Learn how to make the absolute BEST Vegan Gluten-free Snickerdoodles ever! They are so buttery, moist and delicious with the classic cinnamon sugar taste and crackle top, yet are gluten-free, oil-free, made in 1 bowl and in 25 minutes!
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VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE SNICKERDOODLES
It’s exciting to be sharing these Vegan Snickerdoodles with you today because it took me 4 trials to get them the way I wanted, as you all saw since I was sharing my testing trials in my Instagram stories and on Facebook. They really are the best vegan snickerdoodles you’ll ever have, shoot, best ever!
The most amazing part of these cookies is the fact that they taste so legit, yet are:
gluten-free, vegan, grain-free, oil-free and just 8 ingredients! The most challenging thing about baking my recipes in a lot of cases, is achieving optimal results, in taste, texture and appearance, all at 8 ingredients. That’s often why I have to trial multiple times. It would be a lot easier if I could do 9 or 10 ingredients, LOL.
THE BEST VEGAN SNICKERDOODLES
I wanted them to spread and crackle and look just like traditional snickerdoodles I used to get at bakeries. After much experimentation with flours and liquids and ratios, I finally got it. I tell you what, it is not easy to get a cookie the way you want it all the time, especially a snickerdoodle without using any butter, oil or nut butters! I was quite frustrated, but I kept on until I nailed these vegan snickerdoodles. The almond flour is the special ingredient here.
HOW DO YOU MAKE VEGAN OIL-FREE SNICKERDOODLES?
To make these vegan gluten-free snickerdoodles, you only need 10-15 minutes of prep and 1 bowl, that’s it.
First, gather these 8 ingredients:
- blanched almond flour
- tapioca starch/flour
- baking powder
- cream of tartar
- pure cane sugar
- maple syrup
- vanilla extract
- cinnamon
Next, whisk your dry ingredients, then add the syrup and vanilla to the same bowl and stir until thick.
Roll into balls and coat into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Place the balls onto the lined pan. Flatten them and bake at 375°F for 10 minutes until golden and they should have puffed up and slightly crackled.
WHY DO YOU ADD CREAM OF TARTAR TO SNICKERDOODLES?
The reason for cream of tartar is for that classic subtle tang that the classic snickerdoodle cookie has. It is what sets them apart from just a sugar cookie. This is one reason I’ve always loved these cookies because they have that taste. So, naturally, these vegan oil-free snickerdoodles need it too. It also helps the baking powder react, so don’t omit!
MORE VEGAN COOKIE RECIPES TO TRY:
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- 5 Ingredient Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Thin Mints
- Dark Chocolate Molasses Cookies
- Vegan Old-Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Best Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Almond Butter Blossoms
- Grain-free Chocolate Coconut Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Double Chocolate Espresso Almond Cookies (my all-time favorite cookie)
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Vegan Snickerdoodles (Gluten-free, Oil-free)
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups (252g) superfine blanched almond flour (please weigh for accurate results!)
- 6 tablespoons (48g) tapioca starch/flour
- 3 tablespoons (36g) pure cane sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (200g) pure maple syrup
- 2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar coating
- 6 tablespoons (72g) pure cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon + 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
NOTE
- Please do not ask to sub the almond flour, as you can see, it is the main ingredient. With no oil or butter in this recipe, it is the very source of moisture and buttery flavor. It simply will not work with any sub.
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed. You never need cups, just the scale and bowl.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- To a large bowl, add the almond flour, tapioca, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt and whisk very well, making sure to break up lumps from the almond flour.
- To the same bowl, add the syrup and vanilla and stir with a spoon for several minutes until it all comes together into a thick, somewhat sticky batter. Keep stirring and pressing the mixture with the back of the spoon until this happens.
- To a small bowl, add the sugar and cinnamon for the coating and whisk well.
- With the batter, form balls using 1 1/2 tablespoons worth of the cookie dough. If you would like larger cookies, then use 2 tablespoons worth of dough. Roll into tight balls with your hands. The batter, if you weighed everything correctly, should be somewhat sticky, but you SHOULD be able to roll into balls. If it is too sticky to roll into balls, place in the fridge for 15 minutes or so.
- Place each ball in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and rotate it several times to really coat them well. Add them to the pan 2 inches apart. I got 18 cookies (9 on each pan). Depending on how big you make them you may get more or less.
- Press each cookie down between 1/4 to 1/2 inch, making sure the whole cookie is pressed down evenly. Pressing them down properly is what will help them crackle as they bake and spread.
- Bake 1 pan at a time. (While the first pan cools, bake the 2nd one) Bake for 10 minutes. They should have puffed up and slightly crackled, that is when they are done. I found 10 minutes to be perfect.
- Leave them to cool on the pan 10 minutes, then transfer to cool another 10 minutes. They will flatten back out a bit as they cool. These cookies do finish cooking as the cool in the insides, so I would wait before eating one until they are cooled, or they will seem a bit underdone still in the middle. They will fluff up on the inside more as they cool. They should have a crispy edge with a moist and soft, chewy center. Store sealed in a container.
Could the tapioca starch be replaced with arrowroot?
I really don’t know. I’ve never tried it, but my personal experience with arrowroot is it makes things excessively gooey and powdery. Since there is a large amount used here, I’m not sure. I would suggest cornstarch instead.
Wow, made these & they were delicious. Then I decided to experiment so I took the basic recipe, added a little cinnamon & pecans & dusted with powdered sugar to make really delicious Pecan Sandies.
That is so awesome to hear Zannetta! That sounds really delicious too!!
Hi Brandi,
So I made your cookies this weekend a novice to cooking vegan. My sister Colleen has been raving about your recipes for a long time. I’m not much for cooking but coming to like it. My son and I experience IBS which runs in my family which he thanks me for 🙂 I decided to try these for him. They didn’t turn out looking anything like yours but they were yummy just the same. My son said “These are good mom they taste like the elephant ears we used to get at the bakery”. It made my day because elephant ears were his childhood favorite. Thank you so much for all your hard work in making and providing these recipes. My son may be 29 but he’ll always be my baby and I enjoy making him happy. I did tell him they might turn out differently when I get the hang of weighing and trying the recipe many more times.
Hi Peg! I’m so glad you and your son enjoyed these! Thank you so much for making them and thank you Colleen as well for the kind words, she is such a gem!!
Can honey be substituted for maple syrup? And regular granulated or raw sugar for the cane sugar? I’m excited to try this recipe but don’t have maple syrup or cane sugar on hand.
Hi Tracy! I do not use honey in my recipes, only maple syrup or agave, so I’m afraid I can’t give advice on subbing it. I don’t think honey would work well here since a good amount is needed and honey is MUCH thicker and sweeter than maple syrup, as well as incredibly sticky. It would be best to get maple syrup or agave for this recipe for best results. As far as the sugar, yes, regular white sugar is fine, but not raw sugar, since it is much thicker granules.
We would love to have an all purpose substitute for the almond flour. So many of your recipes look amazing but we cannot make them because my twins have nut allergies. Would love to try your best guess on replacing the almond flour. Thanks!
Hi Andria! Yes, unfortunately some recipes just cannot be subbed and still work properly. Almond flour is a flour that cannot be subbed, unless with another nut flour. In some recipes I suggest trying to sub with ground up raw sunflower seeds and it will work, but for a recipe like this, it is just going to overpower the flavor. Sunflower seeds are very strong in flavor and I just don’t think it would taste good here. Since there is so much almond flour in this recipe, it is the base after all, it’s just not going to work with anything else because it is the source of moisture, as it is high in fat. I have plenty of cookie recipes that do not use almond flour though. You can try subbing the ones that use almond butter for sunbutter if they won’t mind a sunbutter taste. Since I’m an oil-free blog, I use nuts a lot to replace the richness, texture and moisture. You could try these with sunbutter: https://thevegan8.com/2019/03/25/best-vegan-gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Was so pleased with the outcome the first time I made these that I would like to make them for two parties I have coming up in 6 days and 8 days. It would certainly be easier for me to make in advance if the result doesn’t suffer. How long do you expect these would keep and would you recommend freezing or storing in tight seal container? Thanks
Hi Deena! So sorry I’m just seeing this! These will get extremely soft if you put them in a sealed container and leave them like that. Not sure I would chance it like that. I’ve never tried freezing these but I think that option would work better. Freeze them and then let them thaw a few hours before serving. Hopefully that works!
Can I substitute the nut flour a nut-free like Cassava or even just a gluten free blend? My girl needs vegan, gluten free and nut free. Thank you!
Hi Luana, I’m so sorry, but for these, the entire base is almond flour. They simply will not work without that flour! I have lots of cookie recipes though that don’t use almond flour. This recipe is crucial to the almond flour though since they are oil-free.
Everyone in my house LOVES these cookies! They are so easy to make and the texture is fantastic. I have made them several times without changing the recipe at all. I do refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes before rolling into balls. I also make mine smaller to get 28-30 cookies. Next time I’m going to add a little bit of rose water and lime zest to riff on a favorite Isa M cookie from back in the day. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Thanks Brandi.
Today I fell in love… with a cookie! 😍💛 These cookies are AWESOME!!! 🙌 I’ve never made a Snickerdoodle cookie, vegan or otherwise, but I have had them and these rival any I’ve tasted. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside! 😋 Can’t wait to make these again!
I’m so glad you loved these so much! Woohoo!
Hi Brandi, these cookies are really SUPER and they are my husbands favorite! He does ask me to make them less sweet. How do I do that without messing up the texture? I already tried skipping the cane sugar (which works), but I wonder if there is a (part) sub for maple syrup? I tried a little less syrup and water, but I don’t want to change the structure/texture of the cookies. I can’t find it on Google and thought: Why not ask the GENIUS? LOL 🙂
I ran out of almond flour (only had 180g) and I used brown rice flour for the rest, and they came out fantastic! The texture is great, and so is the taste!
So glad you loved them Veronica!
So great that as before I even finished making the first batch, I was weighing ingredients to make more. So easy to make and absolutely delicious. These are my new go-to snickerdoodle recipe.
That’s so awesome to hear, haha!!
Hi! So, I only have almond MEAL instead of almond FLOUR. My almond meal is also not blanched. I know that this will most likely affect the texture a bit and I’ve put it through a food processor to help the consistency. But will this still work for the recipe?
Hi Carol, I think it might still work! Just make sure to weigh so you get the right amount, but I think it should still be delicious!
Mine turned out tasting a lot like almond flour, not very crispy. I did weigh all the ingredient (purchased a scale to make sure I had the right amounts). I was sad my family did not care for them. 😢
Sorry to hear that Nancy, but the main ingredient is almond flour, over 2 cups worth, so if you are not a fan of almond flour, I would skip recipes where so much is called for. Also, some almond flours go rancid and leave a bitter aftertaste. I’ve experienced this personally, so that could be contributing to an strong almond flour taste or if you didn’t use a superfine one. I do not taste almond really with these, but then again, I am not sensitive to the taste. Also, if yours weren’t crispy, sounds like they didn’t bake long enough. These are not supposed to be excessively crispy cookies, but the edges are crispy with a soft chewy center. Traditional snickerdoodles are soft, not crunchy.
I actually love almond flour, I make some chocolate chip cookies that only call for almond flour as the flour, so I do not mind the taste at all. I think we just have different taste buds 😊 and it’s ok. We can’t all like the same things. I do want to say that I love your ricotta cheese recipe as well as your blueberry muffins. Thanks for the work you do, I k ow it takes a lot of trials to get a recipe out.
Thank you so much Nancy, I really appreciate that!
My NEW favourite <3
Hello! This cookie recipe is fantastic! You must have the patience of Job to figure this stuff out! I only had a course almond meal that wasn’t blanched, so I put it in my coffee grinder and made it super fine. It turned out great! I did sub coconut sugar for the cane sugar for rolling and that was awesome as well! I am so glad you insisted on weighing the dry ingredients, they were quite different from the rough measurements you gave! My new favorite cookie recipe! Thank you for the work you did!
Haha you are too sweet Jill! I love baking SO MUCH that I enjoy creating and testing these recipes. Although, I will say, cake testing gets on my nerves since cakes are much, much harder to perfect (especially throwing in gluten-free, oil-free and only 8 ingredients) that it often requires a ridiculous amount of testing, so my patience does wear thin with cakes, haha. I’m so glad these are your new favorite cookie! Yes, weighing is always MUCH more reliable since everybody scoops up flour differently. Thank you for the lovely review!
I hate to ask, but I’m not home with all my ingredients. Can I sub corn starch for tapioca starch?
Hi Kathy, yes, I think that should work!
These were so good! I kept trying to mess the instructions up like dumping the cinnamon into the batter! I was able too get most out, but they still turned out great. I pretty much ate them all myself!
These were really great! The texture was perfect… crispy outside, soft inside.
I would like to make them slightly less sweet, though.
Do you think I could reduce the maple syrup and sub something else for half of the syrup? Maybe molasses?
I wouldn’t do molasses as it is much thicker and will affect the overall flavor and make them too hard. Just try subbing in a bit of creamy milk, but be careful not to add the same amount as it’s much runnier and won’t perform the same in baking as the syrup.
How do recommend storing these cookies? I’d like to bake them a few days before Christmas.
Hi Beth, I don’t know how fresh they’d taste making them days before Christmas. I usually never make my cookies more than a day in advance. These are incredibly fast to whip up. They are very moist but they will lose their crispy edges factor baking them days in advance. But I would just store them in a glass container with parchment in between them so they don’t stick together. You can try that.
I have made these three times, and each time they come out better. Had a happy mistake this last batch, used xanthan gum instead of cream of tartar (shame on me for baking multiple recipes at a time), and this sub produced the softest, fluffiest cookies I’ve ever made!
Oh wow, that’s awesome to hear! I know it works in cakes, but cool to know about the cookies!
Yet another amazing recipe. The house smells so good! They will not last long around our house. My husband has eaten almost half the batch, moments after they cooled. He asked if I have enough ingredients for a second batch.
haha, I love hearing that Kelly! So glad your hubby loves them so much!
So easy to make and delicious! Thanks for the excellent recipe:)
You are so welcome, thank you Wendy for making them!
Hi Brandi, I wanted to let you know that I have not had a Snickerdoodle in many, many years because the original recipes called for oil, butter and eggs. Your recipe makes the BEST Snickerdoodles that I have ever tasted! I baked the first batch and brought them into work. They were gobbled up! I have made several more batches and they are a hit with everyone who has tasted them! People can’t believe that they are Vegan and GF. I found that they keep very well in a tightly sealed container. I also have made them and frozen them (after they are completely cooled). They take just a few minutes to thaw and are delicious. Thank you, once again, for your excellent recipe!
Wow, Carolyn, this was just about the best feedback ever! So so happy you loved these so much!! Thank you for taking the time to leave such an amazing review!
Hi! I dont have a scale! Is there anyway to use measuring cups and measuring spoons instead?
Hi Debra! Yes, just use the cups given and the best way to measure almond flour is the take the cup and scoop it into the flour and lightly pat it down into the cup and level off! Liquids are much easier to measure with cups than flours, so just pour them into the cups. Just use the measuring spoons called for and it will work fine!
These are fantastic
Was wondering if you can double the batch
Thanks for the fabulous recipe
They won’t last the day –
Any ideas how to measure for non gf say all purpose?
Hi Ryan! This recipe won’t work for all-purpose flour because they are both oil-free and butter-free. The almond flour is high fat, and is what replaces oil and butter and gives the cookies their buttery taste and moisture. If you are just wanting to use regular flour, I would just google a vegan snickerdoodle and there should be plenty of options out there, hope that helps!
INCREDIBLE!!! So deliciously almondy! Another amazing recipe from you that I will make again and again!
Just started switching over to healthier ingredients in cookies and in my main diet so I’m not familiar with some ingredients. Is Arrowroot powder the same or can be used the same as tapioca flour? Thanks in advance. All your recipes look amazing, I think it will be easier to eat and cook healthier if I just make your recipes!!!
I made your Snicker Doodle cookies today. I followed your directions and measurements and they are terrific cookies. Nicely done! You are my go-to source for so many of the recipes I make. I like your simple ingredients and 1 or 2 bowl recipes make cleanup so easy.
So very happy to hear that Bev, thank you so much for sharing!