These are the most perfect snickerdoodles and even better, they are vegan. They are thick and soft and have that divine warmth of cinnamon in each bite. It's the perfect cookie for the holidays. A soy-free and nut-free recipe.
Who doesn't love snickerdoodles? These soft and chewy cookies loaded with fragrant cinnamon are literally a warm fuzzy for your tastebuds. And bonus -- they are fully capable of winning you extra points with Santa himself.
My vegan version has all of the amazing flavor and texture of these classic holiday cookies, but without the dairy and eggs. And it's a simple, easy recipe you can pull together in minutes -- even faster if you have little helpers around to ball up the cookies and roll them in cinnamon sugar.
I tried a few versions of these cookies to come up with the perfect recipe for you. I tried them with with a good amount of applesauce, a small amount of it, and without any applesauce. All three gave me different results, all delicious but with different textures and slightly different flavors. But my perfect recipe fell somewhere in the middle.
So how do you make the perfect vegan snickerdoodles?
- The first rule of thumb to remember when you bake a snickerdoodle is that this is a cookie meant to be soft and chewy -- not crispy and crackly. And whether you get that texture or not is going to depend on both the ingredients you put into it and how long you bake your cookies.
- To make the perfect snickerdoodles, I tried this recipe several times, with ¼ cup of applesauce, 2 tablespoon of applesauce and no applesauce. The cookies in the photos were made without applesauce, but my favorite version -- and the one I'm sharing with you -- was the one with 2 tablespoon applesauce. The version with 4 tablespoon of applesauce spread a little too much, making the cookies thin, although they were still delicious. The version with no applesauce was tasty and had great texture but probably could use a little more softness. The version with 2 tablespoon applesauce gives the perfect softness and thickness and it will have those pretty crinkles, although fewer than what you see in these pictures.
- You will need cream of tartar for the snickerdoodles, for that characteristic flavor and to help make them chewy.
- Cookie recipes rarely use eggs, but snickerdoodles are an exception. Here, the eggs help enhance the texture and flavor of the cookies. We won't use eggs, of course, but applesauce works just as well.
- A snickerdoodle needs cinnamon -- lots of it. Before you bake the cookie, you'll roll it generously in a cinnamon-sugar mixture. Make sure you coat each cookie thoroughly for the best flavor.
- To make your snickerdoodles festive for the holidays, add some food color to the cinnamon sugar. You can make these in all colors and Santa will be thrilled!
Ingredients for vegan snickerdoodles:
- All purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Cream of tartar
- Salt
- Sugar
- Vegan butter
- Apple cider vinegar
- Pure vanilla extract (optional -- I like it in here)
- Sugar
- Applesauce
- Cinnamon
Looking for more tasty vegan cookie recipes?
- Vegan Almond Flour Cookies
- Amaretti Cookies, vegan and gf
- Vegan Shortbread Cookies
- Vegan Orange Almond Biscotti
- Vegan Gingersnap Cookies
- Vegan Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
Vegan Snickerdoodle Cookies
These are quite possibly the most perfect snickerdoodles, and never mind that they are vegan. They are thick and soft and have that divine warmth of cinnamon in each bite. It's the perfect cookie for the holidays. A soy-free and nut-free recipe.
Print Recipe
Review Recipe
Servings: 32 cookies
Calories: 117kcal
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 16 tablespoon vegan butter (2 sticks, at room temperature)
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 tablespoon applesauce
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
For rolling the cookies:
- ¼ cup sugar
- 4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix the ingredients for rolling the cookies -- the cinnamon and sugar -- in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the butter and sugar (use the paddle attachment on your stand mixer) until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the applesauce, apple cider vinegar and vanilla, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and mix.
- Add the flour in two batches until combined. You can do this with the paddle attachment, beating for only 20 seconds after each addition and then continuing to mix with a spatula. The cookie batter might look a bit dry but it should easily hold together when you form a ball with your fingers.
- Shape the cookie dough into balls slightly larger than an inch, roll them generously in the cinnamon sugar, and place them at least an inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake in batches for 11 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven, let the cookie sheet stand on a rack for about 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies directly to a rack to continue cooling. Your cookies might appear very soft but they will firm up a bit as they cool. If you bake for longer, your snickerdoodles will be crispy. Still very tasty and great for dunking though!
Nutrition
Serving: 1snickerdoodle | Calories: 117kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 98mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 267IU | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment and recipe rating below!
Follow Holy Cow Vegan on Instagram
Suee33
WOW these are SO good they are GREAT!!! HA Easy and delicious to make and eat. I made them GF with Bob's GF Flour. Nice recipe and fluffy like you said. Beat the Earth Balance until it is really fluffy. Thanks for the recipe!