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These Candy Cane Cookies are such a fun and festive twist (pun intended) on the classic sugar cookie! They’re simple to make and conveniently FULLY VEGAN! Can’t wait to see y’all making these cookies.
I couldn’t help but share a tease of these cookies on Instagram a couple of weeks ago. As expected, I got SO MANY requests for the recipe. I will often share recipes early but I made you all hold out for this one :D
Either way, it’s HERE! Super fun and easy vegan sugar cookie candy canes!
I won’t take full credit for this recipe! I saw something similar on Pinterest years ago and have been wanting to veganize it. I used my classic vegan sugar cookie recipe with some minor tweaks. I added in peppermint extract for a more festive flavor and, obviously, red food coloring to half of the dough to make the candy canes.
One of my favorite thing about this recipe is that the dough doesn’t need to chill for too long. Ones the dough is made, rolled out, and twisted into the candy canes, the cookies simply need about 30 minutes in the fridge before baking.
I don’t have a lot of patience for cookies that need long chill times so I was so happy to make this one work without needing hours in the fridge!
Traditionally, sugar cookies are frosted but given the unique shape and look of these, I didn’t want to frost them. Instead, I tossed them in a little cane sugar for added sweetness. I kind of love how they turned out!
In order to get the sugar to stick, I very lightly spritzed them with a little cooking spray before sprinkling the sugar on top of the cookies (I didn’t bother adding any to the bottoms).
I’m so excited to see you all making this vegan sugar cookie recipe. If you do make them, PLEASE PLEASE snap a photo and tag me on instagram @foodwithfeeling!
More vegan cookies to try
Candy Cane Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup 1 stick vegan butter, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons almond milk, or any milk alternative
- 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- Gel food coloring
- Additional ½ cup of granulated sugar for topping
Instructions
- Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat the softened vegan butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or using an electric handheld mixer for 2 minutes or until it comes together. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat again for another minute, until light and fluffy. Add in the milk and peppermint extract and mix until just combined.
- Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet and beat until a dough has formed – about a minute of mixing.
- Remove half of the dough from the stand mixer and set aside. Add about 10 drops of red gel food coloring to the dough in the stand mixer and mix until combined. I find that I need to kind of mix it with my hands in the end to finish getting the coloring combined.
- Take a tablespoon of the dough and roll it out until it’s a log, about 6 ½ inches long. Repeat with all of the dough, both colors (see video for reference). Take one piece of each color and gently pinch together the ends. Twist the colors together, pinch the other end lightly, and form into the shape of a candy cane. I find that it’s best to lay the 2 colors flat and continually cross each color over the other back and forth. If you hold the 2 ends and twist the dough together, it stretches the cookie dough a little and doesn’t bake as nicely. See video for reference on how to best do this.
- Place candy cane cookies on prepared baking sheet, an inch apart, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Do not skip this step as it helps the cookies hold their form and not puff up too much. With 15 minutes of chilling left, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Let cool.
- Optional: Once mostly cool, lightly spritz the cookies with cooking spray and toss the tops in the sugar topping. ENJOY!
My granddaughter has an egg allergy and I have been looking for replacements for our Christmas treats. I am SOOOO happy I found these. I did use real butter but otherwise followed the recipe. The dough was easy to work with and the cookie holds together well. I put a powder sugar/water glaze on top and sprinkled with a mixture of sugar and candy cane pieces. Beautiful!! (Making your sugar cookies next ;0).
Will be making! Thank you for the recipe and for always being fun on Insta.