As a run off to my dietary restrictions post last week, again, right in time for the Christmas cookie rush, I’m thrilled to announce that I have successfully made vegan (which also happened to be gluten-free) sugar cookies!! O.M.G. And they were GOOD! So I wanted to share and get these out ASAP!!! While I am not taking new Christmas orders this year, for business reasons I hope to share with you all next week, I do plan to make some Christmas cookies for my friends and family in the coming weeks, and last year I didn’t have the time to, so it’ll be my FIRST run of Christmas themed cookies! SO EXCITING!!! Stay tuned!!!
Oh and for icing, you can buy this awesome egg-free meringue powder that mimics regular meringue powder! Love it!
Hoping all of you reading this are staying safe and well!
— Cooking Maggie
Vegan Sugar Cookies
Ingredients – Makes Roughly 20 4″ Cookies (more if cutters are smaller)
- 420g flour (use Pillsbury Best Gluten-Free Flour to make into gluten-free and ½ tsp Bob’s Red Mill Xanthum Gum)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 sticks of Country Crock Plant Butter with Olive Oil*
- 200g granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp almond / soy / coconut milk (have some extra on hand in case it needs a little more liquid, but start with 2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 380°F.
- Sift/mix together flour, (xanthum gum if making gluten-free), baking powder, salt, set aside.
- In a small dish whisk together milk and vanilla extract, set aside.
- In a mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar, about 5 minutes, scrape the bowl twice.
- Gradually add vanilla milk mixture, beating anywhere from 30 seconds to minute until well mixed in.
- Now gradually in 3 additions add flour. Lower the speed of your mixer to low. Scrape the bowl well after the last addition and mix until dough comes together.
- Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper to desired thickness (lift the top sheet up as need to prevent crease lines).
- Place sheet on a baking tray and place in freezer for 15 minutes. Afterwards, gently peel/remove the bottom sheet from the down to ensure no sticking when cutting out shapes.**
- Cut out as many cookies as you can, then reform the dough, reroll & rechill. Repeat steps 8 & 9 till you run out of dough. Chill the cutouts in the fridge for about 10 minutes, or in the freezer for 5.
- Bake on the sheets you used to freeze the dough for 10-11 minutes, depending on the oven, turn the sheet once halfway through the baking.*** You’re looking for a golden brown bottom.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-7 minutes, transfer to cooling rack.
- Store in the airtight container for up to 2 weeks or freeze undecorated cookies between pieces of wax paper in a large freeze safe container, for up to 3 months.
- Decorate cookies as desired – I use royal icing!
Notes
* Trick #1: Your butter does NOT need to be room temp! If straight from your fridge, which is what I use, I cut the stick into 8 tablepsoons, then cut each slice into quarters (so a large rectangle into 8 squares, then each of those squares into 4 smaller squares). You’ll beat the butter/sugar for a little longer than normal, but it still works!
** Trick #2!!!! Rolling out the dough between parchment paper first and then freezing saved SO much time and made reworking the dough so much easier! Also, do remove both sides of the parchment paper gently before you start cutting the cookies out! It will prevent stickage!
*** I did one batch at 11 minutes, and a few of them started to catch, so I think 10 minutes is better, but that’s also dependent on your oven. Add a minute or two until the bottom is golden brown.
The Real Cooking Maggie 