The Best Eggless Sugar Cookies

Summary of steps: How to make eggless sugar cookies

• Prepare dough for the eggless sugar cookies – using just 7 basic ingredients. Be sure to bring the butter to room temperature before you make the dough. You are looking for the butter to be a soft spreadable consistency
• Divide dough into two equal halves – it is so much easier to work with two smaller sections of dough rather than a single big one. You’ll be able to roll the dough out easier, and actually fit it in the fridge when it comes to cooling the dough
• Roll out dough – roll out the dough between two layers of floured greaseproof paper. This is the easiest way to make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the surface. Once you have rolled it out, place it on a baking tray. You can stack the sections of rolled dough on top of one another to save space in the fridge
• Chill eggless sugar cookie dough – Refrigerating the dough is important to ensure that the cookies hold their shape in the oven. Chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Skipping this step will mean that the cookies will spread in the oven. They will also be difficult to work with as the dough is very soft and pliable when at room temperature
• Cut out and bake – Choose a cookie cutter shape, cut out and then pop the cookies straight into a preheated oven. 
• Decorate – Cool completely before decorating these eggless sugar cookies with buttercream frosting. You can also use basic icing or just dust them with icing sugar if you prefer.

How thick should you roll the dough?

Roll the cookie dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

These eggless sugar cookies are intended to be soft and cakey, so if you are unsure, my advice would be not to roll too much and to keep the dough a little thicker.

Sugar cookie frosting

I like to use buttercream to frost these cookies. The softness of the cookies paired with a generous layer of buttercream feels similar to eating something that’s between a cookie and a cupcake. The result is sublime!

The frosting is quick to prepare. Simply cream together butter and icing sugar, and add a little food colouring if desired. Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment will give you a fluffy and light buttercream.

If you are short on time, or if you like your cookies more plain, you can make a simple icing using icing sugar and water. You can either spoon it on or dunk the cookies into a bowl of icing to completely coat them. Using simple icing sugar will reduce the sugar and fat content of the cookies.

To make the cookies extra playful, try topping with sprinkles.

How to make eggless sugar cookies vegan or dairy free

Its straightforward to adapt eggless sugar cookies for a vegan or dairy free diet. To make the cookies without any dairy, you just need to make a few swaps. Use vegan butter, vegan cream cheese and a plant based milk, such as oat milk. For the buttercream frosting, you could make a similar swap using the vegan butter. Alternatively, you could do a drizzle of simple icing or a dusting of icing sugar.

Can you freeze these cookies?

These cookies freeze exceptionally well, even after they have been frosted. Defrost by leaving them on the counter for a few hours to bring them back up to room temperature.

What to use instead of eggs in sugar cookies

When used in sugar cookies, eggs provide structure to the final cookie by holding everything together as the egg bakes. The cream cheese in this recipe helps to provide structure in the absence of egg. Chilling the dough is also important for structure and for preventing the cookies from spreading.