Vegan Sugar Cookies

Source: Sheri Silver at babble.com

Yield: approximately 18 two-inch tall cut-out cookies

Rating: 4 of 5 - good

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 1 ¼ c. flour (you can do 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat flour if you prefer)
• ½ c. sugar
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• ½ c. vegan butter OR
  • ½ c. vegetable shortening (Crisco) + 1/8th tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. water (up to 2 Tbsp if dough is thick)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Icing:

• 4 c. powdered sugar
• ¼ c. soy milk (plain or vanilla)
• ½ t. vanilla
• assorted colored decorating sugar, sprinkles, and decor

Directions

• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
• In a mixer bowl combine flour, sugar and baking soda – blend on low just to combine. Add butter, vanilla and 1 T. water to the mixture – blend on low till just combined (add an additional 1 T. water if dough seems dry).
• Divide the dough into two even pieces; roll each half between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/4”³ thick. Cut dough into desired shapes (dipping your cutter in flour between cuts), and freeze for at least 30 minutes.
• Pre-heat oven to 350.
• Place one sheet of dough onto a cutting board remove both pieces of parchment paper. Using a thin spatula, carefully transfer cookies to your prepared baking sheets. Bake for 7-10 minutes, till lightly browned around the edges. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
• Re-roll scraps until you’ve used up all of the dough.
• When cookies are completely cooled, make icing: in a large bowl, whisk icing ingredients till smooth. Add soy milk, a teaspoon at a time, if icing is too thick. Use immediately.
• Ice and decorate.

Nutrition Estimate

With full recipe of icing: 206 cal, 5 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 72 mg sodium, 40 g carb, 0 g fiber, 1 g protein

Notes

• Givens Ln 2015: added 1 tsp. lemon zest, ½ tsp. orange zest; cooked 10 minutes; 2 recipes required
• Givens Ln 2016: as 2015; learned that Jennifer Scheller uses vegetable shortening (Crisco) instead of vegan butter and hers definitely turn on whiter and smoother
• Cinnamon Roll Variant, inspired by http://www.sarahbakesgfree.com/2014/01/gluten-free-vegan-cinnamon-roll-sugar.html

1. Make dough as directed. Place between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out a long rectangle, 15" long and 1/8th inch thick (one recipe will be about 5" or so wide; for double recipe, divide dough in half and flatten each separately).
2. Melt 4 Tbsp vegan butter and mix in ½ c. brown sugar and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon. (Note: this is slightly more than you'll need.)
3. Spoon the mixture on top of the rolled dough and spread out, edge-to-edge, but leaving the last ½ inch farthest from you uncoated.
4. Starting from the edge closest to you, roll the dough up in jelly-roll style.
5. Transfer the roll to a baking sheet and refrigerate for about 30 to 60 minutes to help it firm up.
6. Put the roll back on the parchment paper and roll it back and forth to reduce its diameter and lengthen it (makes smaller, nicer cookies).
7. Transfer the roll back to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. It'll be much easier to cut if it's very firm.
8. Preheat oven.
9. Remove from refrigerator and slice into 3/8" thick slices. Transfer those to a baking sheet and bake as normal.
10. Once completely cool (wait several hours), ice with a mixture of 1 ½ c. powdered sugar and 2 Tbsp. soy milk (plain or vanilla).