Soft Frosted Vegan Funfetti Cookies
These buttery soft frosted vegan funfetti cookies taste just like funfetti cake- only in cookie form! Super tender and easy, no chill, no roll, and studded with rainbow sprinkles- the perfect cookie for any celebration!
If you’re a lover of all things funfetti cake (or cupcakes!), then you absolutely need to try these vegan funfetti cookies.
They’re like a cross between my vegan sugar cookies and tender vanilla cake, but loaded with fun and vibrant sprinkles. Way more fun.
Andddd the dough is made in just 5 minutes, you don’t need to chill it, and how fun is that pink cream cheese frosting?!
Kids will love them, but so will you (aka the adult) because honestly, it’s like a Lofthouse cookie but way more fun (although I do have a great vegan Lofthouse cookie recipe you should try!).
The secret to vegan funfetti cookies:
I know, so cliche, but these vegan funfetti cookies do have a secret ingredient that sets them apart from other cookies, even other vegan cookies that I’ve baked on the blog!
The secret to these cake batter cookies is a mixture of both cornstarch and cream of tartar.
I KNOW. The cornstarch is going to help make our funfetti cookies superrrr soft, and the cream of tartar helps to give that funfetti “flavor” that we associate with the classic sprinkle cake.
It’s what makes a cake go from great to jaw-on-the-floor. And that’s exactly what will make this cookie recipe your new go to.
Side note- cream of tartar is vegan!
Ingredients for funfetti cookies
You already know one of the key ingredients for these birthday cake cookies: cake flour. But let’s go over the rest of the simple ingredients that you’ll need for these vegan funfetti cookies!
- Flour: we’ve gone over this above, but make sure to check the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full ingredient swaps and measurements. You can make these cookies gluten free. Just see my notes!
- Cream of tartar: As we mentioned above, this is crucial for making a vegan funfetti cookie taste like a slice of funfetti cake! Unfortunately, there is no substitute for this.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Both will be used to help our cookies rise and spread.
- Granulated sugar: Like a classic sugar cookie recipe, we’re using granulated sugar. I recommend using Florida Crystals Sugar, as it’s 100% vegan.
- Vegan butter: you can also use coconut oil, but your cookies might not spread as much.
- Dairy free yogurt: This is my preferred vegan egg substitute for cookies. It works wonderfully! You can also use unsweetened applesauce if you’d like.
- Vanilla extract and almond extracts: I find that both of these extracts are necessary for the traditional funfetti cake flavor. If you’re nut free, you will need to omit the almond extract.
- Sprinkles: I have a few different vegan sprinkles options that I discuss in the sections below.
Overview: How to make vegan funfetti cookies step by step
The full directions are found down below in the recipe card. However, as you saw from the ingredients section, we’re not using any box mix here. We’re making these funfetti cookies from scratch!
Why we’re using melted vegan butter instead of room temperature butter
Most cookie recipes call for room temperature butter, which does have its place in baking (like in my vegan vanilla cake recipe).
However, with these cookies, we’re using melted vegan butter instead. This is for a few reasons:
- Less chance of over-mixing: These cookies require a bit more flour than your average chocolate chip cookie recipe. Therefore, trying to fold flour in only a few mixes into creamed butter (dairy free obvi) is going to be tricky, especially for my new bakers. Melted vegan butter allows for more liquid, which means more flour can be absorbed at once, resulting in less mixes. And thus less chance of over-mixing!
- They’ll spread perfectly: Contrary to popular belief, we actually need these cookies to spread, and they’ll spread perfectly with melted vegan butter. And no, you don’t need to chill the cookie dough before baking!
- Quicker to make: No need to leave your butter out for a few hours before you want to bake. Let’s just get to baking right away 🙂
What sprinkles are vegan?
For these vegan funfetti cookies, I used a mix of Sweetapolita vegan Birthday sprinkles blend, and this new brand I just discovered Baking Time Club. I really love the Baking Time Club sprinkles (which I used to decorate the cookies with!). They taste great.
However, I haven’t tried baking with them yet, so I can’t say how they’ll hold up in heat. The Sweetapolita are a tried and true classic that always work for me (just see my funfetti cupcakes and funfetti cake!).
Other brands that are great:
- Go Supernatural
- Whole Foods 365 brand
- India Tree Nature
Can I freeze the cookie dough?
Absolutely! If you want to bake these funfetti cookies at a different time, simply scoop the cookies into cookie dough balls, then chill them in the fridge to solidify.
After about 15 minutes of chilling, you can place the cookie dough balls into an airtight ziplock bag or container, and into the freezer. Freeze the cookies for up to 3 months.
When you’re ready to bake, simply bake these funfetti cookies according to the directions below, adding on a minute or two to account for the freezing.
I hope you love these secretly vegan funfetti cookies as much as I do! If you make them, be sure to leave a comment below along with a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others may find the recipe!
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy funfetti cookie baking!
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
Soft Frosted Vegan Funfetti Cookies
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 12
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 15 large cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These buttery soft frosted vegan funfetti cookies taste just like funfetti cake- only in cookie form! Super tender and easy, no chill, no roll, and studded with rainbow sprinkles- the perfect cookie for any celebration!
Ingredients
Vegan Funetti Cookies:
- 1 3/4 cup (225 g) all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan butter, melted and room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) organic granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (80 g) vegan sour cream or dairy free yogurt, room tempearture
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract, optional but recommended
- 1/4 cup vegan sprinkles
Vegan Pink Frosting:
- 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (280 g) vegan powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp vegan pink/red food coloring (I recommend beet powder, rose powder, hibiscus powder, or a liquid red food coloring, used sparingly)
- Vegan Sprinkles to top
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven o 350F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Make the dough: Whisk together the vegan butter, sugar, dairy free yogurt, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Then add in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and sea salt. Gently fold the dry into the wet JUST until it’s incorporated. Be careful not to over mix.
- Fold in the sprinkles: Add in the sprinkles, and fold just until evenly distributed.
- Scoop the cookie dough: Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop 2 tbsp of dough per dough ball onto the baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Roll the dough between your palms to round the cookies.
- Bake: Place the baking sheets into the oven to bake for 11-12 minutes, or until the edges are just set. Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to fully cool on the pan. The bottoms of the cookies will firm up as they cool, but when they first come out of the oven, they’re super soft.
- Make the frosting: When the cookies are cool, cream the vegan butter until fluffy using a hand mixer in a large bowl. Then add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, creaming together again. Add in a touch of dairy free milk as needed, followed by the pink food coloring. Mix until fluffy and until you’ve achieved the color pink that you want.
- Frost the cookies: Dollop a tablespoon or two of frosting per cookie, and spread to the edges. Top with extra sprinkles, and enjoy!
Notes
Gluten free: I recommend using King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free baking flour.
Vegan Sprinkles: See blog post for recommendations.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 163
- Sugar: 13.4 g
- Sodium: 50.8 mg
- Fat: 9.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.5 g
- Fiber: 2.4 g
- Protein: 1.6 g
- Cholesterol: 16.3 mg
These look soo yummy! Could you use an egg replacer such as *Susie gluten free egg replacer* instead of vegan yogurt / sour cream?
Aw thank you! And actually, I’ve never baked with a vegan egg replacer- I’m not sure how it really works in cookies, but I’d try to stick with the yogurt/sour cream if you can! If not, you can use applesauce too!
I have a quick question: it says in the description to use cake flour, but then in the recipe itself, it says all-purpose flour. Which one should be used? Thanks! Excited to try this recipe!
Hi Jessica! So sorry for that confusion!! You can use all purpose flour 🙂 We’re using cornstarch in the recipe, so that will help it act like cake flour! When I updated the recipe, I realized it’s probably more common to have both AP flour and cornstarch in your cupboard than cake flour!
Can the sour cream or yogurt be substituted with apple sauce?
Yes it can!
Possibly the softest cookies Iver ever made (in a good way!) So fluffy! Had lots of fun making and decorating these!