Meet my favourite holiday cookie of 2014 – the vegan and gluten-free Snickerdoodle! I’ve been testing all kinds of Christmas cookies this year and I decided to pick the best of the bunch and share that recipe with you before the holidays. The humble-looking Snickerdoodle doesn’t get enough respect in my opinion; it’s often overshadowed by spicy gingerbread, decorated sugar cookies, and fancy flavoured shortbread, but I think that needs to end today! My favourite kind of Snickerdoodle is chewy with a crisp edge, craggy/textured/crinkly, and of course, rolled in cinnamon sugar. Oh yea. I can’t get enough of the doughy, cinnamon-y simplicity.
It’s been a goal of mine to make my vegan Snickerdoodle recipe gluten-free. I actually found that I prefer this version over the one with wheat flour that I posted on the blog 4 years ago; there’s just something so flavourful about the nutty, sweet, and buttery combo of oat flour and almond flour that I adore! Whenever you want your cookies to have a lovely chewiness to them (and light buttery flavour), add a bit of almond flour into the mix. A little bit goes a long way though. I made the mistake of making a shortbread cookie entirely out of almond flour and it was way too chewy/tacky (and stuck to the teeth!) – lesson learned. I’ll nail that shortbread recipe some day, but for now…snickerdoodles!
Other exciting things about this recipe:
1) Prep time = 15 minutes, Bake time = 10 minutes
Yes, that means you can be eating these bad boys in under a half hour!! Isn’t that what it’s all about?
2) Snickerdoodles make your house smell amazing. This is the perfect recipe to pop into the oven before guests arrive.
3) For the fat component, I used virgin coconut oil instead of vegan butter. I’m happy to say it worked great and meshed with the flavours so well! Thumbs up for healthier fat swaps.
One last thing. I experimented baking the dough as balls (image left, below) and also flattening with a fork (image right). When I flattened with a fork, the cookies came out quite flat and spread out (as you’ll see in most of the photos), but when I left the dough as balls they had a bit more thickness and lift to them and weren’t as spread out. I think I prefer not flattening them out – plus it saves an extra step too. Just an FYI. You can always try some rolled and some pressed with a fork and see which you prefer!
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Snickerdoodles (vegan + gluten-free)
Yield
10-12 cookies
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Classic Snickerdoodles made vegan and gluten-free! These cookies are crispy around the edge, chewy in the middle, and coated in a cinnamon sugar. I KNOW. For a non-gf version, try my other Snickerdoodle recipe made with whole wheat pastry flour.
Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- 1/2 tablespoon ground flax seed + 1 1/2 tablespoons water
- 1/3 cup cane sugar (see note)
- 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tablespoon almond milk (optional, see directions)
Dry ingredients:
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon gluten-free oat flour*
- 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1/4 cup sorghum flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- Pinch of cinnamon
Cinnamon sugar topping:
- 1 tablespoon cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl or mug, mix the flax and water to make the flax egg. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl stir together the sugar, melted coconut oil, and vanilla until incorporated. Add in the flax egg and stir until combined.
- In another bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together (oat flour, almond flour, sorghum flour, arrowroot powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and pinch of cinnamon). Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir well. The dough will be very dry at first, but it will come together if you get in there with your hands and knead it a few times. Add the optional almond milk if your dough is too dry. You need to be able to form balls of the dough without it cracking, but you don't want it super wet either (or it will spread out too much when baking).
- Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl. Take about 1.5 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Roll in cinnamon sugar and place on baking sheet at least a couple inches apart. Repeat for the rest.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes. (I baked for 10 minutes and the edges were slightly crispy after cooling.) For a soft cookie, bake less time. For a crispy cookie bake longer. Cool for about 3 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack until completely cool.
Tip:
- If you don't have store-bought oat flour you can make it at home. Simply add rolled oats into a high speed blender and blend on the highest speed until a fine flour forms.
- I don't recommend subbing the cane sugar for coconut or Sucanat sugar - in my previous trials it came out too dry.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)PS – See all my cookie and square recipes here!
Contest Winner:
Congrats to Elicia K. for winning the big OSG Holiday Giveaway!! We have sent you an email to collect your info. Thank you for everyone who participated and gave us all kind of awesome flavour ideas for our tea! I would like one of each please.
We are gearing up for Adriana’s first Christmas and I can’t wait to experience it as a family of 3! I’m looking forward to a bit of downtime over the holidays too. While it’s been a great year, it hasn’t left me with much free time and I’m hoping to wind down and chill out with friends and family as much as possible to close out the year. And hockey, LOTS of hockey!!! hah. I’m not sure when I will be posting a recipe next, but if you’d like to see what we’re up to you can follow my weekly posts on the Baby blog until then (you can also follow @theglowspot and @ohsheglows on Instagram). And of course, take a peek at my recipe archives – there are about 500 vegan recipes to chose from.
Anyway, I’m really excited for 2015 and have some fun news coming your way in the New Year! I’m so thankful for your support this year, and every year. It’s definitely been a year I will never forget. I hope you all have an amazing holiday surrounded by family, friends, great food, and good cheer!
My significant other has never tried a snickerdoodle before. I offered to feed him out of this batch. I just texted him and said, “So I love you, but if you want snickerdoodles now, you need to get over here because let me tell you what’s NOT going to be in my kitchen for much longer.”
I’m about to test whether or not it’s possible to eat my weight in snickerdoodles.
Also, after my first batch of dough didn’t make as much as I thought it would, I popped the cookies in the oven and was thinking, “Hmm… wonder what I can make with the rest of the sorghum flour, almond flour, and arrowroot powder…”
THE ANSWER IS MORE SNICKERDOODLES!!! I completely understand what it’s like to be Cookie Monster now!!
haahaha :D
Can I just use some of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour? Don’t have any gluten free oats or sorghum flour, so wondering if I could combine all the quantities for the flour you listed and do 1 C + 4 T of GF All Purpose Flour? And then, can I do cornstarch instead of arrowroot powder? Sorry! I’m not trying to mess up your recipe. I just have a GF friend I’m trying to bake for without breaking the bank! :)
These were incredible and were shared by many co-workers and family members. Great addition to my christmas baking lineup :)
I am having the hardest time finding the sorghum flour and arrowroot powder. Do they sells these at Whole Foods?
Yes they do! You can also find them online or in the natural/organic aisle of some grocery stores (where the GF goods are). Hope this helps!
Hi Angela! I can’t find sorghum flour anyway… what could I use to replace it?
I love this one! Just made it. If you’re interested in some more recipes check out my blog! :)
I made these cookies this weekend with my hubby and they were delicious!! I didn’t have coconut oil on hand so I used coconut butter (melted) and a little extra almond milk and they were absolutely perfect!
In general I steer clear from GF cookies because I find them to be too crunchy, but I wanted to try these since I haven’t tried a vegan snickerdoodle recipe yet, and they are one of my favorite cookies. These were a bit crunchy on the outside, but Angela was right – they were soft in the middle. Sorghum flour is something I had to go out and buy specifically, but I’m kind of glad I found it – there have been other recipes I’ve avoided making simply because they call for it. Thanks for the great recipe! It’ll be a good one to have under my belt for when I serve food to GF folks.
Angela,
I am happy to report that these came out AMAZING!!! I used regular Oat Flour instead of GF but kept everything else the same as the recipe. Can’t wait to make another batch… and another… and another!
Made these yesterday!!! I never cared much for Snickerdoodle’s, but, Loved these and plan to make more today! Adrianna is beautiful!! Have a great holiday!! ps…I just received your cookbook and it is the best ever!!
Amazing! Tastes just like the butter laden ones Iused to make with my mom when I was a kid!
Made these last weekend and LOVE them!! I used sucanat sugar and they turned out great but I’ll try with regular granulated next time. My bf said they’re the best cookies he’s tasted in a long time before I mentioned they’re vegan and GF.
perfect for my Christmas meal…thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas
love these!! they are part of hubby’s edible xmas present this year. i subbed cashews for the almonds due to an almond allergy and they are simply lovely. thank you for sharing :)
Thanks for a great cookie recipe! I made these, using wheat pastry flour. We love ’em! Just the right size batch – not toooo much.
I made these along with alternative gingerbread people, and they both turned out so spectacularly they were such a hit with all the family and friends, a lot of whom are gluten intolerant and have other special dietary concerns. I love finding posts like this that make the holidays fun and tasty for EVERYONE.
The first time I made these cookies, they were a bit flat and more crispy than soft. I think that it was because of the coconut oil. It could also be because I flattened them before baking. They were delicious anyway and my dad especially liked them. I decided to make them again in hopes that they’d be a little more chewy and not as flat. I substituted the coconut oil for Earth Balance. I creamed the wet ingredients with an electric beater and then added the dry ingredients (I didn’t have almond flour or almonds, so I ground hazel nuts… so tasty!) It yielded a wonderful result. With this simple change, I think these cookies are perfect. Crispy on the outside, crispy on the edges and full of flavor… just how I like it. Not to mention that they are very healthy. :)
These are completely inedible. I had to use 8 1/2 tsps of almond milk to even begin to form a ball. When cooked they tasted of uncooked flour and dryness. I had hoped to have these for my 4 year old niece, who had some severe dietary restrictions, for xmas and ended up having to say I’m sorry and toss them out to the birds.
I followed the directions exactly and didn’t have transcriptions errors since I printed it directly from this page. I checked my cups and my 1/4th was greasy so I didn’t use the wrong one.
Anyone expecting an edible cookie should beware. This will not result in one
I make these all the time for my 7 year old (she also has dietary issues) and they’re absolutely amazing! Even the gluten- lovers eat these ones up! Sorry yours didn’t turn out — I’d really encourage you to give them another try. I make these probably every other week – sometimes soaking a handful of raisins (to plump them up) just to change things up.
I made these cookies using the extra 1/4 cup of oat flour (couldn’t find sorghum flour), tapioca flour in place of arrowroot powder, and xylitol to substitute the cane sugar. They came out ridiculously good. The cookies did have to be baked 4 minutes longer but I can’t say if this is a result of the extra oat flour or one of the other substitutions. Thanks for the recipe!
These look delicious! I even think my wife (who doesn’t like cookies), would eat them. Thanks!