Vegan Unicorn Cookies Recipe

These soft and delicious vegan unicorn sugar cookies are decorated with plant-based royal icing. Easy colorful unicorn sugar cookies are perfect for kids’ parties or a whimsical treat to bring to a cookie exchange.

This recipe makes ~30 vegan sugar cookies.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Cookie Recipe
• Royal Icing Recipe
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

Kimmy invited me to her holiday cookie exchange today. I don’t really love Christmas (please don’t throw roasted chestnuts and mistletoe at me), so the thought of making Christmas-tree-shaped cookies and decorating them made me want to crawl into bed and take a nap.

These unicorn cookies are probably the closest I’ll ever get to making holiday cookies. Nothing says Christmas like unicorns, am I right? I even dressed to match my cookie. How’s that for holiday spirit?

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Ingredients for Vegan Sugar Cookie Dough

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 1 cup (230g) organic sugar, blended
• 1 cup (226g) vegan butter or margarine
• 3 cups (390g) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons (6g) baking powder
• ½ tablespoon (7g) ener-g egg replacer
• 2 tablespoons (30g) warm water
• 1 teaspoon (4g) pure vanilla extract

Vegan Cutout Cookie Directions

Mix together 1 cup (230g) sugar and 1 cup (226g) vegan butter in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment.

Sift 3 cups (390g) flour and 2 teaspoons (6g) baking powder into a large bowl, whisk, and set aside.

Prepare the egg replacer according to the directions on the box. I use ener-g egg replacer so the box says to mix ½ tablespoon (7g) ener-g egg replacer with 2 tablespoons (30g) warm water.

Add the prepared egg replacer and the vanilla extract to the mixing bowl, and mix again.

Add the flour to the mixing bowl, half at a time, mixing in between additions. Scrape the sides (and bottom) with a silicone spatula and remix.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper and line 2 baking sheets with it.

Roll some of the dough on a floured surface (like a rolling mat ) with a floured rolling pin to ¼” thickness.

Cut out unicorn shapes, dipping the unicorn cookie cutter into flour in between each cut. Place the unicorns on the parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Freeze each tray of cookies once they’re filled for 5-10 minutes (or the amount of time it takes you to fill the next tray).

Bake in a 350º oven for 10 minutes.

Remove tray from the oven and let sit until cookies have cooled.

Repeat until all the dough has been used up.

Ingredients for the Vegan Cookie Icing Recipe

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 3 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
• 2-3 tablespoons non-dairy milk
• 3 tablespoons corn syrup
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• ⅓ package of blue, red, and yellow all-natural Color Kitchen food colors

How to make Vegan Royal Icing for the Decorated Unicorn Cookies

Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer (or you can use a handheld mixer).

Add half of the nondairy milk and 2 tablespoons of the organic light corn syrup and mix using the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Start on a low speed (unless you like the look of yourself covered in powdered sugar), and increase speed as the ingredients start to combine. Scrape the sides and bottom with a silicone spatula and then mix again.

Add nondairy milk teaspoon by teaspoon, mixing constantly, until you get a consistency thin enough to pipe.

Transfer 1-2 ounces of icing to a squeeze bottle with a narrow opening at the top (or to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton small round tip 1 ).

Trace the outline of all 30 cookies using this white icing.

Transfer 9 tablespoons of icing to a separate bowl and set aside.

Add more non-dairy milk to the remaining white icing and mix again. You want a thinner consistency this time to fill in the cookie.

Transfer the rest of the icing (from the mixing bowl, not the separate bowl) to a squeeze bottle with a wider opening at the top. An old agave or mustard bottle works well.

Squeeze the thinner icing onto the cookies that have already been outlined. I use a drawing method, like I’m coloring with a crayon. Before moving to the next cookie, use a toothpick to help fill any holes you may have. Continue with the rest of the cookies.

Set 3 small bowls and 3 small spoons out.

Add ⅓ package of Color Kitchen natural food coloring to each bowl. If you don’t Color Kitchen natural food coloring , you can look at my list of vegan food coloring to find other vegan and cruelty-free brands.

Add a teaspoon of organic light corn syrup to each bowl. Use the spoons to mix the colored powder with the organic light corn syrup , making sure to keep each spoon in its color (don’t let it mingle with the other bowls).

Transfer 3 tablespoons of icing to each of the small bowls, using the spoon to mix the icing with the color. If it’s too thick to mix smoothly, add 1-2 drops of non-dairy milk to each bowl.

Transfer colored icing to a squeeze bottle with a narrow opening at the top or to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton small round tip 1 .

Draw the details onto the cookies, and let them dry for around 5 hours before trying to stack them.

Frequently Asked Questions about this Unicorn Cookies Recipe

How do I make these pastel unicorn cookies?

For pastel colors, just use less coloring. Check out my unicorno gingerbread cookies to see what pastel unicorn cookies can look like.

Can I make these sugar cookies in advance?

To make these easy unicorn sugar cookies in advance, simply wait for the icing to dry completely and layer them with parchment paper in an airtight tupperware. Freeze them for up to 3 months.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Sugar: For the sugar in this sugar cookie recipe, you can use any number of sugars, as long as they’re vegan. I would avoid dark colored sugars like sucanat, coconut sugar, or demurara. Stick to raw sugar, organic sugar, or vegan sugar to make sure the color of your unicorns is light. If you’re not sure if your sugar is vegan, you can contact the company and ask, but basically, just avoid conventional white sugar or granulated sugar, and you should be ok.
• Vegan Butter: If you avoid soy, buy the soy-free earth balance. Otherwise, I recommend the organic whipped earth balance.
• Flour: I use organic unbleached, all-purpose flour but you can use any all-purpose flour or pastry flour.
• Baking Powder: If you ran out of baking powder, you can replace the 2 teaspoons (6g) baking powder in this recipe with ½ teaspoon baking soda.
• Egg Replacer If you don’t have ener-g egg replacer, you can use corn starch.
• Powdered Sugar: See my post about vegan powdered sugar.
• Food Coloring: I used blue, red, and yellow all-natural Color Kitchen food colors for this recipe, but you can look at my entire list of vegan food coloring for other options.

Comments or Questions?

If you make this vegan cookie recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like unicorns, you might also like my unicorn gingerbread carousel. If you like cute treats in general, check out my pie lollipops.

If you like cutout cookies, I have 3 other flavors of cutout cookies you can make. One are my rainbow fish cookies where the cookies and the icing are both lemon flavored. Another are my dutch cocoa cookies that are dutch chocolate flavored. And the third are my chocolate chip cutout cookies.

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