If you love the Pillsbury Christmas slice and bake cookies as much as I do, then you need to try these unbelievably vegan holiday slice and bake cookies. Based on my copycat Pillsbury pumpkin cookies, they taste *identical* to the store bought classic, and are super easy to make in just 6 simple ingredients!

Easy Copycat Vegan Pillsbury Christmas Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies on cooling rack

For my nostalgic millennial, this one is for you. There is no cookie quite as quintessential 90’s holidays as the Pillsbury holiday sugar cookies.

Of course I love the others, like:

But these copycat Pillsbury holiday slice and bake cookies are something else. Like my sugar cookies and shortbread cookies in one, yet even better!?

stacked vegan holiday cookies

Even biting the DOUGH tastes just like it (though I can’t technically recommend this, as eating raw flour is not deemed safe!). But the cookies are made without eggs, butter, and milk?! How?!

These vegan slice and bake are the epitome of easy vegan cookies, and they’re actually easier to make than they seem! Seriously, make these for your next cookie exchange (or check out these 40 amazing vegan Christmas cookies over here!). 

Plus they just taste amazing. Full of vanilla and “buttery” flavors, and sweet yet not overwhelmingly so, these vegan slice and bake cookies are a wonderful activity for kids and adults alike!

How are these slice and bake cookies vegan?

First, let’s start with the ingredients, and then I’ll walk you through just how to make slice and bake christmas cookies. It’s not complicated, but definitely needs some explaining on how the heck to get the Christmas tree in the middle!

For these cookies, you’ll need:

  • All purpose flour: You can also swap in gluten free 1:1 baking flour (I recommend King Arthur Measure for Measure!). You definitely need xanthan gum in the mix! These slice and bake cookies are also made without almondflour because I wanted them to be nut allergy friendly. 
  • Cornstarch: You can also swap in arrowroot powder. Just a touch makes these cookies so soft and tender! This is also sort of like our egg replacement too. So simple!
  • Baking powder: To help the cookies puff up a bit.
  • Vanilla extract: For flavor.
  • Vegan butter: Room temperature butter is key here, as we need the sugar to emulsify into the butter before we add in our flour. I recommend Miyoko’s vegan butter or Plant crock vegan butter. 
  • Powdered sugar: This is my key tip for making the cookie dough taste like Pillsbury. It’s a trick I learned back when I was baking in high school from my best friend’s mom during our sugar cookie decorating parties. I recommend using Florida Crystals, as they’re 100% vegan certified, organic, and super high quality!
  • Vegan food coloring (or natural food color powders, like spirulina, matcha, etc.!): I recommend Ann Clark for the most vibrant colors!
  • Optional: You can add in almond extract, but I find you really don’t need it.

That’s it! These slice and bake Christmas cookies are super simple in terms of ingredients.

close up of vegan holiday cookies

Overview: How to make vegan slice and bake Christmas cookies with a different designs in the middle:

Now onto making the actual cookie. We’re going to break this up into two steps, the first being making the dough, and the second being creating the slice and bake cookies.

Now my video that I just shared on Instagram has 3 different designs. You can choose 1, 2, or go for all 3. If you’re going for 1 design, you can follow the ratios that I give for my pumpkin sugar cookies here.

The dough is similar to most cookies on this blog!

  1. Start by creaming the vegan butter, sugar, and vanilla together until nice and fluffy. You can do this either in a stand mixer with paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Either works.
  2. Then sift in the flour, and continue mixing until it’s a sticky dough.
  3. Finally, separate about one fourth of the dough into a smaller bowl. This will be the Christmas tree dough. Add in the natural green food dye or matcha powder, and work it in until it’s completely mixed.
  4. Flatten each dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap to be chilled for 30 minutes.
creamed butter and sugar
cookie dough in a bowl

Not too bad, right? Okay, so now that your dough is chilling, let’s move on to making the actual Christmas trees!

Assembling the slice and bake Christmas cookies

This part isn’t as bad as it seems, but definitely follow along with the directions. It just takes patience and care! So let’s get started!

So you can do one design, or all four. Whichever you please! The easiest ones are the gingerbread cookies, followed by the Christmas trees, then the snowman and the stockings.

Following the video helps a lot- especially for the snowman and the stockings.

I have a whole written out plan for using the dough for each design here:

sugar cookie design

Then we’ll work on dividing and coloring our dough!

divided dough
colored pillsbury dough

Next, we’ll shape our cookies! The gingerbread and the Christmas tree cookies follow a similar path like our pumpkin sugar cookies.

gingerbread cookies being cut out
christmas trees being cut out

The snowman and the stocking are freehand and definitely fun!

shaping the snowman
shaped cookies on a plate

Phewf, you did it!! You rock!

gingerbread sugar cookies
stocking sugar cookies
christmas tree sugar cookies
snowman cookies

Okay so now all we need to do is bake! Once chilled, you’ll use a thin sharp knife to slice about half an inch thick cookies. Place onto a baking sheet and bake!

cookies before baking

So while there are no eggs in this cookie dough, it’s technically still not recommended to eat raw cookie dough from the cookie dough logs. This is because flour can carry salmonella. It’s recommended to use heat-treated flour if you plan on eating the cookie dough!

Here’s a great tip, and a way I always have heat-treated flour on hand: I use flour as my pie weight” when blind baking my pie crusts. Then I allow the flour to cool before storing it. You can then use the flour in a cake or cookie recipe! 

Absolutely! If you want to make the cookie dough logs ahead of time, and then freeze to bake for later you absolutely can. It’s actually easiest to slice the dough, then place them onto wax paper and layer them in a store container. 

Then place the cookie dough in the freezer. It will keep for about 3 months! I recommend allowing the cookie dough to come to room temperature first before baking. Transfer the dough to the refrigerator the night before baking. That will help!

four holiday Pillsbury cookies on parchment paper

These cookies really do taste just like the Pillsbury holiday slice and bake, and they’re even better because they’re allergy friendly!

If you make these for a cookie exchange, everyone is going to be dying for your secrets as to how you got the Christmas tree into the middle! And now you know all of the hacks 😉

I hope you love these fun and festive vegan slice and bake cookies as much as I do! If you give them a go, let me know how it went down below in the comments section!

As always, I’d absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!

Happy rolling, slicing, and baking!

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
Easy Copycat Vegan Pillsbury Christmas Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies on cooling rack

Easy Copycat Vegan Pillsbury Christmas Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 4 reviews
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 40
  • Chilling Time: 60
  • Cook Time: 15
  • Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
  • Yield: 20 1x
  • Category: Cookies
  • Method: Vegan
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan
Print Recipe

Description

If you love the Pillsbury Christmas slice and bake cookies as much as I do, then you need to try these unbelievably vegan holiday slice and bake cookies. Based on my copycat Pillsbury pumpkin cookies, they taste *identical* to the store bought classic, and are super easy to make in just 6 simple ingredients!

Ingredients

Scale

Pillsbury cookie dough:

  • 1 cup (226 g) vegan butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups (240 g) organic powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 2 1/2 cups (313 g) all purpose flour*
  • 1–2 tbsp dairy free milk

Vegan Food Coloring:

  • vegan red food coloring*
  • vegan green food coloring
  • vegan brown food coloring
  • vegan blue food coloring
  • vegan black food coloring

Equipment:

  • 1.5″ holiday cookie cutters
  • large bowl
  • 4 small bowls
  • Whisk or hand mixer
  • Silicone spatula
  • Plastic wrap or parchment paper

Instructions

  1. Prep: Measure out all ingredients, except for the food coloring. Read through all instructions before beginning. If you don’t have a holiday cookie cutters, see below instructions for different designs that don’t require a cookie cutter, as well as reading the blog post. Decide whether you’re making 1 design or more. The below instructions are for 4 designs.
  2. Make the dough: In a large bowl, use a whisk or hand mixer to cream the vegan butter until fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Then add in the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, baking powder, and sea salt, and mix again until well combined. It will resemble a buttercream frosting. Then add in the flour, followed by 1 tablespoon dairy free milk. Use a silicone spatula to fold the flour into the wet ingredients, adding another tablespoon of dairy free milk only if you really need it. The flour will take a bit of work to fully incorporate, and that’s okay/normal. It will come together.
  3. Color the dough: To make 4 designs, you’ll follow the written design for dividing the dough into quarters and then further dividing each quarter of dough. If you’d like to make just one design, divide the dough into thirds. Color the dough accordingly:
    1. Gingerbread people: To the bowl with a quarter dough, remove 2 thirds of that portion to keep plain to go around the gingerbread cut out. Then color that remaining third brown for the gingerbread cookies.
    2. Christmas trees: Take your quarter of the dough and divide it into thirds. Take 2 thirds of that dough and leave it plain. Then take the remaining third, and remove 1/4 of the dough from that portion. Color the 1/4 portion brown for the trunk. Then color the remaining dough green. 
    3. Snowman: Take your quarter of the dough, and divide it into thirds. Take 2 thirds of the dough and color it blue. Take the remaining third and remove 3/4 of that portion to remain white for the snowman. Color the 1/4 of that portion black for the hat.
    4. Stocking: Take your quarter of dough, and divide it into thirds. Take 2 thirds of the dough, and color it green. Then take the remaining third, and remove about 1/4 of that portion to remain that plain white color. Color the remaining red for the stocking.
  4. Wrap and chill the cookie dough: Wrap each cookie dough in separate plastic wrapped discs. Place the cookie dough into the fridge to chill for 2 hours. 
  5. Form the cut outs: Remove all cookie dough from the fridge. For the gingerbread and christmas tree, you’ll use the cookie cutters. For the snowman and the stocking, you’ll form them yourself.
    1. Gingerbread: For the gingerbread, we’ll form a log to use our 1.5″ cookie cutter about 1.5″ wide and 1 1/4″ in height (about 10-12 inches in length). It will look long and semi-flat. Use a rolling pin to roll the top to get it smooth (see video here). Take the gingerbread cookie cutter and cut the gingerbread cookies out of the log. Place each gingerbread cookie stacked on top of each other (either stacked up tall or lengthwise,  lining up- see photos in blog or video). Any scraps, you can reform into a smaller log, and begin cutting again. Once the cookie dough is used up, carefully wrap the log of gingerbread cookie cut outs in one of the plastic wrap pieces, and place into the freezer to chill for 20 minutes.
    2. Christmas tree: For the Christmas tree, we’ll form a log to use our 1.5″ cookie cutter about 1.5″ wide and 1 1/4″ in height (about 10-12 inches in length.  Take the green cookie dough and shape it into a long log that’s about 1/2″ wide and 1 1/4″ in height (about 10-12 inches in length).It will look long and semi-flat. Use a rolling pin to roll the top to get it smooth (see video here). Then take the brown, and shape the cookie dough into a long log again that’s about 1/2″ thick, and this time, about 1/4-1/2″ in height (about 10-12 inches in length). Line up the green cookie dough along the brown cookie dough, so you have one large log with green and brown cookie dough. Take the Christmas tree cookie cutter and cut the tree cookies out of the log. Place each tree cookie stacked on top of each other (either stacked up tall or lengthwise,  lining up- see photos in blog or video). Any scraps, you can reform into a smaller log, and begin cutting again. Once the cookie dough is used up, carefully wrap the log of tree cookie cut outs in one of the plastic wrap pieces, and place into the freezer to chill for 20 minutes.
  6. Roll out the vanilla cookie dough: While the shaped cookies are chilling and setting together, we’ll roll out the vanilla cookie dough or the encompassing colored dough (as for the snowman and the stocking). Lay the plastic wrap from the vanilla cookie dough flat. You can take one of the extra plastic wrap pieces from the remaining cookie dough discs and place it on top to roll out the vanilla cookie dough. If doing one design, you’ll roll the dough to be about 12″ by 4-5″ long. If doing two designs, the dough should be about 4″ by 4-5″ long. Remove the top plastic wrap piece and discard. We’re going to slice the cookie dough a bit to help mold the pumpkin cookies perfectly into the vanilla.
  7. Finish shaping the Pillsbury sugar cookies: Remove the shaped sugar cookies from the freezer, and place the log onto the rolled cookie dough right in the middle, aligning the length of the log with the length of the rolled out cookie dough. Pick up each side of the rolled cookie dough, and practice wrap the shaped cookies, seeing where the dough will overlap. Then use a sharp knife, and slice off the overlapping pieces. Take those pieces and roll them to be two long 12″ logs. Place those logs on either side of parts of the design that need protecting of their integrity. Press them into the shaped cookies to shape the cookies into one large cylinder (so that the stem’s integrity is maintained when we roll it into one large cookie dough log). Then wrap the cookie dough over the shaped sugar cookies, gently rolling the log so that the vanilla cookie dough presses into the shaped cookies and forms one large log. Wrap the log again in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the fridge. It’s even better to slice if chilled overnight
  8. While the dough is chilling: Preheat the oven to 375, and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. 
  9. Slice the cookies: Remove the cookie dough from the fridge, and slice the cookie log into 1/4″-1/3″ thick cookie slices. Place the cookies onto the baking sheets, spacing them about 2″ apart. 
  10. Bake: Place the cookie sheets into the oven to bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookie dough are slightly golden. Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes before enjoying.
  11. Enjoy! Enjoy your copycat Pillsbury holiday sugar cookies, and store any leftover dough for up to 2 weeks well wrapped in the fridge or 3 months frozen in the freezer!

Notes

Gluten free: Swap in King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour for gluten free.

Please read the entire blog post for full tips and tricks!