We all need a vegan sugar cookie recipe that is easy to make and tastes great!
Most importantly these don’t spread in the oven keeping the shape of your cookie cut out is essential!
I was never a big fan of eating decorated cookie!
Since to me the royal icing was just too hard and I just didn’t like that taste so much.
But these just hit different! I totally love this cookie from start to finish!
First of all they don’t dry hard like traditional royal icing cookies.
But they do dry hard enough to layer, package up and transport!
Although these cookies are not made with butter they are still so buttery tasting no one would ever know!
Vegan Butter Emulsion is a must for that added flavor every sugar cookie is known for! *not sponsored
Not affiliated with any of the products or companies linked below
Notes for Success:
Earth Balance vegan butter is my preference for this recipe
But I’ve used Country Crock Olive Oil Sticks with good results as well
Butter Emulsion is a vegan extract that really adds a nice flavor to butter heavy recipes like this one and buttercream
You can leave it out if you do not want to buy an extra ingredient * no changes to the recipe needed
Lemon extract and lemon zest is always a must for me but you can leave that out
Replacing those flavors with almond extract is also a nice addition!
I like to use vegan chocolate to pipe on the faces to eliminate any risk of color bleed onto the base color below
However if you want to avoid chocolate just save out a bit of that white icing from the start and color it black.
Just be sure to let that base color dry overnight before piping the faces or you will get bleed through
The icing recipe listed below is a perfect amount for 12 large cookies.
The ghosts and pumpkins cookies cutters were approximately 4″ diameter to give you an estimated size.
You will notice I am using EnerG Egg replacer for the icing recipe which I’ll admit is a strange ingredient for an icing
But it is what I believe gives it that “softer” dry
Of course if you want to forgo the egg replacer altogether you can leave it out and substitute aquafaba as a binder instead of water
Like I do here for my 3 ingredient Sprinkles Recipe which is essentially ROYAL ICING!
WATCH THE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THESE COOKIES!
Halloween Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Sugar Cookie Dough
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour (375g)
- 1⅓ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Vegan Butter (226g)
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar (200g)
- ¼ cup Aquafaba (60ml)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (5ml)
- 1 teaspoon Butter Emulsion *see notes (5ml)
- ¼ teaspoon Lemon Extract
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest *optional
For the Vegan Royal Icing
- 4½ teaspoon EnerG Egg Replacer *see notes (20g)
- 6 Tbs Warm Water (90ml)
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 4 cup Confectioner's Sugar (480g)
Instructions
- For the cookie dough, with your electric mixer (paddle attachment) cream the vegan butter with the sugar until light & fluffy about 3- 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon zest, aquafaba & the extracts to the creaming butter/sugar mixture until incorporated (it will probably look slightly curdled) then stop the mixer & scrape the sides of the bowl then whip it on high speed for 20 seconds to emulsify
- Next sift together the flour, baking powder & salt & add it all at once to the creamed mixture. Mix just until it is all combined do not overmix.
- Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap, bundle it up & chill for at least 1 hour (or up to a week in the refrigerator) before using~ this allows the dough to relax & absorb the flour so it will roll better
- When you are ready to cut out your shapes you must re work this dough with some additional flour to a pliable consistency after it has been chilled. Do not skip this step. *see video for visual
- Roll the dough to ¼" thick or to your desired thickness & cut shapes as desired
- Transfer cookie cutouts to a parchment lined sheet pan & bake in preheated 350℉ oven for approximately 18-22 minutes or until light golden brown. (time depends on thickness & size of cookies)
- Cool the cookies while you prepare the vegan royal icing
- For the Royal Icing: combine the egg replacer with the warm water & whisk smooth
- Place the sifted confectioners sugar in a mixing bowl then add the vanilla extract & the egg replacer mixture.
- Whip on medium to high speed until it is smooth
- Color as desired with gel paste food colors & decorate!
- Allow cookies to dry at room temperature overnight
Video
Notes
But I've used Country Crock Olive Oil Sticks with good results as well Butter Emulsion is a vegan extract that really adds a nice flavor to butter heavy recipes like this one and buttercream You can leave it out if you do not want to buy an extra ingredient * no changes to the recipe needed Lemon extract and lemon zest is always a must for me but you can leave that out as well
The icing recipe listed is a perfect amount for 12 large cookies.
The ghosts and pumpkins cookies cutters were approximately 4" diameter to give you an estimated size. You will notice I am using EnerG Egg replacer for the icing recipe which I'll admit is a strange ingredient for an icing, but it is what I believe gives it that "softer" dryOf course if you want to forgo the egg replacer altogether you can leave it out and substitute aquafaba as a binder instead of water Like I do here for my 3 ingredient Sprinkles Recipe which is essentially ROYAL ICING! Storage Cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks Cut out shapes can be frozen in a single layer on a parchment lined sheet pan for up to 2 months
Awesome royal icing recipe. Would corn syrup work instead of Ener-G egg replacer? Thanks.
No corn syrup will not allow it to dry as it needs to for a royal icing. You can use this recipe here though if you want to avoid buying EnerG CLICK HERE for sprinkles, but essentially it is the same type of recipe
What brand of gel paste food coloring did you use that’s vegan ?
I am still using up the last of my giant bottles of Chefmaster gel Paste colors I had from a couple years ago, but Americolor is supposed to be Vegan CLICK HERE for more lists and brands
I will be making this recipe for Halloween and was wondering if the cookies would spread a lot if I do 1/2 cup of vegan butter and 1/2 cup of shortening? Or is it better just to do shortening? Because I’ve noticed that vegan butter is softer than dairy butter.
half and half would be great! Yes you are right vegan butter is definitely softer! But the half/half will eliminate any spreading that may occur!
How long will the cookies stay fresh if stored in air tight container?
at least a week
Hi! I don’t have Ener-G, but I do have the Neat Egg. Are you familiar with it? I’ve heard of royal icing success using Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer, so I’m thinking any of these products would work. Neat Egg is chia seeds and chickpeas (only 2 ingredients) which is quite different from Ener-G but they are intended for the same usage(s). Any thoughts to share? Thanks for the recipe.
Yes I am familiar with it, but you will not want to use that type here, I would suggest to just use this simple recipe for royal icing instead CLICK HERE
Hello Gretchen, thank you for sharing your cookie recipe, I was wondering if you could make the dough in advance and freeze unbaked cookies?
Yes you can! It works great!
Thanks, I’m baking for my granddaughters christening/1st birthday and trying to get as much done in advance for I can focus on her cakes Xx
Hey Gretchen,
I followed the recipe and video exactly, and I’m having trouble with the dough. I made sure to let it refrigerate for over 2 hours, and then I kneaded it back together. But no matter how much I worked with it, the dough was just so crumbly I couldn’t even roll it out. I used the shortening version because I find that earth balance sometimes dominates flavors. What can I do to make it work?
Hmmm, I hope you weren’t heavy handed in measuring the flour- that would be the only thing I can think that would make it to the point that you describe (too much flour) CLICK HERE for more
I would suggest to bring to room temperature and then try to re-knead to get it pliable. Unfortunately dding in liquid at this point just makes for a sticky mess.
When you say the icing doesnt dry hard… Would it still be suitable for stacking the cookies in a container or individually wrapping them without the design smearing? Thanks
yes!
I’m sorry I cant find the chocolate cookie variation on this page am I just missing it?? lol Thanks for the help!
NVM I found it lol !!!
YAY! thanks!
I have it listed in the NOTES section above the ingredients list in the recipe : For chocolate dough, take out ¾ cup of the flour and replace with ¾ cup of natural cocoa powder
I’ve used Aquafaba in place of meringue powder in royal icing and it works great, dries hard. Just a tip in case others are looking for a substitute.
Hi Brooke, what’s the ratio aquafaba to sugar? I haven’t tried it yet, I’m scared to mess it up, but I’m working up to it!
What happened to your non vegan alternative? I am
Having difficulty finding it. Thanks.
Hi Brandice, my non vegan blog is shut down
I just couldn’t keep up the cost to host it on the internet and maintain it monthly anymore
I had always said I would continue to share my recipes for free & give free tutorials on YouTube for as long as I could afford to do so, and well.. I just can’t anymore
The cost to host such a huge database was close to $400 a month (with the maintenance cost, I needed to hire a tech guy to help keep it running smoothly)
So that cost was severely outweighing any small profits I had been making though running ads on the videos & blogsite.
I have not kept any of the non vegan recipes, since for over 4 years now I have been strictly vegan;
so for me they are of no use. Not to mention I am not comfortable sharing non vegan recipes anymore,
as it promotes animal abuse and torture not to mention animal agriculture is a disease on the earth as well as human health.
Thanks for your support and encouragement though the ages!
~Gretchen
Hi Gretchen!
Again, thank you so much, your recipes are always wonderful and reliable, I love them. One question about vegan butter… you prefer Earth Balance, but have you tried Costco’s vegan margarine! If so what do you think? How does it compare to Earth Balance? I tried to compare the ingredients, to me, they seemed similar, but who knows. But I always get good result… but eh! You are an expert at this, and this is why I asked the question. Thank you in advance! Happy baking!
Hi Gretchen!
These turned out amazing. Thank you for sharing.
For those in Australia I used Nuttelex cook and bake instead of Earth Balance and Orgran No Egg egg replacer both purchased at IGA.
Happy Vegan baking!
YAY! Thanks for the tip Angie!
I made these for Christmas in 2023 then Valentine’s Day this year (2024) because I was looking for a cookie I could ship across the US without risking them being inedible by the time of their arrival! They turned out great both times & the cookies and icing both survived the cross-country trip in the mail without much of an issue 🙂
I am excited to finally make the Halloween version this year…. And this time I plan to send some baked, un-iced cookies and piping bags of icing to a long-distance friend to decorate with his son. We’ll see how well that works out!
Lovely, easy to follow recipe and the cookies are delicious. I have to make 2-3 batches at a time 🙂
YAY! thanks for the comment!