These are truly the BEST Vegan Funfetti Sugar Cookies and they are made with only 7 ingredients! If you're looking for a colorful, eggless, soft, and chewy birthday cake cookie- you are going to love these sprinkle cookies.
*Recipe shared February 2018 and updated May 2023*
First, a little fun fact. Did you know I am OBSESSED with rainbow sprinkles?!
This obsession started at an early age when I made my parents buy me a wholesale tub of sprinkles from an actual diner and continued all the way into my teen years when I ate them regularly as a snack. I am truly not kidding!
Since making these cookies the funfetti obsession has continued pretty heavily on SGTO. Take my Vegan Cookie Cake, Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches, or my Funfetti Cinnamon Rolls for example. Yep, it's true love over here folks.
Why you will love these funfetti cookies
Sugar cookies, and more specifically, funfetti cookies are meant to be fun, easy, and full of sugary goodness. That's why I made it my goal to make a sprinkled sugar cookie that was easy, vegan, and full of simple ingredients.
These birthday cake cookies require only one bowl, 30 minutes of time to "chill" in the fridge, and only 12-ish minutes of baking time. They really are THAT easy!
Ingredients:
Ingredient notes:
- Flax egg: 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoon of water serve as an egg replacement in vegan cookie recipes. Ground flaxseed can be substituted with chia seeds for similar results.
- All-purpose flour: The original recipe I had called for pastry flour but, after re-testing this recipe, all-purpose flour leads to even chewier cookies. You can substitute 1 ¼ cups pastry flour for similar results!
- Vegan butter: This recipe works with vegan buttery sticks- my two favorite brands to bake with are Earth Balance or Country Crock.
Steps to make vegan funfetti cookies
Make the funfetti cookie dough
This starts by creaming together the butter and sugar. Creaming the butter and sugar together helps to bring air into the dough and helps the dough rise. This step is crucial and should be done with room-temperature butter.
Next, mix in the flax egg and vanilla bean paste. You can use vanilla extract, but I always recommend vanilla paste for the best flavor.
Then, add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt and mix into a thick batter.
As a final step fold in the rainbow sprinkles.
Chill the cookie dough
Cover the dough of sprinkle cookie dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Chilling the cookie dough helps to control the spread of the cookies and allows the sugars to absorb some of the liquid in the dough.
I personally think chilling your dough leads to chewier & more flavorful cookies!
Roll in sugar, add to tray, & bake
Remove the dough from the fridge and scoop out 8-10 cookie dough balls. Roll them into round balls between your palms. Then, swirl them around in a bowl with the remaining sugar.
Add the sugar-coated cookie dough balls to the tray and then bake.
The baking time varies based on the cookie size (If making smaller cookies, bake them for 10-11 minutes. For larger cookies, bake them for 12-14 minutes).
Once the cookies are baked swirl them between a large mug or biscuit cutter to make them perfectly round. Then, transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
Once cooled, serve & enjoy these dairy-free & eggless funfetti cookies!
FAQ & Tips:
Can I make the cookie dough ahead of time and bake it later?
To freeze cookie dough for later, just scoop it and add it to a parchment-lined baking tray. Then, place the tray in the freezer until the cookie dough balls have frozen throughout.
After that, you can place the frozen cookie dough balls in a freezer-safe zip-loc bag.
When baking frozen cookie dough, you may need to add an additional 2-3 minutes to the overall baking time.
How do I store vegan sprinkle sugar cookies?
Cookies can be stored in a closed container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for 3-4 days (though this can dry them out). Cookies can also be stored in a closed container in the freezer for up to 1 month.
These chewy Vegan Funfetti Cookies are perfectly soft and chewy. With only 7 ingredients and just 30 minutes of refrigeration time, these sugar cookies with sprinkles are sure to be an absolute win for any party!
-TSG (the sprinkle girl?)
More vegan cookie recipes you will love:
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Vegan Funfetti Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup+ 2 Tablespoons organic sugar ( ½ cup for dough, 2 Tablespoons for rolling before baking)
- 1 flax egg 1 tablespoon (8 grams) ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 cup+ 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour or 1 ¼ cups pastry flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt optional, only need if using unsalted butter
- ¼ cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- First, make the flax egg by adding the ground flax and water to a small bowl. Mix together and set aside for 5 minutes until thick and gelatinous.
- Add the vegan butter and ½ cup sugar to a mixer and cream together until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Then, add in the flax egg and vanilla. Mix all the wet ingredients together for around 30 seconds.
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt to the mixing bowl. Mix into a thick cookie dough. Then, use a spatula to gently mix/fold in the rainbow sprinkles.
- Add the bowl of dough to the fridge, cover, and let chill for 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has chilled, remove it from the fridge. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop our 8 cookie dough balls. Roll each cookie dough ball between your palms to form a round ball. Then, roll each ball in a bowl with the remaining 2 Tablespoons of sugar that was set aside so that each dough ball is coated in sugar.
- Place the cookie dough balls on the parchment-lined baking sheet, making sure to keep them 1-2 inches apart so they have room to spread while baking.
- Then, bake for 12-14 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned and the cookie is cooked through but has slightly soft centers. The cookies will continue baking after they are removed from the oven so the centers should still be soft, but not glossy or raw, when they are removed from the oven. If you would like to make smaller cookies (about 10 vs. 8) make sure to adjust the baking time to 11-13 minutes.
- Once you remove the tray of cookies, lightly tap it on the counter to produce a more "wrinkly" cookie. You can also swirl them inside a large mug or biscuit cutter for a rounder cookie.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then, transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- Once the cookies have cooled, serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Cookies will keep in a closed container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for 3-5 days. Cookies can also be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.
- For the recipe you see pictured, I used Earth Balance butter and Country Crock Olive Oil Buttery Sticks. I then tested this recipe with Miyokos butter and found the cookies spread more. If you are using Miyokos butter, I recommend 1-2 tablespoon (about 8-16 grams) of extra flour.
- If you'd like to follow the original recipe replace the all-purpose flour with 1 ¼ cups of pastry flour.
- For thinner cookies, reduce baking powder to ½ teaspoon.
Schyler L says
Incredible!! My favorite cookie recipe of all time. I’ve been making them for the last several years consistently. They’re by far the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve come across - vegan or not!
Megan says
Thanks for the review so glad you're enjoying them! 🙂
Jazz says
I wanted to know regarding the butter, did you use unsalted or salted?
Megan says
It's salted- but either works!
Rebecca says
Hi! Can I use an egg instead of a flax egg?
Megan says
Probably- but I don't test any of my recipes with eggs so can't guarantee it will be the same.
Laurie says
Really good recipe! Mine came out a lot fluffier. I’d prefer them flatter and chewy. I did have to refrigerate them longer than the 30 minutes before baking though. Any other ideas what I did wrong?
Megan says
Glad you liked them! Refrigerating longer shouldn't make a difference. If they are fluffier, it's likely from using too much flour- I highly recommend measuring using the metric/grams measurement so it's accurate. It could also be that you baked them too long so take them out of the oven when they are *just* cooked. Hope that helps!
Chuck says
Hi! I'm planning to make this recipe as a gift for a coworker. I was planning to freeze the unbaked dough balls and then they can bake them whenever they feel like. I was just wondering if this recipe freezes well and/or if there are any steps in the directions to do differently or avoid
Thank you
Megan says
You will just want to shape into cookie dough balls and freeze them at that point. I recommend freezing on a parchment lined tray, then moving the cookie dough balls to a freezer safe bag. You can bake them straight from frozen but may need to bake for an additional 2-3 minutes. Hope that helps!
bari says
What brand of sprinkles do you use?
Megan says
For the traditional look but vegan I use a brand from Amazon- https://amzn.to/43jWNzg. Fancy Sprinkles and Sweetapolita also have some vegan sprinkle mixes I've used before!
Ronda Melo says
I notice you say if using unsalted butter use 1/2 tsp salt then down the recipe you say again using unsalted butter used 1/8 tsp salt ? Just wonder which one should I be using for unsalted butter .
Thanks
Megan says
Sorry about that- it's 1/8 teaspoon 🙂
Sarah k says
Hi! Would replacing the flaxseed with applesauce work for this recipe? We have a seed allergy in our family. Thank you!!
Megan says
I've never tried it so I'm not sure- but I would guess it would make the cookies a lot fluffier and maybe even spread more from the extra moisture. You could try it but maybe add a tablespoon or two more flour? Hope that helps!