These cranberry sugar cookies are easy, vegan, & PERFECT for the holiday season! Soft and sweet sugar cookie dough is mixed with chewy dried cranberries & orange zest for the best cookie!
While I love savory food, I am always in the mood for a good chewy cookie! Just like my Brown Sugar Chai Cookies and my Matcha Cookies, these cranberry sugar cookies are soft, easy, and totally vegan!
This batch starts with a basic vegan sugar cookie dough, then gets mixed with chopped cranberries, spices, and some orange zest! Only one bowl and bake for just 10 minutes!
Why you'll love this recipe
- Perfect for Holiday cookie exchanges - The cranberry and orange flavors are the perfect holiday feeling, without being overwhelmingly holiday themed!
- Soft & Chewy - This recipe only calls for about a 10 minute bake time, leaving the cookies soft and chewy each time!
- One-Bowl Recipe - You only need one bowl to mix this all up! It couldn't be much easier!
What you need for this recipe
Ingredients and substitutions
- Vegan Butter - I highly recommend using Earth Balance vegan stick butter. If you use spreadable or tub butter, add an extra tablespoon of flour!
- Almond Milk - Any non-dairy milk will work, as long as it is unsweetened and plain flavored!
- White Sugar - I do not recommend substituting this with any sort of sugar substitute.
- Brown Sugar - If necessary, you can substitute with coconut sugar, but the cookies may come out slightly drier.
- Vanilla - I love using vanilla bean paste in lieu of vanilla extract, but either will work!
- Flour - All purpose flour. Make these gluten-free by substituting with a 1:1 GF flour.
- Cranberries - Use dried cranberries. Fresh may work, but it hasn't been tested and it will impact the moisture level of the cookies.
- Orange Zest - Completely optional. You can mix the zest into the batter or just sprinkle it on top of the cookies.
How to make this recipe
Step 1: Prepare Ingredients
Prior to making the cookies, pull out the vegan butter and allow it to warm up to room temperature so that it is soft.
Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
Measure out the dried cranberries and roughly chop them into smaller pieces.
Step 2: Make the Dough
To a medium sized mixing bowl, add softened butter and both brown and white sugars.
Use an electric mixer to cream the butter with the sugar.
Then, add the vanilla and the almond milk and mix again.
While the dough is still wet mix in the chopped cranberries and the optional orange zest.
Next, sprinkle in the flour and baking powder and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until you have a thick cookie dough.
Step 3: Bake & Cool
Use a cookie scoop or your hands to roll the dough into about 8-9 ball shapes.
Place each ball of cookie dough onto a parchment-lined sheet tray.
Bake in the oven at 350ºF for 10-11 minutes, until lightly golden but still soft.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- I highly recommend finding a good quality vegan butter in stick form, as opposed to the spreadable tub butters. If the butter in the tub is all you can find, add an extra tablespoon of flour to the batter!
- Feel free to add some simple holiday spices to this batter, such as cinnamon or nutmeg!
- The orange zest is completely optional, the cookies taste great with or without it. If you use it, I recommend starting with a teaspoon, mixing that in with the cranberries, and then adding more if needed. Sprinkling it over the finished cookies works well too, and you could even use an orange oil in the batter!
Recipe FAQs
Store these cranberry cookies in an airtight container for up to a week, or store them in the freezer for 1-2 months!
This cranberry sugar cookies recipe is completely vegan as is, with no modifications needed. To be 100% certain, make sure tp use certified vegan sugars, as some sugar is not vegan.
The only ingredient with gluten in this recipe is the all-purpose flour. To make this gluten-free, use a high quality 1:1 GF all-purpose flour.
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Vegan Cranberry Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Vegan Stick Butter softened, *see notes*
- 3 tablespoon Light brown sugar
- 5 tablespoon + 1 tsp White Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla paste or extract
- 2½ tablespoon Unsweetened Almond Milk
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¾ cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ cup Dried cranberries
- Orange zest optional
Instructions
- Prior to making the cookies, pull out the vegan butter and allow it to warm up to room temperature so that it is soft.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
- Measure out the dried cranberries and roughly chop them into smaller pieces.
- To a medium sized mixing bowl, add softened butter and both brown and white sugars.
- Use an electric mixer to cream the butter with the sugar.
- While the dough is still wet mix in the chopped cranberries and the optional orange zest.
- Next, sprinkle in the flour and baking powder and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until you have a thick cookie dough.
- Use a cookie scoop or your hands to roll the dough into about 8-9 ball shapes.
- Place each ball of cookie dough onto a parchment-lined sheet tray.
- Bake in the oven at 350ºF for 10-11 minutes, until lightly golden but still soft.
Notes
- I highly recommend finding a good quality vegan butter in stick form, as opposed to the spreadable tub butters. If the butter in the tub is all you can find, add an extra tablespoon of flour to the batter!
- Feel free to add some simple holiday spices to this batter, such as cinnamon or nutmeg!
- The orange zest is completely optional, the cookies taste great with or without it. If you use it, I recommend starting with a teaspoon, mixing that in with the cranberries, and then adding more if needed. Sprinkling it over the finished cookies works well too, and you could even use an orange oil in the batter!
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