Learn how to make the most delicious crispy Gluten-free Vegan Sugar Cut-Out Cookies that are also oil-free and no butter! These are so delicious with amazing crispy edges and soft and tender center. Topped with the best vegan royal icing that firms up and is the perfect sugar cookie icing recipe!
GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN SUGAR COOKIES
I cannot even say how many sugar cookies my household has been eating. All in the name of recipe testing, many trials happened. I’ve created, due to a crazy amount of reader requests, a Crispy Gluten-free Vegan Sugar Cut-Out Cookie recipe that does not use any oil or vegan butter! Most recipes rely on butter or oil or the they are fully almond flour-based. I love almond flour but my husband hates it with a passion and these needed to pass his test. This recipe was not easy to create, so I’m thrilled to be sharing it finally.
So mine uses a small amount, so that it doesn’t taste like an almond cookie. Also, many vegan cookies are crispy the first day but end up going soft by the next day, but these keep their texture!! This is so important so they hold their shape and not be so soft that they break apart or lose that wonderful crisp factor. They are crazy easy to make, too. I wanted these cut-out cookies to be easy to work with and slightly healthier than your traditional sugar cookie made with white flour and butter.
These also are decorated with the best vegan royal icing ever. These have NO aquafaba in them! Legit every vegan royal icing recipe I’ve seen uses aquafaba and so many don’t want to use that, myself included.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
(Only 8 main ingredients needed. Full details and measurements on the recipe card below.)
- Superfine oat flour: This keeps the cookies gluten-free and gives a neutral flavor and soft and chewy center.
- Superfine blanched almond flour: This helps to replace oil/butter so they have moisture and a buttery taste. I use either the “Superfine” Bob’s Red Mill Blanched Almond Flour, Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour or Nature’s Eats Almond Flour are all good.
- White rice flour: Brown rice flour cannot be subbed here. It will really change the flavor and make them much more dry and crumbly.
- Tapioca starch: This starch helps the cookies bind together so they don’t fall apart. You might possibly be able to use cornstarch, but I haven’t tested this and cannot guarantee it will work here. Do not try potato starch, it is MUCH drier. Stick with tapioca for best results.
- Baking powder: We need just a little bit here so they aren’t too flat or dense since there are no eggs.
- Pure maple syrup: Even though the cookies are topped with sugar icing, I still wanted the cookie base to be a bit healthier per requests.
- Raw cashew butter: Do not use a store-bought roasted cashew butter! It will ruin the cookies. It absolutely must be raw cashew butter with no additives. It is a crucial ingredient to the cookies. Since this is incredibly hard to find, except for Whole Foods, I always make my own. It is super easy-see my tutorial here. Make it the day before or earlier than you want to make the cookies so it has plenty of time to come back to room temperature, as processing it will make it rather warm.
- Vanilla extract: Just a touch, so it doesn’t overpower the cookies. I tried more originally and my hubby complained of an alcohol taste, haha.
HOW TO MAKE GLUTEN FREE VEGAN SUGAR COOKIES
Step 1: First, to a large bowl, add the dry ingredients.
Step 2: Add the liquids to the dry and mix and form into a ball.
Step 3: Place the ball of dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll out to 1/4 inch even layer.
Step 4: Use cookie cutters to make shapes and place on a lined pan of parchment paper.
Step 5: Bake for 7 minutes at 350 °F until the bottoms (not the tops) are looking a golden brown.
Let the cookies fully cool before decorating.
CRISPY SUGAR CUT-OUT COOKIES
These cookies are not a soft sugar cookie. They have crispy edges with a somewhat soft and chewy center. But, if you are looking for the super soft cookies, make my other Vegan Sugar Cookies instead. Those are not the cut-out style. This is because there is much less liquid than traditional cookies, are thinner, as well as these being oil-free. They are wonderfully delicious, but they are more of a crispy cookie, so expect that.
SUGAR COOKIE DECORATING TIPS
I went all out and decorated these gluten-free vegan sugar cookies for hours, but obviously you don’t need to do this. You can simply spread the icing on top or do simple swirls or strips. Just don’t skip the icing entirely! Plain sugar cut-out cookies are meant to be covered with icing, they aren’t meant to be plain, as there isn’t a whole lot to them other than flour, sweetener and vanilla. You could always use another icing I suppose that you want that you love, just don’t leave them plain.
- If you are a beginner at decorating cookies, just know, it takes TIME. Have patience, having a steady hand to decorate cookies takes practice.
- Get some piping tips and piping bags. I use Wilton #! tip to outline so it’s easy and more precise.
- If you are wanting to do different colors, make sure you have several piping bags to divide the colored icing.
- Watch some youtube videos for guidance.
- Have several different small bowls to divide your colored icing, if doing more than just white.
- Get sprinkles or any type of decorations you want to top the cookies with. I love the vegan sprinkles that Sweetapolita sells. I use vegan plant-based food color powders from Trucolor.
So, which do you like better, the red and gold or the blue and gold?? Obviously, when I created these I wanted something a bit different than the traditional red and green Christmas colors and it was such fun to make!
MORE VEGAN CHRISTMAS COOKIES TO MAKE
- Vegan Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Almond Butter Blossoms
- Vegan Cardamom Pecan Cookies
- Vegan Coconut Butter Gingersnaps
- Vegan Chai Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Molasses Cookies
Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies (Oil-free!)
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (160g) superfine oat flour (I highly recommend store-bought such as Bob's Red Mill, as homemade oat flour is often not fine enough to work and match my weight amounts and may alter the dough)
- 1/4 cup (40g) white rice flour (do not use brown, they will fall apart & not taste good)
- 1/4 cup (28g) superfine almond flour (it must be superfine or your dough will be way too sticky-SEE NOTES at bottom for sub!)
- 2 tablespoons (16g) tapioca starch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup (160g) pure maple syrup
- 3/4 cup (192g) RAW cashew butter (SEE NOTES at bottom!)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
ICING (This is enough to fully ice the cookies. Use half if wanting to just drizzle or OMIT if wanting to just use sprinkles.)
- 2 cups (248g) powdered sugar
- 8 teaspoons (40g) lite coconut milk or soy milk
- 4 teaspoons (28g) pure maple syrup (this helps the icing to be shiny)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (use clear if desired for a whiter frosting)
NOTE
- Please follow the recipe exactly, as this was a very tested and finicky recipe, as cut-out cookies tend to be. You know I always recommend a scale for baking, but I especially recommend it with these since cut-out style cookies require such exact ratios for the dough to be proper with the science of baking. Measuring with cups can really alter how the dough turns out. Use my exact weights listed, as this recipe has been tested multiple times strictly by weights, NOT cups, so you don't need to get out your cups to compare those measurements to weights. That is not needed here. You just need to use the scale and a bowl. Very simple. Make sure to zero out between each ingredient addition. This recipe is a breeze and QUICK if followed correctly.
- I use this scale
Instructions
- Be sure to bake these cookies shortly after making the dough. Do not store in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Chilling it for a long time causes it to really dry and and break apart. Use it fresh.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- To a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly mixed and no lumps remain.
- Add the syrup, cashew butter and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir together until it comes together into a ball. It will be a bit shaggy at first. Pressing the dough together with the back of a spoon will help it come together.
- Once it's in a rough ball, pick it up with your hands and knead, press and mold it together several times so it completely comes together and is smooth and NO more visible flour remains. Form into a very smooth ball. It should not be sticky and be very easy to work with if measured correctly. Refer to photo of dough in post. If for some reason you cannot easily form a ball and it's sticking too much to your hands, scoop the dough into plastic wrap and wrap into a ball and place in the fridge for just 1 hour.
- After forming the ball, if you have time, place the dough wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for 30 minutes to make rolling slightly easier. Although, I didn't even do this and found the dough easy enough to work with to bake right away. However, if your cookie cutters are sticking too much, chill it briefly or else you will have messy cookies.
- Place the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and place another sheet of paper on top of the dough. Roll the dough out continuously starting from the middle to ensure even rolling. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick, NO less, or they will bake up really thin and too crispy and become more dry.
- Use desired cookie cutters to make shapes close together using all the dough. Make sure to use similar shaped cookie cutters so they bake evenly. Carefully peel away the unused portion of the dough around the cookie shapes Gently pick up the cookie shapes and place them on the lined pan.
- Form the dough back into a ball and repeat the process until all the dough is used. I got 20-24 cookies using the size of standard cookie cutters. You may get less or more depending on the ones you use. Just keep the cookie cutters to similar size so they bake evenly.
- These cookies are meant to be frosted with the icing, as we all know, that is traditional. You can choose to fully ice like I have in the photos or just do stripes or minimal icing decorations. If you really want to skip icing, then just sprinkle the cookies with sprinkling sugar before baking.
- Bake 1 pan at a time for just 7 minutes (6 minutes if using the no almond flour version) and set your timer! Sugar cut-out cookies bake very fast so stay close. They are done when you look through the oven window and see the bottoms forming a golden brown color and the tips may just beginning to turn golden brown. Obviously, ovens can vary, so yours may take slightly longer, but look for the description noted. The tops won't change much color, but be very light. Do not overbake these or they can really dry out.
- Cool just 5 minutes on the pan and transfer to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
- Mix the icing ingredients with a whisk until completely smooth. This icing should be the consistency of toothpaste. This is used to outline the cookies so it hardens quickly and doesn't run off the cookie. Test outlining one cookie with a piping tip and if it's not running off, you are good. If it's too runny, add a bit more sugar. Please note that if you don't use a milk listed, yours will be runnier and may require more sugar.
- If just drizzling the cookies, you don't need to divide the icing, but if you want to flood the cookies (fill the outline) you need a bit of runnier icing so it's easy to fill in. You will add a tiny bit of milk, start with a teaspoon and it should be more easily runny, but not watery. Fill in a cookie with another piping tip to test. Don't worry if your icing ever turns too runny, just always add more sugar.
- Do this same process if wanting to use colors. I made several different bowls of icing to do this.
- Place all the cookies on wire racks to cool. The icing will take several hours to fully harden. I let mine sit overnight to harden on the racks uncovered. Don't worry about them drying out. Honestly, it kept them crispier this way and the icing helps to keep them moist!
- If you just did the cookies with sprinkling sugar and no icing, once they are cooled, place them on a plate covered with foil or a glass container to store them. I wouldn't use plastic, as it will make them become soft.
Notes
- ALMOND FLOUR: I'm sure many cannot have almonds, so I tested a version without almond flour. Please note that this version dries out faster, but as long as you still ice the tops, they are definitely still yummy and wonderfully crispy. To make them without almond flour, follow the recipe as written, but use 1/2 cup (80g) white rice flour instead of only the 1/4 cup and omit the almond flour. Bake for JUST 6 minutes for them to be a light color and the bottoms just starting to turn golden. Of course ovens vary, but this was the correct time for mine. If you overbake these, they will be very dry.
- CASHEW BUTTER: Do not use a store-bought roasted cashew butter! It will ruin the cookies. It absolutely must be raw cashew butter with no additives. Since this is incredibly hard to find, except for Whole Foods, I always make my own. You can see the tutorial here. Make sure you are blending it long enough to reach the correct soft and flowy stage as listed in the directions, so the cookie dough will come together correctly. The cashew butter absolutely cannot be subbed here in these cookies. It is a crucial ingredient to both the flavor and texture, as the flavor contributes considerably to the sugar cookie taste. No other nut butter will taste right here. If you sub, do so at your own risk. Keep in mind, I make my recipes without oil or butter, which means fat is needed, which is why I use nut butters to replace the standard fats.
- NUTRITION: Nutritional stats are per cookie and does not include icing, as I found it impossible to figure that out since it will vary so much.
- VEGAN SPRINKLES & FOOD COLORING: See the post for the brands I use.
Nutrition
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Hi! My husband is allergic to cashews – any substitute suggestions for the cashew butter? Thank you!
Hi! SO sorry, but these cookies are very finicky and without the cashew butter, the texture and flavor will not turn out right. There is sunbutter, but that is not going to taste very good in these. It’s quite bitter.
I made these last year and loooovvvvved them! Question: how do these freeze? Frosted or unfrosted? Traveling means I won’t have much time to make them just before I want to give them out this year so I’m wondering how much I can prep beforehand. TIA!
I think they will freeze fine, I am not sure if I tried that before but they do pretty good in the fridge!
This is a very tasty cookie recipe! Thank you, Brandi, for another winner!
I would like to mention that I substituted sunflower butter for the cashew butter. I doubled the recipe (except I found that I only needed 3/4 cup of the sunflower butter; this alone did not need doubling), swapped out the almond flour for the extra white rice flour, and it was great! They have a pleasant slight peanut butter cookie taste, but I don’t mind. I am looking forward to icing them!
Have a Merry Christmas!
So glad to hear they turned out so well Marie!
Brandi, these are incredible. I mean that literally — if you handed me one of these and told me they were vegan, without oil, I’m not sure I would believe you! But I made them myself, so I have to believe it! I hadn’t had a sugar cookie in almost 10 years, since I changed my diet (WFPB no oil), until today. These taste like I what I remember making with my mom when I was a kid — but even better! I assume you’re having the same awful cold we’re having here in North Texas, and I loved spending time in the kitchen making these cookies this morning! It really feels like Christmas today! Thank you!!
For those having trouble getting white rice flour, if you have dry, uncooked white rice and a good blender, it’s easy to make your own. Just blend a cup or so of rice (helps to freeze it for half an hour or so beforehand, to avoid overheating your blender), then run it through a wire mesh strainer. That’s what I used, since I forgot to buy some, and it worked perfectly.
This makes me so happy to read Brenna, thank you!
What about freezing the cookies before frosting?
Hi! I’ve honestly never tried that but I do believe it would make them dry out too much. I’ve tried freezing the raw dough and it turned out terrible.
Are you able to make the dough a few days ahead of time?
We followed this recipe to the letter. We wished all the ingredients, made the cashew butter properly and made sure to knead the dough as suggested. It was sticky, so we wrapped and refrigerated for one hour. The dough is so sticky and soft that there is absolutely no way to roll it out. It’s difficult to even roll into balls and make basic round cookies. A total waste of pretty expensive ingredients. I was very excited about this recipe, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work. We tried some other recipes that were good, but we had to add more ingredients in some and basically wing it to see if they would turn out ok. Sadly, we don’t be using this recipe again because of how expensive the ingredients are when the cookies don’t turn out.
Hi Ty, I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with the recipe! But the recipe absolutely does work, which is why I’ve shared it and it has received all 5 star reviews above yours. I’m not sure what went wrong on your end, but I test my recipes extensively before posting and have made these countless times and it works very well each time. Did you weigh the ingredients? The reason I ask this is because baking, especially gluten-free vegan baking really does require weighing to get accuracy. Even being off a small amount of flour can make the dough too wet and not work. Another thing I can think to ask is did you use the cashew butter right after making while it was still warm? That could be a big factor as well.
I made these and they turned out perfectly!
I used Artisana brand raw cashews butter from Amazon. Instead of rice flour I used King Arthur Flour GF all purpose (which is rice and brown rice based). And I added 1/2 tsp almond extract. Thanks for a great recipe.
Woohoo, ,so thrilled to hear this Christine!
Just finished frosting these this morning for a Valentine’s Day luncheon I host.
They turned out great. I added organic beet root powder to the frosting mix for the Valentine’s
Day theme.
I wish I knew how to send you a picture. My decorating skills are not nearly as amazing as yours but they were fun to make!
Thank you for another fantastic recipe. Oh, as I was patiently making the cashew butter, I didn’t think the technique would work – but it did!
So wonderful to hear you enjoyed these Twyla!! You can tag me on Instagram @thevegan8 (noted on the recipe card) or also on Facebook the same way or you can email me a photo at thevegan8@yahoo.com thank you!
Thank you Brandi. I know, I know, I’m probably the only person in the world who doesn’t have Instagram and I gave up my Facebook addiction about 2 years ago – so I will email you the photo!
These cookies are going in the yearly rotation! Absolutely wonderful. The dough was very easy to work with, and they baked up just like traditional sugar cookies. They took about 10 minutes in my oven, that was the only change. The icing was good, but it was a bit too runny and about twice as much as we needed (even with a toddler applying it copiously).
So glad you loved the cookies! What kind of milk did you use because the icing shouldn’t be runny and did you weigh? The icing sets well but With royal icing, measurements have to be precise since it’s very easy to add too much liquid and it easily be too runny or the milk used greatly affects the thickness. I always use lite coconut milk.
Just made these for the first time and this recipe is a keeper! The cookies were so delicious and easy to make. I will say that the most time consuming part was making the cashew butter, but it was worth it! Definitely making these again!
I used all almond flour instead of oat as I can’t do oats and they came out great! I knew I was taking a chance but it worked out. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed them! That would definitely change the texture and moisture level of the cookie, but glad they worked out to your liking!
Brandi, Thank you for your hard work creating such amazing recipes. I can always count on them being delicious. I also appreciate not being inundated with advertising. I want to make these cookies for my son’s wedding later this month. Do these freeze well? If so, can I freeze with frosting on or is it best to freeze without the frosting?
That is so kind of you to say, thank you Debora! I’ve not tried freezing these, but I have put them in the fridge. They do dry out a bit because there is a lot of starch, but adding icing definitely helps with the moisture. I think it would be better to ice them fresh because the icing might create condensation or the colors bleed if you freeze and then thaw them. Since these are for such an important occasion, I would do a test batch of freezing a few days and then thawing, icing and see how they are. They do keep a wonderful crunch, almost scone like texture chilled from the fridge, just not sure about freezing.
Another amazing recipe, Brandi! These cookies are delicious. Slightly crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. I used powdered coconut sugar for the icing and it came out so well! The cookies were delicious the first day but even better with coffee the next morning. I still cannot believe these are GF, vegan, and oil free!!
I’m so thrilled to hear this Megan!! They looked absolutely perfect on IG! Thank you so much for making them and posting a review!
Looks like a great recipe! Do you think the dough would work in an old-fashioned cookie press? I found my mom’s cookie press from the 1960’s, and I’m having trouble putting it in the donate box! I would love to find a vegan, gf, oil-free recipe to work with it!! 🙂
Hi Janet! Yes, I think so! It’s very easy to work with, so I imagine it would work well.
Thank you so much! I may resume an old-time family tradition this Christmas! : – )
Awesome let me know after you try them!
Yay!! I’m gonna try this recipe. Do you think I can substitute oat flour with all purpose flour? My daughter is sensitive to oat.
I’ve never tried that, so I can’t say for certain. But all-purpose flour is much drier, so the dough might be drier, so make sure your cashew butter is very very smooth and runny, not stiff. Also, they may cook slightly faster, but that’s just a guess. Let me know if you try them!
I love these cookies!!! They were tasty, oil-free, and easier to work w/then butter-sugar cookies. The traditional sugar cookies are fussy and can easily crumble if not cooled. But these were easy to “cut” and retained their shape on baking.
Loved the cashew butter- gave the cookies a subtly sweet, buttery flavor.
I will make these next Christmas!
Yay Lori, really happy to hear how much you love these cookies! Thank you so much for making them! Yes, I agree on the dough too, much easier to work with!
Those blue and gold cookies are so beautiful. A lot of work to decorate I’m certain. I would love to try making these but cannot tolerate cashews (auto-immune issue). Almonds are risky too, even tho I soak them overnight before eating just a few. So hard to find substitutes for these vegan recipe staples.
Thank you! Yes, it was time consuming for sure! There are loads of sugar cookies online that use vegan butter that you could use. Probably 95% of vegan sugar cookies are very similar, using vegan butter or oil, so if you can’t have nuts, I would try one of those.
Thank you so much for creating this recipe! 🙂 We made these today…I don’t have a scale and they still turned out perfect! They were so much easier to work with than traditional dough! My teenage son and daughter both thought they were great and had fun decorating them. I was lazy and bought the raw cashew butter (not roasted) from Whole Foods and it worked really well! Next time I’ll double the recipe as it made 18 cookies with our cookie cutters.
Also, for anyone looking for natural dyes. I bought McCormick “Color from Nature” powder food color. I found it on Amazon but I’m sure other stores sell it as well. If you live near Whole Foods, we were able to find some festive, naturally dyed sprinkles there.
Thanks Brandi! We’ll definitely be making these again in the future! Happy Holidays!
Yay Terri!! Thrilled to hear you all loved them and they turned out perfectly! Great to know about that food color too, thank you for sharing!
My daughter made these for our family to decorate. We loved them. They cut out and transferred well, baked up nice and crisp and had an awesome flavor. I preferred them plain, but they were super cute decorated by the kids. Thanks Brandi for a win!
I’m so very happy y’all loved them Jen! They looked so adorable on Instagram! I, too, absolutely love them plain! But they definitely get that full sugar cookie effect iced, haha! Thanks so much for making them.
I think you’ve totally outdone yourself on these. I mean they look way too beautiful to eat and I know they will taste just as great. I just want to say thank you for always putting your readers first and giving us awesome free recipes. I don’t know how you do it. And you always address sub questions in the posts if people would just READ!! That has to be do frustrating but you always handle it graciously!! Happy holidays!!
Thank you so much Estee, you are so sweet! I really appreciate your kind comment very much!
Can you put Brown Rice flour instead? Thanks
MJ, the post says multiple times that brown rice flour is not an acceprable substitute for white rice flour.
Hi MJ! I’ve noted on the recipe card next to the ingredient why not to use brown rice flour. Sadly, it just will not work well here. Brown rice flour is a much stronger flavor and much drier and more crumbly. It works well in baked goods that are camouflaged with spices or chocolate, but not something like a sugar cookie, nor is it as binding.
Lovely cookies! What did you use to color your icing? Thanks for all the great recipes! Kris
Thank you Kris! I used a combo of TrueColor (I order them online), they are all natural fruits and veggies dyed and have sprinkles as well and are beautiful. You can find them here. https://trucolor.org/liquid-icing-colors-3-5-oz/ I also used some of the Wilton gel vegan ones that I’ve had for quite some time.
Ahhh thank you for this recipe!! I’ve been dying for oil-free sugar cookies!! Is there anything I can sub for white rice flour?
Great! No, you really want to use the rice flour, as I’ve noted how important it is to in the recipe to stick to the ingredients, since it was heavily tested. It really aids in the overall texture and crispiness.