This past week, our neighborhood held a big Cinco de Mayo party, and I wanted to make something churro-inspired to go with the theme. After perusing several churro cookie recipes, I decided to make something a little simpler: dairy-free cinnamon cookies. These soft and chewy cookies are buttery, richly spiked with vanilla and spice, and rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture for a warm taste and sweet, lightly crisp exterior.
These Dairy-Free Cinnamon Cookies are Not Snickerdoodles
Make no mistake, these are not snickerdoodle cookies (see my dairy-free snickerdoodles recipe, which is quite different). These dairy-free cinnamon cookies have more of a churro, horchata, or cinnamon toast vibe. I adapted the recipe from The Cookie Dough Diaries, and also have answers to some FAQs below.
Can I Substitute Gluten-Free Flour?
You should be able to use your favorite all-purpose gluten-free baking flour blend, like King Arthur Measure for Measure, as a 1:1 substitute for the all-purpose flour. But, you might need to follow the sticky fix below, as gluten-free flour doesn’t always thicken dough as well. Do not substitute a grain-free flour, like coconut flour or almond flour, for the all-purpose flour. These do not work as equal swaps for all-purpose flour in cookies.
What Dairy-Free Butter Alternative do you Recommend?
Your favorite brand for baking should work well. I would use buttery sticks, rather than buttery spread, as it makes a slightly firmer dough. See a comparison of some top plant butter brands in my Best Dairy-Free Butter for Baking post. You could also substitute shortening for the butter alternative. Use a brand like Spectrum for soy-free and hydrogenated oil-free, or use something like Butter Flavor Crisco for buttery flavor. Typically shortening will make the cookies a little thicker and more tender.
What Size Egg should I use?
I use large eggs as my standard for baking. I have found lately that eggs are often a little bigger than the standard size. For example, I had a dozen large eggs, which are supposed to weigh 2 ounces each, but they were all around the extra large size of 2.25 ounces. So I would avoid an extra-large or jumbo egg. A medium egg should work fine. The dough might just be a little thicker, and will probably spread a little less. You can flatten them before baking if this is an issue. If you only have extra-large eggs, use the fix below if your dough is too sticky.
What can I Substitute for the Egg?
If you need egg-free and vegan cinnamon cookies, see my Egg Substitute Guide for options. These are soft cookies, so an egg substitute can make them quite fragile. I would personally use the sticky dough fix below to make a thicker dough if baking them egg-free. Please note that I have not tested this recipe without eggs, but in my experience, vegan cookie dough needs to be a little thicker than cookie dough with eggs.
My Dough is too Sticky. How can I Fix it?
The dough should be a little sticky. This helps provide a soft and chewy texture. But you should still be able to loosely roll it into balls without it sticking to your hands. If this isn’t possible, refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes. If it’s still too sticky, whisk together 2 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon sugar and mix this into your dough. That should make it more manageable. You will probably get a couple more cookies out of the batch. If this fix works well for you, then use 2 1/4 cups flour and a scant 1/3 cup white sugar the next time you make these dairy-free cinnamon cookies. Dough stickiness can vary based on the climate, egg size, and dairy-free butter alternative you use.
Can I make Bigger Dairy-Free Cinnamon Cookies?
You certainly can! Double the dough to 2 level tablespoons to make about 22 larger cookies. The baking time will be similar, but probably closer to 10 or 11 minutes. Watch closely. They will be puffed, but not look set. I usually take them out right after the top loses it’s shiny wet look.
Special Diet Notes: Cinnamon Cookies
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, nut-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, and vegetarian.
Dairy-Free Cinnamon Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- To make the cinnamon sugar, whisk together the 1/4 cup sugar and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl.
- To make the cinnamon cookies, whisk together the flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the buttery sticks, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup sugar with a hand mixer or stand mixer until a little fluffy and the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla to your mixing bowl and beat until combined.
- Add the flour mixture and stir until combined.
- The dough will be a little sticky, but you should still be able to shape it and loosely roll it. If it's too sticky, refrigerate it for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Scoop a level tablespoon of dough, and roll it into a ball (about 1-inch diameter). Roll the cookie dough ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat, and place it on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the dough balls about 2 inches apart. The dough does spread as it bakes.
- If you have leftover cinnamon-sugar mixture, you can double roll some of the balls, or sprinkle it on the cookie dough.
- Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until puffed, and no longer shiny on top, but not fully set. They will deflate when you remove them from the oven. Do not overbake them if you want chewy cookies.
Nutrition
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Also Try My Dairy-Free Triple Chocolate Cookies!
4 Comments
I could not stop eating these cookies – so addictive! All of the ingredients are things I normally have on hand so I can make them anytime. Thanks for a great recipe!
So happy you like them Nina!
My husband likes these cookies better when I use white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. I also replace ALL the sugar with coconut sugar and I replace the egg with a flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons warm water, allow to sit for about 5 minutes until thickened and slimy) . These changes still result in a nice soft delicious cookie. I am excited to take these to the upcoming family taco feed.
That’s wonderful! Thank you for sharing your modifications Carrie.