When I think of Christmas cookies, I think “sugar cookies!” It was a tradition in my household to make up several batches and ice them all together. The icing was the messiest part, but the most fun (because we got to determine our sugar dose). When we got older, my sister took over the whole process. She’s our Christmas Cookie Baker, Official. She’s like a whirlwind in the kitchen. Look once, and she’s just prepping the cookie dough; turn around a minute later, and there are 4 dozen finished cookies laid out across the kitchen. We all know that if we want cookies, we’d better stay out of her way…
It’s been the same even since the majority of us turned vegan, to my surprise. When you think cookie, do you think egg, butter, sugar? I did, too. However, it’s pretty easy to make delicious vegan cookies. When I discovered the winning recipe for vegan sugar/shortbread cookies, I became the designated Christmas sugar cookie maker. (My sister still makes aaaaaall the rest.) In the spirit of the holidays, I thought I’d share this deliciousness with you.
They taste quite like shortbread, but not quite as flakey or buttery, and much like a sugar cookie. The recipe came out of a failed attempt at butter cookies. The recipe, found online, was supposed to yield piped dough, but it wasn’t nearly soft enough for that. Even adding more liquid, wouldn’t soften it enough to be able to pipe it. So, I made the best of the failure, and rolled the dough out, cut it, baked it, and LOVED the result.
It’s a fairly versatile recipe, also. You can leave them plain, or dip them in sugar or chocolate, or roll them in powdered sugar or cocoa powder, or spread frosting across the top. OR you can turn them into thumbprint jam cookies (my fave).
Vegan Buttery Sugar Cookies
This recipe will make about 2 dozen cookies, depending on the shape of your cutter and desired thickness. You can refrigerate the dough and use at a later time. Just wait for it to come to room temperature before rolling.
Cook time: 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Prep time: 10 minutes of mixing, rolling, and cutting.
Ingredients
- 1 cup refined coconut oil
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 tbs corn starch
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1-3 tbs almond milk (as needed)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream together the coconut oil (solid) and icing sugar in a large bowl.
Mix in vanilla, corn starch, salt, and flour. Form into dough. Add in non-dairy milk, as needed, if too dry.
Lightly flour a clean surface and roll out dough to preferred thickness (thicker for soft and chewy, and thinner for crunch). Cut out cookies, align on cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes and then cool on a rack before icing.
My Vegan Journey 
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