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.
Made these with my daughter who is 8 years old, we are both vegan and recently my husband her father passed away and it has become a hobby we do together. It is easy enough for her to mainly do on her own with supervision and is nice to see her interested in doing something again. They are delicious and super easy to make
My condolences Rachel. Thank you so much for your review and I hope you get to bake a lot more! 🙂
I always use this recipe. Always comes out perfect.
Alison, I have tried many vegan sugar cookie recipes and yours is by far the best! Made them for my GK for valentines cookies and they were gobbled up quickly by young and old!!! Keep up the good work:)
Thank you so much Lynn! Happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Definitely easy recipe and so delicious, thank you!
Thanks Jennifer!
These are so soft and chewy and easy to make! I served them at 2 different gatherings and everyone raved about them. Not having to chill them is great. I ran out of time to decorate them so put them on a plate with a bowl of different colors of frosting in the middle. People loved being able to frost their own. Next year think I’ll add a bowl of sprinkles. Thank you Alison!
What a great idea! So glad they were a success and thanks so much for the amazing review!
Best sugar cookies I’ve ever made. I usually don’t do these well, but I’ve tried a few of your recipes and they always turn out great; this one did not disappoint.
Forgot to give my 5 stars!
So happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing Deidre-Ann!
These turned out really well, even when I made them gluten free! Thank you for including weights as that makes the conversion so much easier!
To make gluten free, I used about half starch and half flour with 1 tsp of xanthan gum. I will probably only use 1/4tsp baking powder next time as they puffed up more than I expected.
Wonderful! I’m so pleased they worked out great for gluten free as well. Thanks so much for sharing!
So easy no expensive ingredients needed! Love it (:
This is my family’s go-to sugar cookie recipe every Christmas! 🙂
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much!
Came out great! Topped them with a pumpkin spiced icing!! Huge hit with my friends.
Awesome! Thanks so much Lacey!
Can’t use almonds, can you increase the vanilla to replace?
You can just leave it out.
These cookies are fantastic, turn out beautifully every time and can be tweaked to any flavour you fancy
Thanks Alix!
Super yummy and easy. I reduced the sugar a bit as we like things not too sweet. Only negative is they come out a bit rustic looking with cracks etc in the cookie – no problem for me but might be an issue for someone wanting a really sleek finish.
Just made these with my kids, a huge success! Thank you so much, we will make these again 🙂
Wonderful! Thanks so much Annabel!
Hey Amy, I am wondering how many 3 inch cookies this recipe would make? Thank you!