Copycat Pillsbury Vegan Christmas Slice and Bake Cookies

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. They taste *identical* to the store bought classic, and are super easy to make in just 5 basic steps!

This actually might be my favorite cookie of The Banana Diaries Cookie Week 2022.

Of course I love the others. Here’s what we have so far:

• Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
• Peppermint Meltaways
• Hot Cocoa Cookies
• Cream Cheese Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies

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

Even biting the DOUGH tastes just like it. And made without eggs, butter, and milk?! But 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!
• Sea salt: For flavor.
• 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 Violife vegan butter. 
• Granulated sugar: I recommend using Florida Crystals, as they’re 100% vegan certified, organic, and super high quality!
• Vegan green food coloring (or natural food color powders, like spirulina, matcha, etc.!)
• 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.

Overview: How to make vegan slice and bake Christmas cookies with a Christmas tree 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 gluten free slice and bake cookies.

Slice and Bake Christmas Cookie Dough

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.

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 carefully. It just takes patience and care! So let’s get started!

1. When the doughs are ready, remove the green dough first and roll out on a clean floured surface to be about 1/4″ thick. Use a small Christmas tree cookie cutter and cut as many Christmas trees as you can. Try to use all of the dough.
2. Stack the Christmas trees in a line like the photos and place back into the fridge.
3. Next, remove the plain sugar cookie dough and separate into 4 long strips (about as long as your line of Christmas trees).
4. Roll each strip and slightly flatten it. Remove the Christmas trees from the fridge and begin to place strips of dough to cover the Christmas trees.
5. Be careful not to lose too much of the shape of the Christmas trees, but begin to work the dough all around the Christmas trees. It should look like the final picture above.
6. Wrap the dough log with plastic wrap, and chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Phewf, you did it!! You rock!

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!

Can I eat this cookie dough raw? 

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! 

Can I freeze this cookie dough?

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!

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!

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