It’s not exactly a big secret that I love cookies. And these buttery vegan spritz cookies are some of my favorites. These cookies are super simple, and take less than an hour to make. But don’t let that fool you … the flavor is absolutely popping! With both vanilla and almond extract, these vegan cookies are sweet, nutty, and rich. But my favorite thing about these cookies (other than how fun and cute they are) is the texture. Some vegan cookies are dry and crumbly, but not these spritz cookies. They’re moist and tender, and just soft enough to melt in your mouth, but just firm enough to hold their shape. These are one of my go-to vegan Christmas cookies.
Notes on Ingredients
These cookies only use a few ingredients, and they’re all items that you probably have in the pantry or fridge. Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the article to see the exact quantities for each ingredient.
Vegan butter – Make sure the butter is unsalted, and at room temperature.Sugar Vanilla extract – You should use pure vanilla extract, not a product that uses artificial ingredients. Almond extract – Similarly, make sure you use an almond extract with no artificial ingredients.SaltTapioca starch – You can also use cornstarch.Vegan milk – Whatever vegan milk you prefer will work for this recipe, just make sure it’s unsweetened and not flavored.
How to Make Buttery Vegan Spritz Cookies
Here’s how to make these soft and sweet cookies.
Prep. Preheat your oven to 350F.Mix the dry ingredients. Place the flour, tapioca starch, and salt in a mixing bowl, and whisk until well combined. Cream the butter. Add the vegan butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until the mixture is fluffy, which should take about 3 minutes.
Add the rest of the wet ingredients. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and milk to the bowl, and beat until smooth. This should take 1-2 minutes. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and beat on the lowest speed until all the ingredients are combined. You want the dough to be soft, but not too sticky. Add more milk if the dough is too dry. Rest. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Prepare your spritz gun. Follow the instructions to prepare your spritz gun for use, then fill it with the chilled cookie dough.
Dispense the cookies. Use the spritz gun to dispense cookies on a dry baking sheet. Leave about an inch between each cookie.Decorate. Cover the cookies with the sprinkles of your choice.Bake. Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown, which should take 7-8 minutes.Cool. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack, and let them rest until they’ve cooled.
Tips for the Best Spritz Cookies
Here are a few tricks to use when making these vegan holiday cookies.
Freeze the baking sheet. Occasionally the cookie dough will stick to the baking sheet. To keep that from happening, place the baking sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes before putting the cookie dough on it. Don’t overmix the dough. When you add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, make sure that you don’t overmix the dough. Overmixing will break down the gluten in the flour, and make the soft cookies hard and dense. Freeze the cookies before baking. This dough is fairly wet, so sometimes the cookies can spread out too much when baking. If this happens, you’ll lose the great shape of the spritz cookies. To keep this from happening, dispense the cookies onto the baking sheet, then place the baking sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking.
Recipe Variations
Here are a few variations that you can try with this buttery vegan cookie recipe.
Make it gluten-free. These cookies have just one ingredient in them that has gluten: all-purpose flour. If you want to make gluten-free cookies, simply replace the all-purpose flour with gluten-free 1:1 flour blend. Add some colors. These cookies are super cute, and they look great when they’re colored. Add wet food coloring to the wet ingredients, or dry food coloring to the dry ingredients, to make these spritz cookies whatever color your heart desires. Change up the flavors. I like the subtle flavor of vanilla and almond extract in these cookies. But if you want, you can add some different flavors quite easily, either in place of or in addition to these extracts. You can add other extracts, such as coconut extract, orange extract, or maple extract. You can add spices, like cinnamon or nutmeg. Or you can add citrus zest, such as lemon or orange. If there’s a flavor you want in these cookies, add it!
How to Store Buttery Vegan Spritz Cookies
You can store these vegan Christmas cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can also store them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Can I Freeze This Recipe?
You can absolutely freeze this recipe. Keep the cookies in an airtight container, and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months. Defrost in the fridge or at room temperature before eating.
More Cookie Recipes to Try
If you liked these buttery vegan spritz cookies, then try some of my other favorite cookie recipes.
Banana oatmeal cookiesGluten-free vegan chocolate chip cookiesVegan pumpkin cookiesVegan sugar cookiesWhite chocolate macadamia nut cookies
Enjoy friends! If you make these buttery vegan spritz cookies, please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love it if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
