Colorful and fun vegan sugar cookies. These soft and chewy sugar cookies are super easy and perfect for any occasion.
You know, I love simple recipes. Whenever I consider any recipe, the first thing I’m thinking of is what ingredients I can remove and how I can simplify it.
When it comes to these vegan sugar cookies, I wanted to make the easiest version I could think of.
And this is it!
Even the frosting decoration is so simple it’s ridiculous.
Sugar cookies are usually soft cookies and these are no exception. But if you prefer more crunch to your cookies, then just bake them a few minutes longer.
Almond Extract
Sugar cookies also often use a little almond extract, just a touch, to bring out the flavors and add just a little hint of something extra.
However, if you use too much you will get a bit of a marzipan vibe. And if you’re not a fan of the marzipan, you will not be charmed.
In fact, even if you use the exact right amount of almond extract there might still be the faintest hint of marzipan that comes through. So again, if you don’t like marzipan, I would just leave this ingredient out.
For everyone else who is happy for that slightest of slightest hints of marzipan to come through, carry right on.
Decorating Frosting
The decorating frosting is just an easy mix of powdered sugar, non-dairy milk and vanilla. I separated it into two bowls and added a drop of food coloring (red and blue) to each.
I used so little that the red food coloring colored the frosting pink instead of red and I was pretty fond of the pink and blue vibe.
This is definitely an occasion where you could use a few drops of beet juice for a natural food coloring if you don’t want to use regular food dye. But of course that will only work for the pink and not the blue. But in that case you could just do pink and white instead.
This kind of frosting is a decorating only frosting, I didn’t add any vegan butter to it, so it ends up with a very gluey kind of texture. It’s not the easily spreadable texture of a regular frosting. It’s perfect for decorating though as it dries quickly and it stays in place. It’s the same frosting I used to paint the eyes and mouths on my vegan gingerbread cookies.
Want To Frost The Whole Cookie?
Sometimes you want to frost your sugar cookies completely, and not just do a decorating drizzle, and if that is the case, then I would suggest you use the frosting from our vegan chocolate sugar cookies.
We frosted those completely, and added decorating sprinkles, and that was fun! And looked cute, if a little messy. Decorating things is not one of my strengths.
So you can do the same with these, frost them completely using that frosting recipe and then add sprinkles and decorations and anything you like!
Tips For The Best Vegan Sugar Cookies
Measure the flour correctly. It’s definitely a good idea to weigh your flour so you make sure you use the right amount.
Flour is a tricky measure to get perfectly accurate so either weigh it, or use the spoon and level method (the correct method for measuring flour when using cups). Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level it off with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup.
The cookies puff up a little when baked. You can see this in the pictures above with our before baking and after baking shot. They do puff up a little.
So if you need this to NOT happen, like if you are making very precise shapes and can’t have them puff much (or at all), then cut out the shapes as normal and place onto your parchment lined tray. Then place the whole tray into the freezer for 15 minutes. Then bake them as usual. This prevents them from puffing up when baking.
Recipe FAQ
Can I make these gluten-free? I haven’t tried with these particular cookies, but I have made certain other of my cookie recipes gluten-free with just a simple swap from regular all purpose flour to a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. And it generally works great.
What can I use instead of vegan butter? We have had readers comment that they used coconut oil and it worked well. You could also try making your own homemade vegan butter. I have used that successfully in a couple of my other cookie recipes.
What can I use instead of the almond extract? You can just leave it out.
Can I make these in advance? Sure, you can make up the dough and then leave it in the fridge for 3 days and then roll out as normal and cut out your cookies. You can also freeze the dough and then let it thaw overnight in the fridge and then use it as normal.
Storing and Freezing
Keep your cookies stored in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week. They can also be stored in the fridge.
They are freezer friendly for up to 3 months. The cookies can be frozen with or without decorating frosting.
More Vegan Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Shortbread Cookies
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
The Easiest Vegan Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- ¾ cups White Granulated Sugar (150g)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Almond Extract
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 2 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
For the Decorating Frosting:
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar (120g)
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)
- Cream the vegan butter and sugar together and then add the vanilla extract and almond extract.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking soda and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix in by hand until crumbly. Add soy milk and mix in to create a big ball of dough. If your mix is too crumbly to form a ball of dough, add in a little more soy milk until it does.
- Flour your hands and a baking mat and transfer the ball of dough to the baking mat.
- Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to around ¼ inch thick, dip a cookie cutter into flour so it doesn't stick and cut out your cookies. Transfer the cookies to a parchment lined baking tray. With the remaining dough, form it into a ball and then roll it out again and repeat.
- If you want round cookies and don’t want to make shapes, then you don’t need to roll out the dough, you can simply tear off pieces of the dough and roll into balls and place the balls onto a parchment lined baking tray. Flour the bottom of a glass and use that to press down on the balls to flatten them neatly before baking.
- Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before decorating.
- Prepare your decorating frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vanilla and soy milk to an electric mixing bowl. Start on low speed and gradually increase speed until smooth. If you need a little more soy milk then add it a drop at a time so that you don’t use too much. The consistency will be very sticky, almost gluey. Separate into 2 bowls. Add a drop of food coloring into each bowl and mix in.
- Decorate the cookies and allow to set before serving.
Video
Notes
- Almond extract – can be omitted if you prefer.
- Flour – should be measured correctly, either by weighing it on a food scale or using the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup.
- Frosting – the decorating frosting can also just be mixed up by hand in a bowl, you don’t have to use the stand mixer.
- Storing: Keep your cookies stored in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week. They can also be stored in the fridge.
- Freezing: They are freezer friendly for up to 3 months. The cookies can be frozen with or without decorating frosting.
Evie says
Soooo delicious! I used coconut oil instead of vegan spread (1:1 ratio) and they came out perfect.. crisp on the outside yet soft in the middle ? Thank you! X
Alison Andrews says
Oh! So good to know! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Maria says
They were delicious!! What an easy, awesome and tasty recipe, thank you! My 5 year old son wanted to bake after school so I needed a quick and easy recipe and this one was just perfect, we had our dough to start rolling in no time at all (of course it was a huge advantage that I also had all the ingredients at home). I did add a tiny bit more of salt, I changed the milk for thick oat cream and by accident poured a bit too much of almond extract…but next time I’ll do it exactly the same way I did this time because they are just so good they’re hard to resist! 🙂
Alison Andrews says
That’s wonderful! Oat cream sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Maria Ahlberg says
My pleasure! 🙂
Jody says
Hi, I want to make these today but I only have coconut oil. Also, would turbinado sugar work well with this recipe? I thought maybe I’d mix it with the vanilla extract first to get it somewhat dissolved then the coconut oil.
I plan to make icing with pink dragon fruit haha!
Alison Andrews says
Hey Jody! Any type of sugar that’s granulated should work just fine. A coconut oil swap has worked well according to comments on other cookie recipes of mine, so I guess it should work for this one too, though I haven’t tried it myself. All the best!
Melody says
My mixture has come out really crumbly and wouldn’t stay in a ball long enough to roll out. I followed all the instructions but am wondering what happened to make it just crumble? Should I have added more milk??
Alison Andrews says
Yes, definitely add more milk Melody. I’ll add a note to the recipe. If ever it’s crumbly and not doing what it’s supposed to – add more milk (just a tiny bit at a time) until you get the right consistency. The differences come in with the different brands of vegan butter, sometimes you just need a little more (or even a little less) non-dairy milk.
Jennifer says
I have a tree nuts allergy, can I use vanilla extract rather than almond extract?
Alison Andrews says
Sure! Or you can just leave it out as well if you like.
Amy says
do you think almond milk would work instead of soy milk?
Alison Andrews says
Yes!
Talia says
I’m curious if you’ve ever added food colouring (liquid or gel) and if so, whether it has worked out okay? I’m wanting to make purple cookies!
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t tried it with this recipe, but I often use food coloring in cakes, so I think it would work out great! You might have to experiment with how much to add in to get the right shade of purple that you’re going for. I haven’t ever used gels, I tend to use the liquid food coloring. To keep the ratios right between wet and dry ingredients, you could replace some (or all, depending on how much you use) of the soy milk with the food coloring. All the best!
Alison Andrews says
Yay!! ?
Misha says
Thanks for the wonderful recipe! Made them for my sister and she loved them!
Erin says
Turned out great, have bookmarked this as my new go-to vegan cookie recipe. I wasn’t able to chill the dough before cutting out shapes, but was really pleased with the results, as the cookies held their shape well!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Erin, awesome to hear! I never chill the dough as I’m too impatient for that generally! So happy they worked out well for you! 🙂
Stef says
These look amazing, I can’t wait to test them out!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Stef! 🙂
Sabrina says
This looks delish. Do you think palm shortening would work well in place of the vegan butter?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Sabrina, I have never used shortening, so I can’t really say! From what I’ve read online it seems it can be a direct replacement for butter in recipes but may affect the flavor, especially in things like cookies. So maybe a good idea to replace just half the butter first and see how that goes and then increase from there if it goes well.
Renee Anderson says
Do I have to cut these into shapes? I just want round cookies, but I don’t have a cookie cutter big enough for the size cookie I am trying to achieve. When I make chocolate chip cookies, I just use my cookie scoop and scoop onto my cookie sheet.
Thank you!!
Alison Andrews says
No, they can be round, the recipe has directions for this. Just roll into balls! All the best!
Majken says
Finally! I have been searching for a good vegan sugar cookie recipe to try! Do you have any tips for making them gluten-free?
Can’t wait to try!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! I am planning to try a gluten-free version of these myself sometime! But I haven’t experimented yet, so I’m not quite sure what I would change for gluten-free. Off the top of my head I would say definitely use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend, and then maybe increase the vegan butter by a couple of tablespoons and/or use a couple of tablespoons of applesauce. Gluten-free flours absorb more moisture so if you do a straight swap the baked goods often end up too dry, so that has to be accounted for by increasing the wet ingredients slightly or adding in something like applesauce. Anyway if you do try it, let us know how it goes! All the best!
Yosse says
They sell a gluten free flour on the baking isle
Anna Andrews says
Easy to make, yet tasty and a delightful gift!