Most classic recipes use ingredients like flour, eggs, milk, nuts, and peanuts – which are all problematic if you or a family member struggle with a food allergy or intolerance.
But fear not, we got you covered. Here’s a collection of delicious, vegan, and big 8 allergen-free cookie recipes that everyone can enjoy. This means: no milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, or soy – but 100% deliciousness!
Boost your holiday spirit with these recipes:
Allergy-safe sugar cookies
Sweet, colorful, and allergy-free – this allergy-friendly take on the classic sugar cookie will make every child (and parent) happy.
This recipe uses vegetable shortening instead of butter or margarine, gluten-free flour, and substitutes dairy milk for a plant-based alternative (rice milk). To steer clear of gluten, xanthan gum is used to give the dough the elasticity and viscosity it needs. The egg is replaced by apple sauce in this recipe.
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 2/3 cups of dairy-free shortening
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- ½ cups of apple sauce
- 4 teaspoons of rice milk
- ¼ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
- 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
- 2 cups of gluten-free flour
For the icing
- ½ cup of dairy-free shortening
- ½ cup of coconut oil
- Pinch of salt
- 3 cups of powdered sugar
- ¼ cup rice milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
How to
For the cookies (yields approx. 24 cookies)
- Mix salt, xanthan, baking powder, and half of the gluten-free flour.
- After the mixture is well-combined, add the rest of the gluten-free flour and blend well.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place parchment paper on your cookie sheet.
- Dust a clean surface, your chilled dough, and a rolling pin with gluten-free flour, then roll out dough with pin unit it’s ¼ of an inch thick. If the dough is still too sticky, use more flour.
- Dip cookie cutters in gluten-free flour and cut out your cookies, then move the cookies to your cookie sheet.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes until barely set, do not overbake or wait for them to turn golden.
- After baking, allow cookies to rest on the sheet outside for another 5 minutes.
- Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let them rest until they are completely cool (warm cookies are too fragile to decorate).
- Make the icing (see below), then decorate your cookies.
- Store them covered at room temperature.
For the icing
- Cream the shortening, coconut oil, and salt in a stand mixer on medium speed for a minute.
- Add the powdered sugar, rice milk, and vanilla extract.
- Beat until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. For a stiffer consistency, add more powdered sugar.
Allergy-safe gingerbread cookies
Everybody loves a good gingerbread cookie – a classic holiday treat including all the spices we relate with Christmas time.
Instead of classic all-purpose flour made of wheat and containing gluten, coconut flour and gluten-free flour is used. To replace butter, try coconut oil, vegetable shortening, or dairy-free margarine instead – just consider that dairy-free margarine is often soy-based. Instead of dairy milk, we use plant-based milk alternatives.
Ingredients
For the cookies (yields 15 approx. medium gingerbread men)
- 1 1/3 cups of coconut flour
- 1 ¼ cups of gluten-free flour
- 1 tablespoon of ground ginger
- ¼ tablespoon of ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- ¼ cup of maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
- ¾ cups of dairy-free margarine, coconut oil, or vegetable shortening
- ½ cup of plant-based milk (e.g., rice milk, oat milk)
For the icing
- 1 cup of icing sugar
- ¼ teaspoon of vanilla
- 1 tablespoon of plant-based milk (e.g., rice milk, oat milk)
- Pinch of cinnamon
How to
- Preheat your oven to 360 degrees F and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients. Add a little bit of plant-based milk at a time until the dough forms. Knead dough into a ball.
- Flour a clean surface with gluten-free flour and roll out dough with a rolling pin until it is ¼ of an inch thick.
- Dip cookie cutters into gluten-free flour and cut out your gingerbread cookies, then move the cookies to your cookie sheet.
- Lightly brush cookies with plant-based milk and place into oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until light brown.
- After 12 to 15 minutes, remove cookie sheet from oven and place your gingerbread cookies on a cooling rack.
- While gingerbread cookies are cooling, mix your icing and decorate your cookies when they’re cool.
- Store in a sealed container and eat within 4 days.
Allergy-safe sunflower butter blossom cookies
An allergy-friendly take on the classic peanut butter blossoms – a holiday favorite across the US.
Sunflower seed butter is a great nut-free replacement for peanut butter because it is similar in texture and works well as a replacement in baking recipes. If you like your cookies less sweet, you could also try Tahini, a Middle Eastern spread based on sesame seeds. Instead of eggs, we use a flax egg as a binding agent. Classic peanut butter blossoms are made with Hershey’s kisses – for this recipe, we use dairy-free chocolate chips instead.
Ingredients (yields approx. 16 cookies)
- 1 cup of creamy sunflower seed butter
- ¾ cup of organic cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon golden ground flax seeds
- 3 tablespoons of water
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- Extra sugar for rolling
- 1 ½ cups dairy-free chocolate chips
How to
- Use the flax seeds to make an egg replacement by combining flax seeds and the water in a small cup and set aside until it becomes a gel (takes a few minutes).
- Combine sunflower seed butter, sugar, flax egg, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir until completely combined and smooth.
- Refrigerate dough for approx. 30 minutes.
- Melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 15 second intervals until fully melted and smooth. Let cool for 10 minutes, then spoon into a piping bag with a #5 small round tip. Pipe chocolate into circles on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet and place into refrigerator to cool.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add a few tablespoons of sugar into a bowl. Form the dough into small balls (approx. 1 inch in diameter), and roll them in sugar, then place them onto the cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
- When the cookies are done baking, remove from the oven and place your chocolate circles into the center of each cookie.
- Let cookies cool completely before storing them in a sealed container.