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.
Amity says
Kids always love doing cookies, especially at Christmas. With newly found egg and dairy allergies this was the perfect recipe for little’s to help with in the kitchen. Thank you!
Alison Andrews says
Wonderful! Thanks so much for posting Amity! 🙂
David says
I will be giving this recipe a go today. My wife and I were looking for something exactly like this.
Is there way to adjust this website from continuously refreshing? On Chrome, it keeps refreshing and reading at the bottom “Establishing secure connection…”
Having this page open is causing serious battery drain on my laptop.
Alison Andrews says
Hi David, sorry this isn’t something in my control, this happens with all the blogs I visit as well. The best thing to do is print the recipe you’re wanting to make, we do offer a print button for this purpose. 🙂
Bonnie Dawdy says
I am excited to try this recipe as I really do miss making these during the holidays. Is there something else I can use in frosting instead of confection sugar?
Thank you ?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Bonnie, I don’t know of a suitable substitute for the powdered sugar, but you could leave it off if you’re not too worried about having them frosted, they’re delicious plain as well. 🙂
Irene says
They came out great! I might have made mine thicker than the author, but they took about 13 minutes to bake. Very crunchy, so great if you love a crunchy cookie! I was genuinely surprised by how good a vegan cookie could taste, thank you for the recipe!
Alison Andrews says
So glad to hear Irene, thanks for posting! 🙂
Caroline says
Just made these and decorated them for Christmas! The only thing I didn’t use was almond extract, as I didn’t have any on hand. These were incredibly easy to make and taste so good!
Alison Andrews says
Wonderful Caroline! Thanks a million for the awesome review! 🙂
Angelique Cook says
The cookie dough tastes fantastic and the baked cookies smell almost exactly like non-vegan sugar cookies. I wish I had vegan food coloring lol
Lucie Menard says
I just made these and they are delicious. I used cashew milk and did have to add extra in the recipe and I used Becel vegan margarine instead of vegan butter. I will save this recipe and will definitely make it. Thank you!
*****. Five stars!!!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks so much Lucie! I just went and cheekily added the 5 stars to the rating for you! ? Thanks so much for the great review! 🙂
valerie g says
I just made this recipe, and the ladies in my office loved them! I am not a baker – this is like the second time in my life I’ve ever baked cookies. This recipe is very simple to follow – and tastes great! (thanks!) I subbed xylitol for sugar, and used almond milk instead of soy. Also, I didn’t have almond extract so I put a few extra drops of vanilla (seemed to be ok). Also I used whole wheat flour, and no food coloring. They tasted pretty good. The only 2 things I noticed when making the cookies, was I needed about double the suggested amount of almond milk for the cookie dough. And when making the frosting, the amount of suggested “milk” was also too little. Getting too aggressive with my ideas )and not following her advise to add one drop at a time) – my frosting was a bit too runny… whoops! still tasted great, but the issue with runny frosting is that cookies have a less pretty end result because frosting runs off the side of the cookie, and also it provides a thinner layer of frosting. (I just put 2 layers of frosting on mine, because I wanted more frosting, so it looked a bit rough! but tasted great) …
Alison Andrews says
Hi Valerie! So glad you liked the cookies and your co-workers also approved! Thanks for the great review, and thanks for sharing the adjustments you made as well. 🙂
Samantha says
Would oat flour work instead? Also would this recipe work well for Christmas cookies?
Wow! Commenting on someone else complaining about all the pictures.. I didn’t know you guys did that to fit more ads to make it free!! Good to know! I’m not so irritated with it knowing it helps support bloggers!! 🙂
Alison Andrews says
Hi Samantha, I don’t think oat flour would work, but I haven’t tried so not entirely sure. My recommendation if you wanted to make them gluten-free though would be to use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. I think this would be great for Christmas cookies. And thanks so much for understanding about the ads, I really appreciate that! 🙂
Deedee D says
My mother made these for me last evening. I ate about 10 of them before bedtime! This morning, I “hid” them to try to refrain from eating them all. You can’t have just one…just like potato chips.
Alison Andrews says
Haha, I know exactly what you mean! Thanks for the great review! 🙂
Tammy Strausbaugh says
Can you freeze the vegan sugar cookies?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Tammy, yes you can freeze them! But it’s better if you freeze them before frosting. 🙂
Jess says
Hi, I was just wondering if the almond extract was a must or if I would leave it out?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jess, we discussed it in the post, you can definitely leave it out.
F. Carter says
I noticed your cookie recipes specify soy milk. Can I substitute almond milk? Does it bake differently than the soy?
Alison Andrews says
Any non-dairy milk will do fine. 🙂
Katy Taveira says
These are simply amazing! Kid approved ! Thank you!
Ariana says
This recipe looks delicious!! Do u think it would work with a gluten free like Brown rice flour ?
Alison Andrews says
I don’t think it would work with rice flour, but a gluten-free all purpose flour blend could work. 🙂