Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the softened vegan butter with the powdered sugar. Mix until smooth. Add the remaining wet ingredients of plant based milk, vanilla, and cocoa powder. Mix until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients. Now into the same bowl, add the dry ingredients all at once of the all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix until the dough forms, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary to combine everything.
- Roll and shape the cookies. Scoop out a quarter of the dough and roll out onto cocoa powder dusted countertop or on a sheet of parchment paper. Roll to about a 1/4-inch thickness. Tap the cookie cutter into extra cocoa powder before cutting out each cookie. I find it works best to cut out all the cookies and then remove the excess dough before using a spatula to gently place them onto a parchment lined baking sheet. If the dough is too soft to work with, roll it out into a sheet and place into the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up again before cutting the cookies out. Repeat until no cookie dough remains.
- Chill. Chill the cut out cookies on their baking trays in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Make sure the oven racks are in the center of the oven.
- Bake. Place the chilled cookie sheets into the oven and bake for 11 to 14 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie shapes you’ve used. For me, these were 3 1/2-inch cookies and they took 13 minutes. Bake one cookie tray at a time for best results. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for 15 minutes on the hot tray before removing them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Decorate. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and water. Transfer to a piping bag and cut a small tip. Decorate the cookies any way you like. The more stiff the icing, the more detailed you can get in decorating. Or, you can make the icing more drippy and dip the cookies before adding sprinkles. There is no wrong way to decorate these cookies. Let them set and enjoy!
Notes
How to Store
Countertop: Store the fully baked, cooled, and decorated cookies in an airtight container on the countertop for about 5 days.
Freezer: Store the fully baked and cooled and decorated cookies in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. To freeze them without ruining the decorations, place them all on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze for one hour until frozen solid. Then, place them in your container with pieces of wax paper or parchment paper in between each layer to keep them safe. Allow them to thaw on the countertop for an hour before enjoying after freezing.