Here’s how to make the best vegan snickerdoodles, a holiday classic cookie recipe that both vegans and non vegans will love.
Soft vegan snickerdoodles
You would absolutely never guess these are vegan!
The recipe uses the same basic ingredients as traditional cookies, meaning these soft and chewy snickerdoodles taste exactly like the non vegan version everyone loves.
There are no flax eggs, no specialty flours, and just one bowl to clean!
Also try these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Egg free snickerdoodle cookies
If you’ve missed snickerdoodle cookies since going vegan, definitely give these buttery snickerdoodles a try.
Or if you are not a vegan, it is still always useful to keep an easy and egg free cookie recipe on hand, for those times where you run out of eggs and do not want to make a special trip to the grocery store.
Serve them for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any time you are craving a fantastic vegan dessert packed with Fall cinnamon sugar flavor.
You know a recipe is good when all of your omnivore friends eat so many, there are barely any cookies left for you!
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Ingredients for the recipe
To make the plant based snickerdoodles, you need flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, sugar, oil or vegan butter, nondairy milk, pure vanilla extract, and cinnamon.
Flour – My preference here is to use whole grain spelt flour. All purpose white flour and oat flour work too.
For a gluten free option, I have successfully made the recipe with loosely packed Bob’s Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour.
Sugar – Choose either traditional white sugar or unrefined coconut sugar.
Or for sugar free cookies, granulated xylitol is a great swap. I have not tried erythritol and do not recommend stevia because it will change the texture of the cookies.
If you experiment with pure maple syrup or agave, let me know how it goes.
Spices – The cookies are coated in spicy sweet cinnamon. As a fun flavor variation, you can also throw in a pinch of ground ginger or nutmeg.
Unlike many other snickerdoodle recipes, this one needs no cream of tartar because baking soda adds the perfect amount of chewiness on its own.
Oil – I love using coconut oil because it gives a slight coconutty taste. If you want to avoid this, use your favorite plant based butter instead.
Dairy free milk – Go with whatever milk you have on hand. Almond milk, soy milk, oat milk, or coconut milk all work well.
No milk in your refrigerator? Simply use an equal amount of water in place of the milk.
Vegan pumpkin snickerdoodles
If you want to do a pumpkin flavored version of the vegan snickerdoodles, use one and a half tablespoons of canned pumpkin puree in place of the nondairy milk.
Then replace about a fourth of the cinnamon in the coating with pumpkin pie spice.
Leftover cinnamon? Make Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Vegan snickerdoodle recipe video
Above, watch the step by step video.
How to make vegan snickerdoodles
Start by combining all of the dry ingredients (excluding the cinnamon sugar coating) in a large mixing bowl.
Stir well, then add the liquid ingredients to form a cookie dough.
Smush the dough into one giant ball with your hands, or transfer to a Ziploc gallon bag and smush into a ball from inside the bag.
Roll into smaller cookie dough sized balls.
For soft cookies, chill the unbaked balls in the fridge until cool to the touch or overnight. Or for crunchy cookies, you may skip this step.
(The dough balls can also be frozen to bake another day.)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Stir the cinnamon and remaining sugar in a medium bowl, then roll the cookie balls in the cinnamon sugar, coating the entire surface.
Place on a cookie baking tray, and bake on the oven’s center rack for eleven minutes. They will look underdone when you remove the tray from the oven.
Let the dairy free snickerdoodles cool at least ten minutes before handling, during which time they will firm up considerably.
Store leftover cookies in a covered container on the counter for up to four days. Or freeze cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to three months.
Vegan Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour (spelt, white, or oat)
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup sugar or unrefined sugar or xylitol
- 6 tbsp coconut oil or vegan butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp nondairy milk of choice
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 1/4 cup sugar or unrefined sugar or xylitol
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- To make vegan snickerdoodles, combine dry ingredients (excluding coating). Stir well. Add liquid ingredients to form a dough. Only add additional milk if it's still too dry after a full minute of stirring. (I've never had to add more than the 1 1/2 tbsp.) Smush into a big ball with your hands, or transfer dough to a ziploc and smush into a ball once the dough is inside the bag. Now roll into balls. For softer cookies, chill 30 minutes (or up to a day – dough balls can also be frozen to bake later). Preheat oven to 325 F. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar, place on a cookie tray, and bake 11 minutes. They should look underdone, so let cool 10 minutes on the tray, as they'll firm up while they cool. View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Vegan Holiday Cookies
Hi! Yay, cookie baking season! Just a few questions; can you substitute applesauce or margarine or yogurt for the butter/oil? Will whole wheat pastry flour work? And how big are these cookies? Sorry to be “that reader who asks about a million substitutions”, but cooking for diabetics, low-fat dieters and people who aren’t used to healthy desserts can be difficult. Then again, you’re a pro!
Unfortunately we haven’t tried so honestly can’t say on the applesauce. They would probably taste good to people used to the fluffier texture of fat-free cookies. We are not really fans of whole wheat flour in baking because it yields denser results, but once again if you’re used to baked goods with it then you should probably be fine here too. In terms of size, you can make them any size.
Well, I am not a vegan, although I love Katie’s vegan recipes. I decided to add an egg as a binder since mine seemed a bit floury and then it was perfect
Thank you so much for making them!
How many ounces per cookie?
I just read the comments and to Illianne I want to say – I would try it with Whole wheat pastry flour if one of the suggestions is Spelt. Because Spelt is a whole grain as well.
And the whole wheat pastry flour is very different than the regular whole wheat.
Just my opinion.
These were AMAZING!! They were so quick and easy to make and came out delicious! I ate the whole batch in one sitting. Throwing out all my other snickerdoodle recipes!
I love these and the idea of pumpkin spice sounds fantastic.
Can you substitute either almond flour or coconut flour in this recipe?
Just use the recipe for keto cookies linked in the instructions. You can roll them in cinnamon sugar (or a mix of cinnamon and xylitol or your favorite low carb sugar if you’re trying to keep it keto friendly).
Made these last night, exactly as per the recipe (I chose spelt flour). They were delicious! Mine didn’t quite flatten out to a cookie shape, I think I should have added the extra liquid, since I’m at a bit of elevation (3000′). I’ll definitely make these again! 🙂
These get better as they sit awhile. I don’t think they’d make sitting out overnight in my house. 🙂 But I think they get better as they “age.”* (*Age meaning let them cool at least 30 minutes.)
Didn’t work for me at all to much milk needed and melting the butter made it worse.
Made the vegan snickernoodle cookies and found they were crumbly and dry when mixing. I thought I’d leave the dough overnight in the fridge to see if it would moisten up at all but it didn’t. I ended up adding another tablespoon and a half of milk and it was better and more dough like. Figured these were dry as I live in Ontario and the weather is extremely dry this time of year. I’m interested to make these in the summer when the humidity is active. Excited to taste these !