Frosted Sugar Cookies for Valentine’s Day | Vegan & Gluten-Free

Valentine’s day is one of my favorite holidays, and it has been ever since I was a little girl. My mom and I used to handmake the cards for school and stuffed the goody bags with candies for classmates. One thing we always loved doing was making frosted sugar cookies in the shape of hearts with tons of obnoxious sprinkles! I thought it would be so fun to recreate those cookies, but of course, make them gluten-free and vegan. I’ve been working on perfecting the gluten-free and vegan frosted sugar cookies, and I feel like I finally have it down. The consistency and flavors are almost identical to the Pillsbury roll-out dough. I realized that tapioca flour was the missing ingredient to making these cookies PERFECT. One of my talented baking friends recommended trying it out because it helps bind together the gluten-free flour, and it was absolutely a game-changer.

Spending the afternoon making these Valentine’s Day cookies was so therapeutic. It was a rainy day, and baking was the perfect indoor activity. You can decorate the cookies, all the same, to make it easier, but I decided to make them all a bit different for fun. And you’re going to be mind-blown when you find out what I used for the royal icing…

These gluten-free frosted sugar cookies are the softest in the world. They just melt in your mouth. I can’t wait to make these cookies for every holiday coming up, especially Christmas!

I found $1 sprinkle packages at Michaels that I loved! For an all-natural food coloring, Watkins is such a good brand. You can find it on Amazon.

I’m excited to tell you about something I’ve been experimenting with lately, aquafaba.

You’re probably wondering what the heck aquafaba is, but I’m sure you’re super familiar with it. It’s the juice in the can with the garbanzo beans. It can mimic the same reaction as eggwhites so that it can be used in vegan marshmallows or meringues. It also works as the perfect egg-replacement in royal icing. With added powdered sugar, vanilla, and almond extract, you cannot taste a trace of the garbanzo beans!

However, I tried the aquafaba with sugar-free powdered sugar, and it was pretty awful. It tasted like a kid’s toothpaste. Just stick to regular powdered sugar with this recipe! If you do want to cut the sugar, you can replace the cane sugar with monk fruit in the dough. There is also a brown sugar monk fruit that works as a great substitute.



One of the great things about this recipe is that you don’t have to wait for the dough to chill in the fridge. You mix all the ingredients, and you can begin rolling, cutting, and baking!

For rolling the dough, I always throw flour on linen for my working space.

I used squeeze bottles for the icing. I did about a dozen of the cookies the same before switching designs. When I was a kid, I made every single cookie different, and then at the end of it, I would take all the leftover mixed sprinkles and pour them on top of the final few. And those were always my dad’s favorite ones.



5 from 2 votes Print Gluten-Free & Vegan Frosted Sugar Cookies Ingredients Gluten-Free Vegan Sugar Cookie Dough 1/2 Cup Vegan Butter Earth Balance

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Sugar or monk fruit replacement

1 Tsp Almond Extract

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1 3/4 Cups Gluten-Free Flour I used bob's red mill

2 1/2 Tbsps Tapioca Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp Sea Salt

2 Tbsps Cashew Milk (start with one 2 tablespoons until desired consistency) Vegan Royal Icing 3 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Tsp Almond Extract

4 Tbsps Aquafaba (juice from the garbanzo bean can)

1/4 Tsp Cream of Tartar Instructions Gluten-Free Vegan Sugar Cookie Dough Preheat oven to 350-degrees In an electric mixer, add room temperature butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and almond extract and mix on high. Sift in the flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, and sea salt. The dough will be super dry, add in the cashew milk one tablespoon at a time until you get the perfect cookie dough consistency. If you accidentally add too much milk, add a tablespoon of gluten-free flour. Flour your linen for the workspace, and roll the dough out 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your desired shapes, and add them to a non-stick baking sheet. Make sure the cookies are all the same size to keep them evenly cooked. Bake about 5-7 minutes. They'll be slightly golden, but make sure you do not overbake! Vegan Royal Icing In an electric mixer, whisk the aquafaba and the cream of tartar on high for about three minutes, or until the mixture is foamy. Stir in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. If it's too dry, add a teaspoon of milk, and if it's too runny add in more powdered sugar. Frosting The Cookies Add the frosting to a squeeze bottle. Make sure the cookies are completely cool before frosting! They take about ten minutes for the icing to harden Have fun!

You can store the cookies in the fridge, freezer, or out on the counter! We bagged them up, put them in the freezer, and treated ourselves to them for a few weeks. The saddest part was eating the last cookie! I didn’t want to make another batch because they were dangerously good, but each bite was so worth it!

I hope you all love this recipe and make sure to tag me if you make them! I’d like to share, and I love seeing your recreations! (Instagram)

Questions for you!