Sweet. chewy, molasses-y vegan brown sugar cookies are an essential holiday treat. The molasses in the brown sugar gives them a lovely, complex flavor!
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What can I say about these vegan brown sugar cookies? They're tender and chewy, packed with cinnamon and brown sugar goodness. Make them for your next holiday party or cookie swap!
These cookies are super simple to make, and you don't need any special ingredients. Best of all: instead of white flour, you make them with white wheat flour, so they are a whole grain treat that actually tastes amazing!
🥣 How to make vegan brown sugar cookies
Start by mixing a few dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
These cookies use a mixture of baking soda and baking powder. Do not try to eliminate either or replace one with more of the other.
This combination is a big part of how these cookies get their perfect texture.
Mix those up, and then, in a separate bowl, mix up the wet ingredients. You are going to dissolve the brown sugar in a mixture of oil, vanilla extract, and water.
The wet ingredients also include flax meal, which will help bind your cookies and give them the amazing texture you're going for.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix them up until you a cohesive dough. You shouldn't see any flour left at this point.
Now, it's time to form your cookies!
Form the dough into 12 balls that are around 1" in diameter, and arrange them on a lined baking sheet.
These cookies spread a lot during baking, so spacing is key. As you can see in the photos below, I spaced mine generously, and they still ended up sticking together a bit.
Once you have them arranged and spaced out, it's time to flatten them out. Use your hand to flatten them into ¼" thick disks.
After you flatten all of the cookies, bake them for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes, and you're ready to serve!
🫙 Storage directions
These cookies will keep for about three days in an airtight container in your pantry.
Make sure that you cool them completely before you store them. If you put warm cookies into an airtight container, condensation will collect on the inside of the container. That moisture could make your cookies get moldy!
🍪 More vegan cookies
📖 Recipe
Vegan Brown Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup white wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Wet Ingredients
- ⅔ cup loosely packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup sunflower oil or other light oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon flax meal
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well.
- In a smaller bowl, mix wet ingredients, until the brown sugar dissolves.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry, and mix well.
- Form the dough into 12 1" balls and arrange them on a lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" of space between the cookies. Use your hand to flatten them out, so they're about ⅛" thick.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, then cool for 5 minutes before moving them off of the baking sheet.
syrie
White wheat flour is white flour. Whole wheat flour is whole wheat.
Wheat is a grain. Once people started caring about nutrition content, companies just thought they'd influence the customer's thought process by adding the word wheat--long the default for grocery-store breads until great bread of other grains became common outside bakeries-- even if the product isn't whole grain. There may be bleached whole wheat that I haven't come across, but not sure why anyone would want that...(A traditional wedding cake?)
Becky Striepe
White wheat is actually a different kind of wheat. You can read more about it here: https://food52.com/blog/24148-what-is-white-whole-wheat-flour
Bree Sanders
I substituted the flax meal for ground chia seed & they turned out wonderfully! The flavour is perfect and the cookies were lightly crispy on the edges and chewy inside. Will definitely be making again in the future!
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Bree! It's good to know that chia will work as the egg replacer in these cookies, too!
Jo
Omg these cookies are dangerous!!! I could barely stop eating them! I added some cloves and all spice because I’m always looking for an excuse to add cloves and all spice lol. Definitely will make again
Becky Striepe
Haha I'm sorry/glad to hear that! :D Cloves and allspice sound like a lovely addition. Sometimes I make them with pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon, and that's a real treat!
Jo
Yas!! I need to try pumpkin spice!
Becky Striepe
Ooh I can't wait for you to try them that way. It's like a whole different cookie!
Rachel B
Adapted this for a derby party today with huge success! Used whiskey instead of water for the flax egg and half vanilla and half mint extract and they were a HUGE hit! Thanks for a great recipe!!!! There weren’t any mint julep cookies left :)
Lindsay
I use coconut oil a a table spoon of cinnamon and a bit more vanilla tray was gone in two sittings
Becky Striepe
Oh I bet coconut oil gave it a lovely flavor!
Arin
I love the simplicity of this recipe. Do you have other flavour ideas to change this up, with the base recipe staying the same ? Chocolate chips or seeds/nuts? No cinnamon, instead something else? I’m not a baker, so lack experience in changing recipes up.
Becky Striepe
That's a great question! Honestly, I wouldn't add too much to it. The brown sugar gives these such a lovely, complex flavor. I think adding chocolate chips wouldn't work well. Walnuts would be nice, though. I have also used pumpkin spice mix instead of the cinnamon. I hope that helps!
Rachel B
I have now made these as-is and today adapted for a Derby party by adding half a teaspoon mint and replacing the water with bourbon for mint julep cookies! They were still delicious. Thanks so much for posting this recipe to keep coming back to!
Becky Striepe
OMG mint julep cookies!!!!
Monique D Fisher
Is brown sugar vegan?
Becky Striepe
Organic brown sugar is vegan.
Sara gueribi
Adore them!! They work even better when you replace them with vegan butter instead of the flour! It makes them more chewy and overall tastier. (Kinda taste like ice cream if I'm not mistaken...) 11/10. Thank you Becky! :)
Lisa
Made these for the holidays for my vegan family members, but they are so good, we all ate some and I had to hide some for the intended guests. Just looked up the recipe because I just wanted something sweet and easy to make.
Becky Striepe
Oh yay! I’m glad you’re enjoying them!
d'Arcy Montague
I just made these with olive oil and I was dreading the flavor but I can't taste it at all. They came out delicious, perfect sweetness. I did add 1T barista blend almond milk because the dough was dry and not coming together. I will definitely make them again, possibly in a few minutes because my kids are taking them down, and they're very quick and easy. I don't usually keep other oils around so being able to use the oil we always have is huge for a vegan cookie recipe. Thank you!
Becky Striepe
Thank you, d’Arcy! Glad to hear that you and your kids are digging them.
Naradi DD
Do I need to oil the cookie sheet? or parchment paper?
Becky Striepe
Either is good!
Becky
Not at all. Glad you enjoyed them!
ChelleB
I hope you don't mind, I posted a link to this recipe on my blog page. I also posted a picture of the cookies! Again, super tasty!
Becky
Those variations sound delicious, Chelle!
ChelleB
new favorite cookie recipe! i love the fact that they're dairy free (lactose intolerant) and that they are made with whole wheat! i wanted to make them a little more "christmasy" so i added about 1/8 t both nutmeg and cloves, rolled into 1in balls and rolled in a mix of organic cane sugar and cinnamon. other than that, i followed the recipe and they are FANTASTIC! such basic ingredients, which makes me happy because it's snowing and i couldn't run to the store... haha!
Annie
I made a batch of these today and they are super yummy! Thanks for the recipe :).
Sarah
Slut
Wut
Why would u say such a lame thing on a cookie recipe? Hope you find inner peace and acceptance, xoxo.
Becky
You could use peanut or olive, but it might change the taste slightly. If you give it a shot, I'd love to hear how it comes out! I have used olive oil for cookies in a pinch and it's tasted alright but not on this particular recipe. :)
Faith
Would they not be as good if I used some other oil? Maybe peanut or olive?
Rachel
Can I use regular white flour for these? Don’t have any white wheat flour on hand unfortunately. They look so yummy!
Becky Striepe
Yes, white flour should work just fine!
Tracy
I love the simplicity of this! Great looking recipe :c)
Jennifer
I just got a new set of dinosaur cookie cutters that I think I may have to use with this recipe! Nom nom nom.
kim
Love them! I may just try this recipe. Looks so easy and I might do shapes too.