Vegan Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies

Bringing you another sugar cookie of the month with these epic Vegan Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies! Made with real lime juice & zest plus shredded coconut, these vegan sugar cookies are filled with flavor. Plus, they get drizzled with a coconut lime glaze for an extra tangy lime dessert!

Ingredients:

Like most of my sugar cookie recipes, these vegan coconut lime cookies have 10 ingredients or less and only require only 30 minutes-1 hour of chill time!

Ingredient Notes:

• Vegan butter: I prefer to bake with Earth Balance buttery sticks, but Miyokos is a second favorite:
• Ground flaxseed: will show up in the cookies which is why I prefer using Golden flaxmeal in cookie recipes.
  • Also, since we are not using a traditional flax egg, this recipe DOES NOT work with eggs. 
• Dried coconut: can be raw or toasted, I used unsweetened shredded coconut). This ingredient is totally optional so feel free to omit if you don't want it!
• Coconut extract: optional, only used for extra coconut flavor

Unlike my lemon sugar cookies and orange sugar cookies, you may notice we are actually using baking powder AND baking soda in lime sugar cookies.

When using baking powder only, these cookies actually came out a little too bitter. Lime tends to be more acidic and more bitter than lemon or orange juice, so we use baking soda to neutralize some of that acid while still giving our cookies some lift. Using baking soda also prevented the cookie bottoms from browning too quickly.

How to make coconut lime cookies

The first step to making these vegan coconut cookies is to make the cookie batter.

First, cream together the butter, sugar, lime zest, and coconut

This step is very important as it helps to bring air into the dough and build some of the structure needed for vegan cookies. It's best to use room temperature butter here which is butter that is still cold, but soft enough to indent with a finger.

Also, one of the best ways to add flavor to cookies is to mix those flavors into the fat. That's why we also cream the coconut and lime zest in this step.

Add lime juice & ground flaxseed

Next, add in the lime juice & ground flaxseed and mix. Please note: for this recipe, we are NOT using a flax egg- instead we are just using ground flaxseed and replacing the water with lime juice.

Add dry ingredients & mix into the dough

The last step to make the dough is adding in the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Then mix into a thick coconut lime cookie dough.

Chill dough for 30 minutes-1 hour 

I know you may WANT to skip this step, but if you do your cookies just won't come out great. 

First of all, chilling the dough is important because it helps the dough from spreading too fast and prevents super thin cookies. It also gives the cookies more time to develop flavor as the sugar soaks up moisture from the dough as it chills.

Roll in sugar before baking & flatten with palm

Once the cookie dough has chilled, remove it from the bowl, form into round balls, and roll in sugar.

This step gives the coconut lime cookies that perfectly crinkly cookie texture! Plus, it also prevents the dough from spreading too much by helping to dry out the outer layer of dough.

Bake the cookies

Most importantly- make sure to lightly underbake the cookies!

This is such an important step if you want CHEWY vegan coconut cookies. Believe it or not, after you remove the cookies from the oven, they will continue to bake on the tray.

That's why you don't want to bake cookies for longer than 14-16 minutes for 6 large cookies or 10-12 minutes for 10 smaller cookies. Otherwise, the cookies may over-bake.

Tap & add icing!

Once the cookies are out of the oven, they make look a little puffy, so I always tap the tray on the counter to help them deflate. This also gives them that glorious crinkled cookie texture.

And my last tip- always add icing! In this case, I made a simple icing using powdered sugar, lime juice, and coconut milk (though this can be subbed 1:1 for any plant-based milk).

FAQ & substitutions:

More vegan dessert recipes with coconut & lime you will love:

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Vegan Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies

Chewy & soft coconut lime sugar cookies made with real coconut flakes and lime juice topped with a coconut lime glaze!

5 from 9 votes

Print Pin

Course: Vegan Cookies + Brownies

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 8 large cookies

Author: Megan Horowitch

Ingredients 

US Customary - Metric

Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies

• ▢ ½ cup salted vegan butter if using unsalted butter just add ¼ tsp salt to the dough
• ▢ ½ cup+ 2 Tablespoons organic sugar ½ cup for dough, 2 Tablespoons for rolling before baking
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons shredded dried coconut optional
• ▢ 1 teaspoon lime zest zest of 1 small lime
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon coconut extract optional, for coconut flavor
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
• ▢ 1 cup+ 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon baking soda

Coconut Lime Icing

• ▢ 1 Tablespoon lime juice
• ▢ 1-2 teaspoons coconut milk add more for thinner icing
• ▢ ½ cup powdered sugar

Instructions

• First add the butter, ½ cup sugar, and lime zest to a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then, add in the lime juice, dried coconut, coconut extract, and ground flaxseed and mix together for another 30 seconds.
• Next, add the sifted flour, baking powder, and baking soda to the mixing bowl. Make sure to add the flour first and then mix the baking powder and baking soda into the flour before mixing. Then, mix together until a smooth and thick cookie batter forms. Do not overmix or else you will form too much gluten and the cookies will not spread as much and be tough.
• Add the bowl of cookie dough to the fridge, cover, and let chill for 30 minutes- 1 hour.
• Cover a baking sheet in parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F. Next, remove the dough from the fridge and use a large cookie scoop to form 8 large cookies. Roll into balls between your palms and then roll each cookie dough ball in a small bowl containing the 2 Tbsp of sugar that was set aside.
• Place the coconut lime sugar cookie dough balls onto the baking sheet. If you want flatter cookies, you can lightly press the dough down with your palm, but this is optional. Make sure that each cookie is kept about 2 inches apart since they will spread while baking.
• Bake for 14-16 minutes until 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 6) make sure to adjust the baking time to 11-13 minutes.
• Remove the cookie tray from the oven and immediately tap the tray on the counter to produce a more “wrinkly” cookie. Then, let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes. The cookies will be soft and puffy out of the oven and will naturally deflate a little while cooling.
• While the cookies are cooling, make the coconut lime glaze by mixing the coconut milk and lime juice in a small bowl. Then, gradually add in the powdered sugar and whisk together until a thick glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze on completely cooled cookies and top with optional lime zest. Let sit 5 minutes so the icing can harden and then serve!

Notes

• For round cookies, swirl the warm cookies between a round pastry/cookie cutter while the cookies are still warm.
• The ground flax can be subbed 1:1 for chia seed. However, the chia seeds will show up in the cookies which is why I prefer using Golden flaxmeal in cookie recipes.
• Cookies can be stored on the counter at room temperature for 3-4 days. They can also be frozen for up to 1 month and just need to defrost at room temperature before eating. Cookies can also be stored in a closed container in the fridge and will keep up to 2 weeks, but it will make them less chewy.
• If you are making smaller cookies, please adjust the cooking time. For a 1.5-2 Tbsp scoop cooking time is around 11-13 minutes. For even small cookies, adjust cooking time accordingly.
• If using Miyokos butter, add 1 Tbsp (8 grams) more flour to the dough as the butter spreads more

Nutrition

Serving: 1large cookie | Calories: 331kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 141mg | Potassium: 68mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 542IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 2mg

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