This dairy free sugar cookie recipe is made with a soft sugar cookie base and a delicious vegan vanilla buttercream frosting. It's easy to make and there's no chilling of the dough required. It's also egg-free, gluten free, vegan friendly, and allergy friendly.
These pillowy soft cookies are made with simple ingredients that you can find at any normal grocery store. I've also added modification options if there are any ingredients that you are having trouble finding.
Recreating the nostalgic Lofthouse cookie / Walmart cookie
This delicious vegan sugar cookie recipe is based on the famous Lofthouse cookies that you can find at Walmart here in the USA. If you're not from the US, let me explain what these cookies are. Lofthouse (or Walmart sugar cookies) are soft sugar cookies with a tender and light cookie on the bottom. It's made with highly refined white flour, so the base of the cookie is super light, almost white. The cookies have a thick colorful frosting (usually pink) and are topped with sprinkles. These cookies are absolutely delicious and a childhood nostalgic treat.
These chewy cookies were super delicious to enjoy as a kid, but I wanted to make my own homemade version. I wanted this version to be easy, and just as delicious (if not even more so!) than the classic. I also wanted it to be dietary-friendly so that anyone can enjoy it. The Lofthouse sugar cookies are neither vegan, nor gluten free, so many people cant enjoy them. I, myself, am vegan, so I haven't been able to enjoy one of these cookies in years. Sometimes I really crave them, so I wanted to change that.
Even though these cookies are absolutely delicious, they are made with refined ingredients. There's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying an extra indulgent treat whenever you want to, but I love creating better-for-you versions of classic treats that include less of the not-so-great ingredients while always maintaining the delicious taste.
The perfect cookie to make for a special occasion
These chewy sugar cookies are really easy to make and a great treat for special occasions such as the holiday season, Valentine's Day, or birthday parties. They are allergy friendly, so you can feel comfortable bringing them to parties or get-togethers.
You can even turn these vegan cookies into Christmas cookies by dying the frosting green instead of pink. You can even split the frosting in half and color one-half green and the other in red, making them even more festive. This recipe makes for 9 cookies- the perfect amount to make for a small family or a smaller gathering.
I've also made it really easy to double the recipe, so you can make a larger batch if needed. To double or triple the recipe, go down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post and click the x2 or x3 buttons respectively.
Making these easy vegan sugar cookies allergy friendly
As mentioned above, these copycat Lofthouse cookies are a nostalgic childhood favorite, and I wanted to make them accessible to everyone, even for those with food allergies. I made these cookies dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, and soy free, making them accessible to anyone with the most common food allergies.
This is especially a great cookie recipe to bring to birthday parties for children because food allergies are common in kids, and kids love sugar cookies!
Making cut-out cookies from this recipe
This recipe is for fluffy and thick sugar cookies, not for cut-out cookies. The dough is too soft and moist and you won't be able to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes with this recipe, so I do not recommend trying that.
This recipe is also made with creamy buttercream frosting, instead of the thin royal icing used for cutout cookies. This type of frosting is much thicker and in my opinion, more delicious.
No Chill Sugar Cookies
One reason I love this recipe is that it's a no-chill recipe. This means you don't need to refrigerate the cookie dough before baking them. This makes them quick to make- perfect if you don't have a ton of time.
Using coconut oil instead of vegan butter
To make these classic sugar cookies dairy free, I used vegan butter in both the cookies and the frosting. You can substitute vegan butter for coconut oil to make coconut oil sugar cookies. The texture and overall structure of the cookies will still work. However, I think what makes these cookies so delicious is their butteriness, so I highly recommend using vegan butter instead.
Making these homemade sugar cookies gluten free
I made this recipe gluten-free by using a gluten-free flour blend that's made especially for baking. If you are making this recipe and want to keep it gluten-free, I highly recommend that you use flour like this. These flours are specifically designed to be used in baked goods. They taste delicious and make for fluffy baked goods, without gluten.
Two brands that I love using are Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur Baking. If you don't care for the cookies being gluten-free, you can also use regular all-purpose flour.
Flours like whole wheat and oat flour will also work, but since we are trying to imitate the very white base of these cookies to resemble the Lofthouse cookies, I don't recommend using those types of flour.
This recipe will not work with almond flour or coconut flour.
What you need to make this dairy free sugar cookie recipe
Cookie Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- all-purpose flour or a 1:1 gluten free baking flour blend: I recommend using white flour instead of whole wheat, to keep the color of the cookies light and the texture fluffy.
- granulated sugar: I highly recommend using white sugar in order to keep the color of the cookies light like the original Lofthouse cookies. However, you can also use brown sugar or coconut sugar, if you choose.
- baking powder
- sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- vegan unsalted butter: you can use real butter if you don't care for the cookies being vegan, or you can also use vegan margarine.
- flax egg (ground flax + water): to keep the recipe egg free, I used flax eggs instead of real ones.
- vanilla extract
- almond extract (optional): some people love adding almond extract to cookies, but I personally didn't add any in this recipe.
Frosting Ingredients
- dairy free butter: I love using the brands Miyokos or Kite Hill for the taste, but Earth Balance works amazing for texture.
- vegan cream cheese
- vanilla extract
- powdered sugar/ confectioners sugar
- 1-2 drops of red food coloring: this will make the cookies have a pretty light pink frosting that matches the classic sugar cookie that we know and love. If you prefer, you can use different colors instead.
- dash of salt
- sprinkles to top
The exact measurements, directions, and nutritional information are all at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
If you try and like this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and a comment. This really helps out my business and means so much to me personally as I love hearing from you 🙂
Equipment
- stand mixer with a paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer
- baking sheet
- piping bag and piping tip (optional)
- cookie scoop (optional)
- cooling rack: for the cookies to cool off on
- parchment paper or silicone mats: to make sure the cookies don't stick to the baking sheet.
- kitchen scale (optional): this is not a requirement because you can use measuring cups instead, but it can be tricky to get the exact amount of flour using a measuring cup. Weighing the flour is the best way to ensure I am measuring correctly. This is why I have included the grams for this recipe in the recipe card. You can definitely just make this recipe using measuring cups, but make sure you are measuring correctly. Here is a great video showing how to correctly measure flour.
How to make the dairy-free sugar cookie recipe
Prepare the flax egg by whisking the ground flax seeds with water and set aside for about 5 minutes.
In a large bowl of a stand mixer, add the room temperature butter and cream it until it's soft and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add the flax egg, then the sugar, vanilla, salt, and baking powder. Finally, start adding in the flour slowly until you add all of it and you have formed a soft sugar cookie dough.
Note: if you don't have a stand mixer, you can use an electric mixer instead. You can also combine the ingredients by hand using a whisk, but using an electric or stand mixer works better.
Line a baking tray with a piece of parchment paper or a silicone mat. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out the cookie dough and then roll the dough balls into your hands.
Place the dough ball on the cookie sheet and gently flatten out the top with your fingers, just a little bit.
Note: I used a cookie scoop to ensure that each cookie is the same size. This is optional, however, and you can just eyeball how much dough you use for each cookie.
Repeat this for every cookie. This recipe makes about nine 2-inch cookies that have about ½-3/4 inch thickness.
Bake the cookies at 350*F/ 175*C for 12-15 minutes.
While the cookies are baking, begin making the cream cheese frosting.
In a clean bowl of a stand mixer, beat the vegan butter and cream cheese until they are fluffy (2-3 minutes on high speed).
Add in the vanilla extract and dash of salt, then slowly start to add in the powdered sugar, a little at a time while still whisking constantly.
Once all of the powdered sugar has been added and you have a smooth and creamy buttercream, add in a drop of red into the buttercream and mix it in until it's incorporated into the buttercream and makes a slight pink color.
You can continue to add in a single drop of red dye until you reach the desired color.
Once the buttercream is ready, refrigerate it until it's ready to use.
When the cookies are done baking, place them on a wire rack to cool off at room temperature. Make sure they have fully cooled off before frosting them, or the buttercream will melt.
Once the cookies have chilled (at least 30-45 minutes), place the vegan buttercream frosting in a large piping bag and pipe the frosting onto each cookie.
I also used a jumbo round tip in my piping bag to make piping the frosting smoother, but that's optional. If you don't want to use a piping bag to pipe on the frosting, you can spread the frosting on top of each cookie using a butterknife or spoon.
Top the cookies with some sprinkles, and enjoy!
For more cookie recipes try these
- vegan chocolate chip cookies
- vegan gingerbread cookies
Dairy Free Sugar Cookie Recipe
Equipment
- baking sheet
- stand mixer or electric mixer
- cookie scoop
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter 1 stick
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 flax egg 1 tablespoon ground flax + 3 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour 135 g
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
Frosting Ingredients
- ¼ cup vegan butter ½ stick
- 2 tablespoon vegan cream cheese
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup powdered sugar 97.5 g
- 1-2 drops of red food dye
- dash of salt
- sprinkles to top
Instructions
- Prepare the flax egg by whisking the ground flax seeds with water and set aside for about 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the vegan butter and cream it until it's soft and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add the flax egg, then the sugar, vanilla, salt, and baking powder. Finally, start adding in the flour slowly until you add all of it and you have formed a soft dough.
- Note: if you don't have a stand mixer, you can use an electric mixer instead. You can also combine the ingredients by hand using a whisk, but using an electric or stand mixer works better.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out the cookie dough and then roll it into a ball in your hands. Place the cookie on the baking sheet and gently flatten out the top with your fingers, just a little bit.
- Repeat this for every cookie. This recipe makes about nine 2-inch cookies.
- Note: I used a cookie scoop to ensure that each cookie is the same size. This is optional, however, and you can just eyeball how much dough you use for each cookie.
- Bake the cookies at 350*F/ 175*C for 12-15 minutes.
- While the cookies are baking, begin making the vegan buttercream frosting.
- In a clean bowl of a stand mixer, beat the vegan butter and cream cheese until they are fluffy (2-3 minutes on high speed).
- Add in the vanilla extract and dash of salt, then slowly start to add in the powdered sugar, a little at a time while still whisking constantly.
- Once all of the powdered sugar has been added and you have a smooth and creamy buttercream, add in a drop of red into the buttercream and mix it in until it's incorporated into the buttercream and makes a slight pink color.
- You can continue to add in a single drop of red dye until you reach the desired color.
- Once the buttercream is ready, refrigerate it until it's ready to use.
- When the cookies are done baking, place them on a wire rack to cool off at room temperature. Make sure they have fully cooled off before frosting them, or the buttercream will melt.
- Once the cookies have chilled (at least 30-45 minutes), place the vegan buttercream frosting in a large piping bag and pipe the frosting onto each cookie.
- I also used a jumbo round tip in my piping bag to make piping the frosting smoother, but that's optional. If you don't want to use a piping bag to pipe on the frosting, you can spread the frosting on top of each cookie using a butterknife or spoon.
- Top the cookies with some sprinkles, and enjoy!
- Store the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge. I wouldn't recommend storing them at room temperature because sometimes vegan butter melts easily at room temperature. This can vary depending on the brand you use, but it's usually the case.
Nutrition
Storing the dairy-free sugar cookies
Store the decorated cookies in an airtight container or in a box that you cover with plastic wrap. You want to make sure no air gets in so that the cookies don't become stale. Store these cookies in the fridge because the buttercream frosting might become too soft at room temperature. These cookies will last 4-5 days in the fridge.
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