These vanilla spice sugar cookies sweetened with coconut sugar are gluten free and vegan and perfect for holiday baking! After the dough is chilled for 30 minutes, it rolls out easily and is ready for your favorite cookie cutters. These warmly spiced cookies can be left plain or decorated with sugar, sprinkles, or icing.
There’s something incredibly nostalgic about making (and eating!) sugar cookies during the holidays! I developed the recipe for these gluten free and vegan sugar cookies a decade ago when several members of my family (myself included) couldn’t enjoy conventional ones. The dough is flavored with vanilla, cardamom, and cloves for the winter season and they’re sweetened with coconut sugar which gives them a hint of caramel flavor and their brownish hue. After the dough rests for about 30 minutes in the fridge, it rolls out easily without breaking and doesn’t spread in the oven! You can decorate these however you like but I’m partial to sanding sugar these days.
Notes on Ingredients and Substitutions
First and foremost, you’ll notice I’ve included the weight measurements for most ingredients first with volume in parentheses. Measuring by weight will give you the most precise and accurate results so I highly recommend using a kitchen scale. I do not recommend subbing in any different GF flours for the brown rice, arrowroot, and almond flours. If you don’t keep coconut sugar on hand, feel free to use an equal amount of packed light brown sugar (this will put a tiny bit more moisture into the dough) or granulated sugar. If you don’t want a spiced cookie, feel free to leave out the cardamom and cloves.
Gluten Free and Vegan Vanilla Spice Sugar Cookies in 6 Easy Steps
PRO TIP: roll the cookie dough out on a piece of parchment paper lightly dusted with brown rice flour. Once you’ve cut out the cookies, use a palette knife to easily transfer the cookies to the baking sheet without messing up the shapes!
Love Holiday Baking? Try These Other Favorites!
If you need more gluten free and vegan holiday cookies, I’ve got you covered! These gluten free and vegan ginger molasses cookies are my absolute favorite! They have a crisp and chewy texture and the spices really hit the spot this time of year. Or, try these gluten free and vegan almond thumbprint cookies with orange marmalade. There’s no chilling required and they’re ready in just over 30 minutes!
Vanilla Spice Sugar Cookies
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: About 2 dozen cookies 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vanilla spice sugar cookies sweetened with coconut sugar are gluten free and vegan and perfect for holiday baking! After the dough is chilled for 30 minutes, it rolls out easily and is ready for your favorite cookie cutters. These warmly spiced cookies can be left plain or decorated with sugar, sprinkles, or icing.
Ingredients
dry ingredients:
- 265g (about 2 cups) brown rice flour, plus more for rolling out the cookies
- 50g (1/2 cup) blanched almond flour
- 140g (1 scant cup) arrowroot flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon psyllium husk
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
wet ingredients:
- 140g (1 cup) coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 140g (3/4 cup) melted coconut oil
- 80g (1/3 cup) unsweetened applesauce
for decorating:
- sanding sugar or sprinkles, optional
Instructions
Whisk together the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, making sure to break up any clumps of almond flour. In a separate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together until smooth and the sugar has mostly dissolved.
Place the paddle attachment on your stand mixer. With the stand mixer running on low, pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Run the mixer on medium low until the dough starts to come together into a ball. It will be sticky and soft but should hold together in a ball. Remove the dough from the bowl, flatten it down into a disc about 1-inch thick, then cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line 2 or 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Line your work surface with parchment paper then dust it with brown rice flour, Grab half of the dough and form it into a ball with your hands. Place the dough on the parchment, then dust the top of it with a bit more brown rice flour. Roll it out to about 1/8 inch thick, dusting with more rice flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin. Cut out shapes with your desired cookie cutters, then place them on a lined baking sheet about 1/2-inch apart. Decorate with sanding sugar or sprinkles if you like.
Once the first baking sheet is full, place it in the preheated oven. Bake for 14-16 minutes until just set for softer cookies or 18-20 minutes for a more crisp cookie. While the first sheet bakes, roll out and decorate the second one. As the first sheet comes out of the oven, stick the second one in. Repeat with any remaining sheets as needed.
Allow the baked cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 15 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Allow the cookies to cool completely before eating for the best texture.
This recipe yields about 2 dozen cookies depending on the size of the cookie cutters. Store leftovers in an airtight container and enjoy within 2-3 days for the best texture. Or, freeze for up to a month.
Notes
- The dough needs to be mixed until it starts to form a ball around the paddle – don’t worry about overmixing since we’re working with GF flours!
- I like to start with half of the dough first – form it into a ball with your hands, then proceed with rolling out. When you go to re-roll the dough, add the remaining half of the dough.
- Resist the urge to add more flour during mixing or the cookies will be dry and sandy. When you’re rolling the dough out, use just enough brown rice flour to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
- Resist the urge to eat the cookies before they have cooled fully – they set up further as they cool.
- If you chill the dough longer than 30 minutes, you’ll most likely need to let it rest outside of the fridge for 20-30 minutes or it will be too hard to roll out.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Chilling Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
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