Dairy-Free Christmas Cookies: Or, How to Embrace Imperfection
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something. I only include links for products and services I love and believe in. Please check out my disclosure policy for more details!I’ve wanted to write about these dairy-free Christmas cookies for years. Seriously. I’ve been making this exact recipe for so long, I can’t even tell you when I first took it on. It was definitely before I started Dairy-Free State. Every year as Christmas would approach, I’d tell myself “this is the year. I’m going to share the recipe this year!” And then Christmas would pass, I’d forget to take photos or post about the cookies, and then I’d feel like it was too late. I’d have to wait for another year.
This year, I was determined. I told myself nothing would stop me from posting about dairy-free Christmas cookies BEFORE Christmas. If you can see the date on this blog, however, you’ll know that I failed. Not only that, but these were a far cry from the perfect cookies I wanted to grace my blog after so many years of not producing this post.
First off, the week leading up to Christmas was unexpectedly hectic in a way that made it difficult for me to make dinner for myself, let alone indulge in making cookies. Second, the dough didn’t cooperate with me, despite the recipe working for me year after year (pro tip – if you end up getting a dough that’s too crumbly, you can work to fix it by adding more fat or a second egg or egg substitute).
To cap it all off, we didn’t have any “normal” Christmas sprinkles. What we had instead were mostly Halloween-themed Fancy Sprinkles: Orange pumpkins, orange black sprinkles, and some rainbow unicorn ones for good measure. I was so frustrated every step along the way that I almost didn’t post about my dairy-free Christmas cookies AGAIN.
But, you know what? That’s not what this blog is about. We’re about being real around here.
I started Dairy-Free State in 2013 borne out of my own frustration. I was sick of buying dairy-free products that tasted terrible. I wanted to warn people not to make the same mistakes I did. I used trial and error to substitute dairy in recipes and I wanted a place to record my successes. Heck, there are plenty of past blogs that detail my failures.
So, instead of delaying this post for another year, I present it to you as-is. Imperfect. Kind of quirky. Cute in its own way. But 100% real.
And you know what? The cookies were delicious.
Celebrating Christmas is not required to enjoy these dairy-free sugar cookies. You can make them any time, for any occasion, using any shapes and colors you want. Heck, one year I used hedgehog and owl cookie cutters and neon food coloring. Make it your own. I know they’ll be amazing!
Ingredients
Dairy-Free Sugar Cookies
- 1 stick Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (½ cup butter)
- 1 cup granulated or cane sugar
- 1 Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer (or 1 egg)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups sifted white flour (you could also use a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Dairy-Free Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp dairy-free milk (I usually use soy)
- ½ tsp vanilla
- Food coloring (optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. I have the easiest time when the butter is room temperature or melted for about 15 seconds in the microwave.
- Blend in the egg replacer and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix.
- Slowly incorporate the dry mix into the wet mix, blending along the way. Chill dough before using (generally I wait at least an hour for this. Overnight works, too).
- The dough can be sticky, so roll it out on a floured surface. I also usually use wax paper. Depending on how you want your cookies to come out, you could roll them thinner or thicker – if you go around ¼” thick, they’ll spend less time in the oven. I think my cookies came out to be ½” thick this year, so I kept them in for 2 minutes longer.
- Cut with cookie cutters in whatever shapes you like. I find that I can re-roll the dough a few times before it gets too tough.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes. These can overbake quickly, so keep an eye if you see even a tinge of light brown.
- Once the cookies have completely cooled, mix up icing with your choice of food coloring and spread in a thin layer on top. Add sprinkles and enjoy your dairy-free sugar cookies!
