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.
Mily says
Hi, I’m not vegan but making cookies for my neighbours as Christmas presents and they are vegan. Your site is lovely and I will definitely try the other recipes. I love the information given above the recipes.
I normally have to keep my cut shapes in the fridge before baking for 10minutes. Will I have to do this with this recipe?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Mily, so glad you like the blog, thank you! I didn’t chill them first, I just baked them right away, but if you want to do that I think it would be fine as well.
Missy says
I wondered how whole wheat pastry flour would impact these and your gingerbread cookies. I love to add fiber, but want a sugar cookie that remains soft and chewy. Thanks for your input!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Missy, I’m really not sure, we don’t get that kind of flour here so I have never used it. Let us know if you try it though and how it works out! 🙂
valerie says
MISSY – I used Whole Wheat Flour, and the cookies were still soft and fluffy!
Ivy says
I’m planning on making these tonight but I don’t have any parchment paper. Do you think I could just grease the pan instead?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Ivy, yes it should be fine or you can just spray the tray with non-stick spray. If you have a silicone baking mat, you can bake directly on those as well. All the best! 🙂
narlbarly says
Made these with pastry flour (rather than all purpose) and omitted the baking soda (as I wanted to ensure that an imprinted pattern would hold/not puff up. Turned out perfect. SO DELICIOUS!
Erika says
“A bit of a marzipan vibe.” LOLOL.
Looking forward to making these!
Alison Andrews says
Hahaha! Hope you enjoy them! 🙂
olga says
Hello! DO you think this could work with coconut oil? I cannot find vegan butter where I live. Thank you so much, I love all of your recipes!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Olga, it might work fine. You can also make your own vegan butter if you like and I have tested that butter with some of my cookie recipes and it worked great! 🙂
Lori says
Do you think colored sugar would stick to these prior to baking?
Alison Andrews says
Yes I think it would stick fine!
Kelly c says
Hi! May I know how long does the icing to harden and firm?
Alison Andrews says
Should be quite quick, if it’s taking longer pop them in the fridge for a few minutes to speed it up.
Azure says
Instead of the almond extract can I replace that with the same amount of maple syrup?
Alison Andrews says
You can just leave it out. 🙂
Karla says
does the frosting harden?
Alison Andrews says
Yes it gets nice and firm on the cookies.
lily says
i just made these cookies as i was craving something sweet and these were just perfect ! i didnt have any almond extract so i don’t add it, and i also didn’t add the salt but it tasted so yummy! my brother however hates coconut, and said it tasted too much of coconut even though i didn’t add any? overall, they were super yummy so thank you very much for such a fab recipe x
Sarah khwaja says
Just made these cookies for the first time today with my 4 year old daughter!! It’s fantastic!
Aparna says
Such a great recipe! I substituted all purpose with whole wheat flour and added a flax egg to make it softer. Had such fun baking with my daughter, who was super excited to cut the shapes out and gobbled up half a dozen cookies as soon as they were out of the oven! Thank you!
Alison Andrews says
That’s fantastic Aparna, so pleased to hear that! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Jay says
The recipe was super simple – made them with my 2.5 yo tonight for the whole family. I might be super sensitive to salt but they seemed to have a salty aftertaste to my wife as well (not as strong of a reaction from her or either child as I had). Can the salt be omitted? I used soy-free Earth Balance butter not sure if that has more salt than other vegan butter. Only other augment I made was no almond extract since I didn’t have any on hand.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jay, so glad you enjoyed the cookies! I think you could omit the salt if it seemed a bit strong to you, or try 1/8 tsp and see if that tastes better to you. Thanks so much for posting! 🙂
S says
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Should the butter be cold or softened? I generally use Earth Balance sticks. Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
I don’t normally worry to, since it’s Earth Balance, as far as I know it doesn’t get super hard in the fridge, it’s still spreadable? I haven’t tried the sticks, I’ve only used the Earth Balance tubs. But I’ve found as long as my vegan butter is the spreadable variety, I usually would just take it from the fridge and then cream it up with the sugar, the process of creaming with the sugar softens it perfectly. The exception would be if it’s a super hard variety, then softening a bit first would be ideal. Hope this answers your question! All the best!
S says
Thanks for the quick response. I like Earth Balance sticks because they are so easy to use, but I will try the spread for this recipe since it works so well for you.
Alison Andrews says
I’m sure the sticks would work great too! 🙂
Martina says
What I like about this recipe : It was so quick and easy to mix these up and the end product was quite yummy.
What I didn’t like : Most recipes are written with the ingredients listed in the order they are used. This one wasn’t, which kept throwing me for a bit of a loop. (I will be the first to admit I am a little loopy even without help, though.)
I question the yield on the recipe. I rolled my dough to 1/8″ thick and used a 2.5″ diameter scalloped circle cookie cutter. My yield was 33 cookies. I am not sure how you got 30 cookies rolling your dough so thick. What size were yours?
What I changed: I have been craving lemon lately, so I added the zest of 1/2 lemon to the cookies. It gave them a bright lemony taste. (I did taste the dough before I added the lemon and I am positive the cookies would have been good plain, just not what I was craving.
I frosted mine with a lemon “cream cheese” frosting.
And one other comment– I don’t know if this is something about the setting on my browser, but this comment section is very difficult to fill out. The text is a very, very light grey, and so hard to see on the white background.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Martina, thanks so much for your detailed comment, you are so right, usually I DO put my ingredients in the order used, not sure why I didn’t in this one, I will update the recipe! I didn’t realize that about the comments being hard to see when filling them out I will look into that. Your adjustments sound delicious, thanks for posting! 🙂