Vegan Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
These vibrant Candy Cane Sugar Cookies are a fun and festive treat. But best of all, they are suitable for anyone following a vegan diet or who suffers from a milk or dairy allergy. Get the recipe below.
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Christmas cookies
Biscuits and cookies play an important role in Christmas around the world. From children leaving out a cookie and milk for Santa Clause, to intricate advent cookies being offered to guests who visit in the run up to the big day, they are everywhere.
When I went to my first German Christmas market in Heidelberg I was blown away with the sheer number of different cookies on offer and the wide range of shapes, sizes and flavours that they came in. Ever since I’ve been obsessed with creating beautiful platters of Christmas cookies each year.
This year I wanted to create a cookie that would appeal to my nephew. Many of the cookies I create have quite sophisticated spicing or involve nuts which, as a toddler, he doesn’t quite appreciate! But, these simple sugar cookies, twisted into candy canes are ideal for little hands and mouths.
How to make sugar cookie candy canes
Vegan sugar cookie dough
Sugar cookies are sweet, buttery biscuits that can be turned into a wide range of shapes and sizes. Thanks to the texture of the dough they hold their shape really well making them perfect for twisting into candy canes.
They are usually flavoured with just a hint of vanilla but you can add other flavours too (see variations below).
To make sugar cookies you need just 5 simple ingredients:
- butter
- caster sugar
- plain flour
- vanilla extra
- milk
To make them vegan, we simply use a non-dairy block “butter” or margarine and non-milk. Whenever I bake I always prefer to use oat or soy milk but you can use any plant or nut milk you like.
Making the dough is easy. You simply cream together the butter and sugar before adding the flour, vanilla and milk. Once you’ve brought it all together into a smooth dough you colour one half red and pop it in the fridge to chill. It’s then ready to be turned into candy canes and baked.
How to shape candy canes
You can make the candy canes any size you wish. Mine are roughly 2 inches long. To make them its easy.
- Take both halves of the chilled dough out of the fridge.
- Cut both halves of dough into roughly 24 pieces.
- Match up each piece of plain dough with one piece of red dough to make sure you’ve got the right number.
- Take the plain dough and roll it out into a thin sausage roughly 3 inches long. Repeat with the red dough.
- Once you have two pieces of dough roughly the same length, pinch them together at the ends then twist around each other. Pinch at the end again to seal.
- Roll the two sausages together gently then bend to create the hook of your candy cane.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough.
They can be a little bit fiddly to begin with but once you’ve made 2 or 3 you get the hang of them. You can also make them bigger or smaller if you wish.
Top tips for creating vegan candy cane sugar cookies
Always use a block butter
It is absolutely essential that you use a hard, block butter. My favourite vegan brands are Naturli and Flora. They have been specifically designed to have the same firm, texture as regular butter. But, if you can’t get either, margarine is a good alternative.
You need a hard fat (rather than a spread) because it helps keep the dough firm, is easier to shape and prevents them from losing their shape in the oven.
Don’t skip the fridge!
You will see that these cookies need to go in the fridge not once, but twice.
The first time we chill them is when we’ve just brought the dough together. Because it’s been kneaded to get a smooth dough it will be a little warm. Placing it in the fridge at this point allows the butter to harden and the dough will then firm up.
The second time the cookies go into the fridge is when they’ve been shaped. All of that rolling the dough into sausage shapes warms it up again. You might find they become a little sticky. This is due to the heat transferring from your hands to the dough. If this happens, get the dough in the fridge asap.
If you are in a rush then you can halve the chilling time by putting them in the freezer, rather than the fridge. Both methods work – just don’t miss these steps!
The recipe
Vegan Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 150 g vegan block butter or margarine
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 275 g plain flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk or similar non-dairy milk
- red food colouring gel
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy (I use an electric mixer but this can be done by hand).
- Add in the flour and salt and stir until combined; to bring it together into a ball of dough, add the plant milk and stir.
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour and tip the dough out (don’t worry if its still crumbly at this stage, there’s no need to add extra milk).
- Separate the crumbly dough into two piles. Knead the first half of the dough until it forms a smooth ball, wrap the dough in cling film or place it into a Ziploc bag and place into the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Take the second half of the dough and add your red food colouring. Start with a small amount on the end of a toothpick and add more as you go. Knead the food colouring into the dough until it is evenly distributed and you have a smooth, ball of dough. Wrap the dough in cling film or place it into a Ziploc bag and place into the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes along with the other ball of dough.
- While the dough is cooling, line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper and place to one side.
- Once both balls of dough are chilled, take them out of the fridge and cut each piece into 24 equal sized pieces (48 total).
- Pair each piece of plain dough with a piece of red dough.
- Start with a piece of plain dough and roll it into a sausage roughly 3 inches long. Repeat with the red dough.
- take the two sausages of dough and pinch them together gently at the end before twisting them around each other. Pinch at the other end to seal.
- Roll them together gently before creating a hook shape for your candy cane.
- Repeat with all of the dough.
- Place the candy canes straight on to the lined baking trays. Place these trays into the fridge for 30 minutes.
- While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F / gas mark 4.
- Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes until they are just golden and crisp on the outside.
- Once baked, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
Nutrition
Variations
Sugar cookie dough takes flavours really well. Just a few drops of your favourite essence will transform these cookies into something magical. Why not add peppermint? Or perhaps orange blossom?
More Christmas cookies
You can find a wide range of different biscuit and cookies recipes in the main recipe archive. Here are some of my favourite festive cookies recipes which you should try this Christmas!
The Christmas Recipe Archive
For the full range of Christmas recipes from cocktails to canapes, side dishes and show stopping mains, check out the Christmas recipe archive.