Soft Vegan Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Frosting

Close up of frosted sugar cookies on a white plate.

Soft Vegan Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Frosting

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegan

Keyword: vegan drop cookies, vegan soft sugar cookies

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 9

dough chill time: 30

Total Time: 59

Servings:

Calories: 145kcal

Author: Cindy Rainey

These soft vegan sugar cookies are the tastiest sugar cookies you'll eat; a sweet treat so tender and rich in flavor they're irresistible with or without frosting. Imagine biting into a cookie that's the perfect balance of sweet and soft, with a melt-in-your-mouth quality that'll have you reaching for more. The creamy texture comes from vegan butter and believe it or not - powdered sugar and agave nectar! Add a little vanilla and almond extracts to create a taste that's simply sublime. These are the cookies you'll want to bake when you're after a comforting, home-baked treat that everyone can enjoy.

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Equipment

mixer

Ingredients

Flax Egg

1 Tablespoon ground flax
3 Tablespoons water

Flour Mixture

2¾ cups all purpose flour sifted and measured
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt generous, see notes

Butter Sugar Mixture

1½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup vegan butter softened
2 Tablespoons agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract

Instructions

(It's not necessary to preheat the oven yet because the dough will be spending time chilling in the refrigerator. When you do preheat, set the oven to 350℉)
Set the vegan butter out to soften if not already soft. You do NOT want it melted - only softened.
Make the flax egg by whisking together the ground flax seed and the water. Set aside while you are mixing the other ingredients.
1 Tablespoon ground flax, 3 Tablespoons water
Measure out the flour by "lightening" or sifting. See the blog post for photos. Add the measured flour along with the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt to a medium-sized mixing bowl and mix together.
2¾ cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, ¼ teaspoon salt
In another larger bowl cream together the softened vegan butter with the powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the agave nectar, vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flax egg and mix until everything is incorporated.
1 Tablespoon ground flax, 1½ cups powdered sugar, 1 cup vegan butter, 2 Tablespoons agave nectar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon almond extract, 3 Tablespoons water
Sprinkle the flour mixture on top as you are mixing. You don't want to over mix, just enough so that the flour mixture has been incorporated. You might need to mix by hand at the end.
When everything has been mixed well, cover with plastic wrap and set the dough in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes or up to an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350℉. Prepare at two baking sheets with parchment paper. If you have only one baking sheet then make sure it cools thoroughly before baking the second batch.
Use a cookie scoop or a large soup spoon and scoop out the individual coolies. Place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, spaced accordingly. They will spread. I use a half-sheet sized baking pan and place 12 cookies on the pan.
Bake at 350℉ for 9-11 minutes. The sides and bottom of the cookies will be lightly golden.
Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the pan for about ten minutes. Use a spatula to remove the cooled cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely before (optionally)icing.
Repeat until all of the dough has been used and the cookies baked.
After the cookies have thoroughly cooled, frost with your choice of frosting. Optional, but highly desired. See notes for frosting suggestions.

Notes

Use stick vegan butter with the highest fat content available.

Use a generous one-quarter teaspoon of salt. A flat or shallow teaspoon isn't quite enough, and one-half teaspoon is too much.

My go-to frosting for this recipe is vegan buttercream frosting for cookies. You might also like vegan cream cheese refrigerated frosting if you like the cream cheese taste - but the frosting won't se up as well for this frosting. Another fun one to try is vegan icing for cookies. This one is made with Karo syrup and is not a butter cream. You would just pour it over the top and allow to dry. (it's a little like royal icing but won't dry as hard.)

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