezer correctly, they should last for about 3 months.
- Are these sugar cookies gluten-free? Unfortunately, this is not as it recipe contains all-purpose flour.
Bon appetegan!
Sam
Perfect Vegan Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients:
- 1 tablespoons ground chia or ground flax
- 3 tablespoons water
- ¾ cup vegan butter
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-4 teaspoons plant-based milk or water
- A few drops of food colouring, (optional)
Instructions
To make vegan sugar cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
- In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flax or chia, and the water and set aside to thicken which will be almost instant if using chia, but take about 10 minutes if using flax.
- In a third bowl beat the vegan butter and sugar together until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining wet ingredients including the flax or chia mixture, and mix well. Add the wet mixture into dry and combine until a dough is formed. I used Earth Balance vegan butter, but I have found that sometimes the moisture levels in vegan butters are different, so if your dough does not come together, add up to 1 tablespoon of water until the dough just comes together.
- Put the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it out to about ¼ inch thick. Now pop it onto a baking tray and chill the rolled dough in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the fridge for 30 minutes. Once chilled, cut your cookie shapes and lay them on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Re-roll remaining dough until it’s all used up, chilling in between if needed. Bake 8 - 11 minutes.
To make the icing:
- Add the powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons of plant-based milk or water, and food colouring if using, to a bowl. Mix together. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons more plant-based milk or water if needed to reach desired consistency. Let cookies cool completely before decorating.
Notes
- For an extra white icing, I find using full-fat coconut milk as the liquid in the icing works best.
- The icing recipe makes enough to lightly decorate the cookies. If you want to heavily decorate them (like I did), double the recipe.
- Try not to eat them all before you finished icing them!
Nutrition
Lori O says
Just finished making these!
Thank you, thank you! Needed some cheery holiday cookies, and these are it!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!
Kelly says
Hello! Do you offer a high-altitude adjustment? I live at 6k above sea level and I would love to be able to make these cookies! Thanks! 🙂
Nicole says
Terrible. Dough didn’t form at all and followed the recipe.
A says
Hi, Just a note. White granulated sugar is not considered vegan. To get it white, it is processed through bone char.
Courtenay says
Organic white cane sugar and white beet sugar are both vegan.
Elaine says
Could I add more vanilla extract and leave out the almond extract?
Lesly says
can I use bananas instead of sugar?
Francesca says
Do you have to use flax or chia? It’s not something easily available where I live!
Vienna says
Yes, I find it is necessary as it helps the cookies not fall apart and replaces the egg. I hear applesauce also works keeping things together in replace of eggs, flax, or chia as a binding agent. I've tried applesauce in other cookies and it works great but I never tried it in sugar cookies before! This is just my experience 🙂
Bet says
This was also my question! Lol can I just use egg replacer? I definitely have that lol
joe says
I found out that if the flax seeds and water are boiled for a few seconds they thicken more and instantly.
Nancy says
Hello! Making these tomorrow and wondered if I could just form these into a roll (like I do for many of my Christmas cookies that I don’t cut out) pop in the freezer and just slice and bake the next morning???
Thanks!
Nancy
Sam Turnbull says
Yep, that should work just fine 🙂
Suzanne says
Hi Sam,
I love your recipes!! I am going to make sugar cookies for my students at school and have them decorate them. I noticed you have 2 slightly different sugar cookie and frosting recipes. Which do you think would be better for the kids for decorating?
Thanks so much!
Suzanne
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Suzanne, this recipe is cut out cookies intended for decorating. The soft frosted sugar cookies are more of a cake texture and do not work for cut outs or decorating.
Will says
Hello! Is the calories listed per cookie, or per serving size of the recipe (24)?
Sam Turnbull says
1 cookie. THe recipe makes 24 cookies
Nguyen T. Diane says
Thank you Sam, the cookies look lovely and delicious ! Greetings from France 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Awesome! Greetings from Canada 😉
Empty Cup says
These cookies are so delicious! We just made the recipe exactly how you posted with no mods. However, one batch isn't enough for us mad cookie lovers. I know we could just make another batch, but would it change the recipe to double it in one batch?
Sam Turnbull says
So thrilled you enjoyed! You can absolutely double the recipe, just make sure to double everything exactly. You can actually just change the serving size number in the recipe and it will adjust all the ingredients for you 🙂
Valeria Ruiz says
Do I use hand mixer to mix wet and dry ingredients to create the dough or do you suggest forming the dough with hands?
Sam Turnbull says
Either way would work but I find by hand easiest.
Alicia says
Hi Sam,
These look amazing.
Can I use a type of oil instead of vegan butter. We don’t get many vegan products here in Zimbabwe.
Sam Turnbull says
You could use solid coconut oil. 🙂
Shannon says
Do you use the Earth Balance that comes in a tub or do you use the sticks that come in a cardboard box?
Sam Turnbull says
Tub 🙂
Shannon says
Thanks!
Sarah says
My daughter and I made these this weekend as a trial run for Christmas. My husband and I wanted to find a great vegan recipe that we could use for our family tradition of baking and decorating cookies with our kids. We definitely found a winner. Thank you so much for sharing. The cookies are soft, chewy, and delicious!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!!! SO happy to hear that 🙂
Kelly says
Hi Sam, I am thinking about using this recipe as a crust for pumpkin pie bars. Do you think these cookies would be too soft to use as a crust or base? would you recommend par baking the cookie crust before adding the filling? if this recipe is not the best fit, do you have a cookie crust recipe?
thanks!!
Jamie-lee says
Just after a tip, i have been asked to make vegan iced cookies for an 18th. After reading these comments i will deffinetly be using this recipe. How do you store them so they stay fresh.In the fridge or just a container?
Sam Turnbull says
Once the icing is set, you can store them in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or they freeze well too. Enjoy!
Eve Juj says
These were great. My daughter is alergic to most dairy produts and has always wanted a sugar cookie. We love your recipies so much they sre delicious!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!! Thrilled you love it so much, Eve 🙂
Emily says
I made these last weekend, except with hearts for Valentine’s Day. I’m usually not a sugar cookie person, but they were SO good. My non-vegan family loved them. My sister ate a total of 9 over the course of one day. I recommend these to anyone - will be making again!
Sam Turnbull says
Hahaha! Love it!!! So happy they were such a hit, Emily 🙂