Easy Vegan Drop-Style Sugar Cookies Recipe
These perfectly soft drop-style sugar cookies are made unbelievably dairy free and without eggs, yet have the most deliciously crisp outer edges with chewy middles. Different from my cut-out vegan sugar cookies, this drop-style version is quick and easy to make (no chilling required!) for your new favorite vegan Christmas cookie recipe!
Why you’ll love this easy sugar cookie recipe:
Don’t get me wrong. Cut-out sugar cookies are quintessential Christmas cookies, and absolutely deserve to be baked and decorated each year.
But when you’re assembling several cookie boxes for homemade holiday gifts, or trying to come up with one more quick and easy recipe for your holiday cookie exchange, you need a simple, hassle-free recipe.
Enter in these classic drop-style vegan sugar cookies. The dough is made in just 5 minutes, and you don’t even need to chill them (though you totally can to bake at a later date, so they’re fresh!).
Plus, these vegan drop-style sugar cookies are iconically soft and chewy. We’re talking just the right amount of chewiness with crisp, lightly golden outer edges. Buttery sweet with vanilla and just slightly nutty from the almond extract.
As a vegan baking cookbook author, I’ve had a few cookies in my day, and these are basically, Christmas cookie heaven in a bite.
Leave them plain or roll them in decorative sugar or sprinkles, and bake!
And they pair SO well with my copycat Pillsbury vegan Christmas cookies, vegan shortbread, raspberry thumbprint cookies, and vegan Linzer cookies!
Simple ingredients:
- Flour: You can use all purpose flour (plain flour outside of the U.S.) or gluten-free baking flour blend (one that contains xanthan gum!).
- Sugar: Make sure it’s vegan-certified or organic!
- Powdered sugar: This is my key secret ingredient to the most perfectly soft and chewy vegan sugar cookies. I learned this trick from my childhood best friend’s mom, who would always bake sugar cookies with us growing up (before I went vegan!). A little powdered sugar tenderizes the flour, creating that chewy texture.
- Vegan butter: I recommend Miyoko’s vegan butter. It tastes nearly identical to traditional butter, and bakes just the same.
- Dairy free yogurt: Another key secret ingredient to all of my vegan cookie recipes, and my favorite vegan egg substitute. It works way better than flax egg or even applesauce!
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- Cornstarch: This helps to achieve that super chewy cookie texture. You can also sub in arrowroot starch instead!
How is this recipe different from cut-out sugar cookies?
This is a great question! So this recipe is NOT to be confused with my classic vegan sugar cookie cut-outs. It’s actually an entirely different recipe, and I developed it not even using my original sugar cookie recipe.
I’d say these cookies are more closely related to a chocolate chip cookie, but without the light brown sugar.
It definitely cannot be rolled out, and is designed to be your go-to easy cookie recipe for all of your cookie baking and cookie box needs!
Key tips for how to make drop-style sugar cookies:
- Make sure you’re using a kitchen scale: Like with all of my baking recipes, I really recommend using a kitchen scale over using cups. You’ll be less likely to over-measure the flour or under measure another ingredient
- Use high quality ingredients: Ingredients matter a lot in baking, whether it’s for texture, appearance, or taste. Using high quality ingredients is key for the best tasting sugar cookies!
- For thicker sugar cookies: Chill the cookie dough for 20 minutes for a thicker cookie!
- Make them gluten free: If you’re in need of gluten free vegan sugar cookies, swap in King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour blend (it’s my go-to flour blend for gluten-free!).
Can I still ice this sugar cookie recipe?
Because these cookies are more like a chocolate chip cookie rather than a cut out cookie, your best bet is icing my cut-out vegan sugar cookies. The tops of these cookies won’t be smooth enough for icing.
However, you can also make these into sugar cookie bars, and use my vegan royal icing or vegan frosting to decorate!
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!
PrintEasy Vegan Drop-Style Sugar Cookies Recipe
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 12
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 20 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These perfectly soft drop-style sugar cookies are made unbelievably dairy free and without eggs, yet have the most deliciously crisp outer edges with chewy middles. Quick and easy to make (no chilling required!), these will be your favorite vegan Christmas cookie recipe ever!
Ingredients
- 2 cup (250 g) all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour , sifted and spoon & leveled*
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 g) organic granulated sugar
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 g) dairy free yogurt or unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract, optional
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the melted vegan butter, sugar, powdered sugar, dairy free yogurt, vanilla extract, and optional almond extract. Then whisk in the cornstarch, baking powder, and sea salt.
- Fold in the dry ingredients: Add in the flour, and use a silicone spatula to fold JUST until the wet ingredients are incorporated into the dry ingredients.
- Optional chilling: For taller cookies that spread less, you can chill the dough for 10-20 minutes in the fridge.
- Scoop and bake: Use a medium cookie scoop, and scoop the cookie dough into 1.5 tbsp sized dough balls, spaced about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden.
- Serve and enjoy! Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet (which helps the bottoms firm up a bit more!), then serve and enjoy!
Notes
Gluten free: I recommend using King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free baking flour for gluten free!
Cookie Guide: See my cookie guide for how to freeze and ship these cookies!
These look amazing! I can’t wait to try. I have all ingredients on hand except the vegan butter. Can I substitute coconut oil for it?
Thanks!
Hi Samantha! Oh I’m so excitedf or you to try these! So for the vegan butter swap, I tend to avoid coconut oil for cookies because they can sometimes not spread as well (and taste too much like coconut!). As long as you’re okay with that, then you can try to use it (I haven’t tested it in this specific recipe), but otherwise I would wait until you can get some vegan butter!
That makes sense. Thank you!
Samantha
I made these for our sons teachers this week! The gluten free version. They were fantastically chewy… came out a smidge softer in the middle, but honestly…. Made them so much better! If you want them a bit firmer, add another 5 min.
Thanks again for a wonderful vegan GF recipe (again).
Oh I’m so happy to hear it that’s awesome!! Thank you so much for this review, Christine 🙂 This is lovely!! Enjoy!
I’ve made these cookies twice in one week because they’re SO good and SO easy. I love a one-bowl recipe and getting to say “they’re actually vegan” to people that like them!!
Pro Tips: Don’t make my mistake and overcook them. Listen to Britt’s directions, 10-12 minutes is perfect even if they seem underdone.. letting them sit on the baking sheet to cool is key!
I also love rolling the dough balls in some cane sugar to make them sparkle!
I made rhese and they taste wonderful!! However, mine spread out and are flat, unlike yours in the photos. Any idea as to why that happened? Thanks for sharing!
I made these cookies for a Christmas party with mostly non vegans and everyone loved them! I made two batches and they were almost completely gone by the end of the party. No one could believe they were plant based.
Oh that’s so awesome!! Thank you so much for the review 🙂 Enjoy!!
These are amazing!!! So light and buttery – these will become a household staple I’m sure! (Even my non vegan husband loved them🥰)
This is a great recipe, but the website glitches frequently on mobile which has become frustrating. Third time trying to leave this (now condensed) review, also makes it hard to read through a recipe because so much in the page is continually loading combined with various pop up ads running. Recipe gets a 5, site functionality gets a 3
I’m so sorry about the glitches!! I’ve already sent this to our dev team to look into, this shouldn’t be happening for you, and I’m so sorry! Thank you so much for the review and feedback, I really appreciate it!