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

Vegan Sugar Cookies - The BEST Easy Recipe! (5)

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

Vegan Sugar Cookies - The BEST Easy Recipe! (8)

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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 chewy cookies? ›

Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.

Do vegan cookies contain sugar? ›

In fact, your vegan cookies will probably be just as loaded with sugar as any other cookies. And even if you opt for organic, fresh, or less-processed ingredients in your cookie confection, you cannot avoid the fact that what you are making is a dessert.

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.

What makes sugar cookies too hard? ›

Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want. The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender. → Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they're just incorporated, and not a second longer.

What makes a cookie chewy and not cakey? ›

Melted butter creates cookies with a different texture compared to cookies made with softened or creamed butter. When butter is melted, it coats the flour more evenly, resulting in cookies that are chewier and denser.

What kind of sugar do vegans use? ›

Most vegans consider sugar a generally acceptable food, but strict vegans abstain from refined cane sugars that are likely to have been processed with animal products. They can, however, consume vegan-friendly raw cane sugar, certified-organic cane sugar, and sugar made exclusively from beets.

Why are vegan cookies so good? ›

Reduced Saturated Fats and Cholesterol

One of the standout benefits of plant-based and vegan cookies is the significant reduction in saturated fats and cholesterol. Traditional cookie recipes often incorporate butter and eggs, which contribute to higher levels of saturated fats and cholesterol.

What do vegan cookies not have? ›

These cookies are vegan, so there is no milk, butter or egg in them.

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

Salted butter, softened – I prefer salted butter but you can also use unsalted and add an extra pinch of salt to the dough. Brown sugar – Just brown sugar because we will get the 'granulated sugar' flavor from the corn syrup. Corn syrup – The corn syrup is what makes these cookies CHEWY FOR DAYS.

Does baking soda or powder make cookies chewy? ›

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.

Why 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.

How long should you chill sugar cookie dough? ›

Bake cookies on parchment paper: Sometimes greasing a baking sheet can cause sugar cookies to spread. Instead, use parchment paper to prevent sticking and help the cookies keep their shape. Don't let the dough get warm. Notice the dough needs to be chilled for at least 2 hours.

Why poke holes in sugar cookies? ›

The holes trick

There's also a new technique going around when preventing craters in a second layer of icing: poke holes in the base flood (under the area you'll cover with a second layer of icing). You can even do this when the first layer flood has completely dried!

What happens if you don't chill cookie dough? ›

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

What gives a chewy cookie is chewy texture? ›

Cookies that are dense and chewy incorporate more moisture into the batter. This can be achieved by making substitutions with wet and dry ingredients, or even just changing the way you incorporate certain ingredients. Plus, your particular baking technique and your method of storing cookies can also play a role.

Why don't my cookies come out chewy? ›

Brown sugar—particularly dark brown sugar—makes a cookie chewy; white sugar makes it crispy. If your recipe calls for all white sugar and you want a fudgier result, try swapping out some of the white sugar for brown (go for half and half and adjust from there). You can also use honey or molasses for a chewier cookie.

What makes cookies spread and chewy? ›

6 Reasons Why Your Cookies are Spreading
  1. Room Temperature Butter. If it's too soft, it will melt faster in the oven and ultimately spread out. ...
  2. Excess Sugar and Fat. Measuring is key in baking. ...
  3. Mixing Butter & Sugar. ...
  4. Dough is Too Warm. ...
  5. Greased Cookie Sheets. ...
  6. Warm Cookie Sheets. ...
  7. Oven Temperature. ...
  8. The Test Cookie.

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