Nothing says fall or winter like soft vegan sugar cookies. These frosted cookies are perfect for a dreary afternoon in the warm kitchen, any time of year. They'll impress your guests, and limit the mess.
Sugar cookies not your thing? Check out these chocolate chunk cookies or kitchen sink cookies. Want something else frosted? This carrot cake bread is divine or try these super simple vegan chickpea cookie dough balls.
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📋 Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- Softened unsalted vegan butter (such as Miyoko's). Soften for 1-2 hours at room temp. Vegan butter melts faster than dairy butter.
- Vegetable oil
- Granulated sugar - classic for a sugar cookie
- Powdered sugar - for a soft cookie
- Aquafaba aka juice from a can of chickpeas or light beans. It is a FANTASTIC egg replacer for cookies
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- Coconut milk
Dry ingredients:
- Cake flour for a more delicate crumb
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
Frosting:
- Softened unsalted vegan butter (such as Miyoko's) - see above
- Powdered sugar
- Coconut milk (for thinning as needed)
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- Salt
- Food coloring (not pictured)
Optional:
- Vegan sprinkles - Sweetapolita has a great collection of vegan sprinkles!
For the complete list of ingredients with measurements and instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
🔀 Substitutions & Variations
This recipe is already vegan and naturally, dairy free. I do not suggest making many alterations. Baking is a science!
If you're looking for a non-vegan version of this cookie, Sarah and Sofi from Broma Bakery do a fantastic job!
If you need a gluten-free variation (though not vegan), Daniela from The Gluten Free Austrian will have something to satisfy your cookie craving. She is a professional pastry chef, after all.
If you're not a fan of almond extract, you can leave it out or replace with the same amount of lemon extract in the cookie for a different vibe. It already has some vanilla, so you're set!
Equipment
For these soft vegan sugar cookies, you'll need:
- Measuring cups & spoons
- 2 mixing bowls for wet and dry ingredients, and later on, frosting
- Metal sheet trays lined with parchment paper (or nonstick sheet trays)
- Hand mixer for beating cookie dough and frosting
- Ice cream scoop for scooping uniform dough balls
- Offset spatula for frosting cookies (a regular knife or spoon also works)
- Cooling rack
🔪 How To Make This Recipe
Let's get into it!
First, prepare dry ingredients. Combine cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl and stir gently to combine. Set aside.
Now prepare wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, beat softened unsalted vegan butter and vegetable oil with hand mixer until smooth and homogenous.
Add granulated sugar, powdered sugar and beat until combined. Then add aquafaba, vanilla, almond extract and coconut milk and mix again. It's ok if it looks a little wet.
In two batches, add dry ingredients to wet, mixing in between. Form into golf ball sized scoops, and chill for at least 10 minutes.
Place balls onto a lined cookie sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not flatten the dough balls - they will spread as they bake.
There is a very fine line between under-baking and over-baking these soft vegan sugar cookies. They should not have any golden brown color around the edges. When they come out of the oven, the top should be barely set - if you touch the top of the cookie, it may jiggle slightly, but you shouldn’t be able to see where you touched it.
Using a hand mixer, beat all frosting ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl until homogenous. Add food coloring and mix until you have your desired color.
Once cookies have cooled completely, frost using a knife or offset spatula. Finally, add sprinkles. Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Hint: it is OK to underbake these cookies a little bit - we aren't dealing with raw eggs, so the dough is safe to eat as well!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
Pro Tip 1: Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 15 mins before baking, otherwise the dough will be too runny. When in doubt, under-bake these cookies for a soft result. They're vegan, so there's no danger from raw eggs.
Pro Tip 2: Store the cookies in the refrigerator until ready to eat. They will survive on the counter at room temp, but do not cover with plastic as it will stick to the frosting. I have a cake container that converts to a cookie container that I use.
💭 FAQs
There are a few good replacements for eggs in cookies. Aquafaba and flax eggs are two of the best. Aquafaba is the juice from a can of chickpeas, and flax eggs are made by combining ground flaxseeds with water. This recipe uses aquafaba. In general, 3 tablespoons of aquafaba equals one egg, while 2 tablespoons equals one egg white.
If you plans to adapt a non-vegan recipe, don't forget you may need to play around with the leavener ratio. In this case, we increased the amount of baking powder.
Vegan butter has a different melting point than dairy butter. So it melts more quickly when squeezed out of a piping bag.
While adding more sugar sometimes help, it can result in a dessert that is too sweet.
To keep frosting from melting, there are a few things you can do. First, turn down the AC - it does make a difference! Second, handle icing as little as possible, especially in a piping bag. Third, store frosted treats in the refrigerator.
🍜 Related Recipes
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Soft Vegan Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ⅓ cup Softened Unsalted Vegan Butter such as Miyoko's
- 2 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
- ¾ Cup Granulated Sugar
- ¾ Cup Powdered Sugar
- 3 tablespoon Aquafaba juice from a can of chickpeas or light beans
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅛ teaspoon Almond Extract
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Milk
- 2 cups Cake Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
Frosting:
- ½ Cup Softened Unsalted Vegan Butter such as Miyoko's
- 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 tablespoon Coconut Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅛ teaspoon Almond Extract
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Food coloring
- 1 Tbs Vegan sprinkles Optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir gently to combine. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat softened unsalted vegan butter and vegetable oil with an electric hand mixer until smooth and homogenous. Add granulated sugar, powdered sugar, aquafaba, vanilla, almond extract and coconut milk and beat until combined.
- In two batches, add dry ingredients to wet, mixing in between. Form into golf ball sized scoops, and chill for at least 10 minutes.
- Place balls onto a lined cookie sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not flatten the dough balls - they will spread as they bake. There is a very fine line between underbaking and overbaking these cookies. They should not have any golden brown color around the edges. When they come out of the oven, the top should be barely set - if you touch the top of the cookie, it may jiggle slightly, but you shouldn’t be able to see where you touched the cookie.
- Using a hand mixer, beat all frosting ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl until homogenous. Add food coloring and mix until you have your desired color.
- Once cookies have cooled completely, frost using a knife or offset spatula, then add sprinkles on top if desired. Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Angela Milnes says
Though a little tricky to get right, 10/10 worth the effort.