Day Four of 12 Days of Vegan Christmas Cookies!
The texture and flavor of these vegan red velvet crinkle cookies is almost hard to describe. Almost soft enough to be cake-like, but still firm enough to a have great cookie texture. Chocolatey, but only a little. Sweet with a hint of salt. Moist inside, but with a crunchy sugary outside. That makes that crinkle exterior oh-so-awesome! All I guess I’m really saying is, these may be the perfect cookie. Festive for the holidays, but so good, you’ll make them for every occasion where cookies seem even slightly appropriate.
What You Need For These Velvety Cookies:
- Flour, Cocoa Powder, Baking powder and Baking soda: The right combination of these dry ingredients make the perfect almost cake like cookie texture.
- Vegan Butter: Because all good cookies start with butter!
- Organic Cane Sugar: White sugar in this recipe works best so the flavor doesn’t overpower the bit of cocoa we’ve got going on.
- 1 Flax and Some Applesauce: Yes, these are both egg replacers, but I don’t love the taste or texture when using 2 flax eggs. The best version is using both. Trust me!
- Vanilla and Red Food Coloring: These tiny amounts of liquid go a long way. I really like Watkins Red Food Coloring! It is vegan and natural.
- Powdered Sugar: To roll these babies in and make that glorious crinkle shine!
One of the oldest debates in my house is soft cookies or crispy cookies. I say soft, my husband says crispy. So, I was pretty convinced he wouldn’t love these vegan red velvet crinkle cookies, but he fell hard for them. Here’s why, he said they are not so soft that they taste almost undercooked, but they are soft in the way cake is. Which is a totally different situation. Also, you have that crisp sugar outside which gives these cookies texture!
Why Should You Make These Southern Inspired Tasty Morsels?
- Cake-y cookies are the best!
- Light chocolatey flavor.
- Super simple.
- Crunchy sugar crust.
- So festive.
Red velvet cake-like cookies rolled in powdered sugar and baked.
- 2 Tablespoons Flax meal
- 3 Tablespoons Water
- 1/2 Cup Vegan butter, room temperature(I used country crock plant butter)
- 3/4 Cup Organic cane sugar
- 1/4 Cup Applesauce
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon Vegan red food coloring, I used Watkins brand
- 2 Cups All purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons Baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Cup Powdered sugar, organic
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First make a flax egg, whisk together the flax meal and water in a small bowl. Let sit for 2-3 minutes or until it has thickened.
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Now, in a large mixing bowl, add the vegan butter and cane sugar. Mix together with a hand mixer or stand mixer until fully combined and light and fluffy.
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Then add the flax egg you made, applesauce, vanilla and food coloring. Slowly stir together so you don't get food coloring everywhere. Then once it starts to come together you can finish stirring by hand to fully combine or use the mixer to finish the job. The mixture will most likely look broken at this point. Don't fret!
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Next, in a separate medium sized mixing bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in the salt.
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Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time, mixing as you go, until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
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Now, chill the dough in the fridge for about 1 hour or until it is firm enough to handle and roll.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees(F).
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Add the powdered sugar to a small bowl.
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Then take about 1 tablespoon of the cookie dough roll into a ball in your hands, drop in the powdered sugar and roll to completely coat in the powdered sugar. Place the ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with non-stick spray. Leave it in a ball and don't press down.
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Repeat with all the dough, placing all the cookies about 2 inches apart. You may need to do it in batches.
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Bake for 9-11 minutes or until nice and puffy and crinkled.
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Let cool completely before enjoying. They keep well in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.
Would love to try this but have no applesauce on hand. Any suggestions on a substitute?
You can probably double the flax egg, she mentions in the write up that she is doing a half flax, half applesauce as she prefers the result. I use flax eggs in vegan baking all the time and they work really well.
Really want to make this with what I have on hand. Can I sub the vegan butter for coconut oil or more apple sauce?
These are literally the most beautiful cookie I have ever made! And they taste wonderful, too! I did a dance when the first batch came out of the oven. I generally hate using flax egg but made an exception for this. Our oven is finicky and tends to over cook things so I pulled them out at ten minutes—they probably could’ve used an extra minute to get the outside a little more crackly and crisp. These *will* become a holiday tradition.
These were so delicious and cake-like! I got a lot of comments on them! The only issue I had was that my bottoms keep coming out browner than I would like. I even moved my baking rack higher in the oven and no change. Any suggestions?
You could try baking on two baking sheets stacked to insulate the bottom.
Mine did not crackle. Not sure what I did wrong. Maybe my dough was too warm or too cold? I let it sit in the fridge for an hour then rolled them into balls.
I followed your recipe to the letter and my cookies turned out awesome! They are a bit less flattened out than yours…but they crinkled up cute and they taste delicious!