I worked on this recipe for quite a while and it is hands down my favorite sugar cookies recipe. The best part… no refrigerating before cutting out your shapes! This recipe is great for the traditional cut out sugar cookies, but also works great as a base for snickerdoodle and other flavorings and additives (a personal favorite is orange zest and cranberries!).
Tips for getting the perfect cut-out cookie
Make sure your dough is the perfect texture before rolling! It should be the exact consistency of Play-Doh and 100% matte, no shine at all. If it is too wet and shiny, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until you get the matte Play-Doh look. If it is too dry and crumbly, add a tablespoon of plant based milk at a time until the dough just sticks together.
Sprinkle your dough lightly with flour and roll sandwiched between parchment paper. I find this method so much easier than rolling out directly on the dough.
Do a test run! After you cut out the dough, if you can transfer it to the pan on a spatula with no change in shape (squishing or crumbling), the dough is ready! Also do a test on the baking time, this can vary so much from oven to personal preference (if you like your sugar cookies more soft or crispy).
If your cookies puff up or get little air bumps during baking, you can “iron” them out. As soon as you remove them from the oven, place a sheet of parchment paper over them and gently smooth them with a flat spatula – like you are ironing a shirt. A fondant smoother works AMAZING for this.
This recipe is for perfect cut-out sugar cookies and a vegan royal icing that will harden over so your beautiful cookies won't smudge!
Ingredients
192g(1 cup) Spectrum Shorteningsee notes for butter
200g(1 cup) Sugar
1TbspBob Mill's Egg Replacer
3TbspWater
¼cupPlant-based Milk
1tspVanilla
½tspAlmond Extract
360g(3 cups) All Purpose Flour
1-½tspBaking Powder
½tspSalt
Vegan Royal Icing for decorating (optional)
Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Mix together your Bob Mill's egg replacer and water until dissolved, set aside.
Beat together your shortening and sugar in a mixer on medium high for 1-2 minutes. Add your egg replacer mixture and beat until creamy. Then add the rest of your liquid ingredients (plant milk, vanilla and almond extract). Beat on medium speed for a minute.
Slowly add your dry ingredients to the wet, about a third at a time, so it slowly combines.
Once mixture is combined comes the most important step. Look at your dough, the perfect texture is the consistency of play-doh and matte and not shiny. If the dough is wet and shiny, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until you reach the perfect texture. If the dough is crumbling instead of sticking together, add a tablespoon of plant milk until you reach the perfect texture.
Once the dough is the perfect texture, you are ready to roll – no need to refrigerate! Preheat oven to 350F. Divide the dough into two equal balls. Sprinkle each dough ball with flour and sandwich between two pieces of parchment paper.
Roll the dough out until 1/4" thick and cut out shapes. Place shapes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until the cookies slightly have color on the edges (not golden, just a little color). Remove from oven and let set on the cookie sheet about 2-5 minutes. Remove from sheet onto a rack, let cool and decorate!
Storing the dough. The uncooked dough can stay in the fridge, wrapped airtight, for 2-3 weeks. Or can be frozen, wrapped airtight, or 2-3 months. This recipe is awesome to make ahead of time for the holidays – just let set to room temp and bake! Using Butter: Country Crock Plant Butter in olive oil is the only butter that I use that really gives no spread on the cookies. Substitute equal butter for shorting and omit the plant based milk. Chill the dough before rolling.
