Celebrate Hanukkah in style with these soft and buttery holiday sugar cookies. They have the perfect consistency and texture, allowing them to hold their shape for any type of cookie cutter, whether it be a star of David, menorah or dreidel!
Hanukkah is easily one of my favorite Jewish holidays so I am definitely one to bust out the decorations this time of year. Lights, decor, you name it.
So when it comes to the food, that needs to follow suit, right? Making potato latkes and Hanukkah gelt are a given, but my household gets the most excited about these Hanukkah sugar cookies!
These ultra soft cookies, which are cut-outs from my favorite sugar cookie recipe, are sweet, chewy and tender. And once they've cooled, they are perfect for decorating with vanilla frosting, blue or white icing or dairy-free royal icing. They make for a great addition to any holiday table!
Making these cookies is also a great activity for getting the kids involved, as they love using the Hanukkah cookie cutters and of course are all about the cookie decorating!
Finalizing this recipe was no walk in the park. When it comes to baking, any subtle change can significantly alter the end result, but at that point it's too late and starting from scratch is the only option. After multiple batches experimenting with combinations of almond flour, oat flour and arrowroot powder in different quantities, I perfected a fool-proof recipe that you can feel confident in to help spread the holiday spirit!
Why You'll Love these Easy Hanukkah Cookies
- Smooth, sweet and chewy
- Easy recipe using simple ingredients
- Made using one bowl for easy cleanup
- Perfect base for decorative icing
- Fun activity for kids to help
- Made without egg yolks or egg whites making this vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free
- Festive for Hanukkah!
Ingredients
These Hanukkah cookies use just a handful of ingredients:
- Almond flour - Use super fine blanched almond flour. Do not substitute this with almond meal, as almond flour is not only sweeter but also has a fluffier texture which is necessary for these cookies.
- Oat flour - While I oftentimes grind oats into a flour for recipes, in this recipe I only use store-bought oat flour. Store-bought flours tend to be finer, allowing for a lighter cookie, although you can certainly use homemade oat flour if you prefer.
- Arrowroot powder - The arrowroot powder provides additional fluffiness to help the cookies rise.
- Coconut oil or vegan butter - Make sure the butter is softened to make the dough easier to work with.
- Maple syrup - Maple syrup adds sweetness while keeping the cookies refined sugar-free.
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- Fine salt
How to Make these Chanukah Cookies
1. Mix the wet ingredients. Add the coconut oil (or softened butter), maple syrup, vanilla extract and almond extract to a large bowl and use a hand mixer to combine on medium-low speed until light and fluffy.
2. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl. Mix in the almond flour, oat flour, arrowroot powder and salt on low speed until combined.
3. Flatten the flour mixture and refrigerate. Divide the dough into two balls, wrap each of them in plastic wrap and flatten them into a disc. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour (or overnight).
4. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two half-sheet baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Roll out the dough. Place the refrigerated discs of dough in between sheets of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is ½-inch thick. Do not roll too thin or they will harden when baked.
6. Cut the dough into desired shapes. Use Hanukkah-themed cookie cutters to cut the cookies into holiday shapes and carefully pull away the excess dough.
7. Bake for 8 minutes. The cooking time can vary based on the size of the cookie shapes, so be sure to check on the cookies toward the end to prevent burning. You want them to look just slightly golden brown around the edges.
8. Allow the cookies to cool. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes to harden a bit before handling. I sometimes stick the entire cookie sheet in my freezer on a silicone mat.
9. Carefully transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack. They will harden once fully cooled.
10. Decorate the cookies. Top the cookies with frosting or icing, silver sprinkles or any other festive toppings if desired.
Storage
These cookies are best when fresh but can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Allow them to come back to room temperature before serving for best results.
Recipe Tips
Cut the cookies into relatively even sizes. Baking different shapes at once is perfectly fine as long as they are all similar in size. Otherwise, either the smaller cookies could potentially burn or the larger cookies may end up being under-baked.
The thickness of the cookie matters. Stick to ½-inch cookies when rolling out the dough. Thinner cookies are not only more difficult to handle when raw, but will also harden too much when baking. On the other end, thicker cookies may take longer to bake and may end up being too soft in the middle.
More Vegan and Gluten-Free Hanukkah Recipes
- Snacks
- Banana menorah snack
- Veggie menorah snack
- Dreidel-shaped snacks
- Star of David grilled cheese sandwiches
- Latkes
- Crispy potato latkes
- Sweet potato latkes
- Desserts
- Homemade gelt
- Hanukkah gelt cookies
- Chocolate pretzel stars of David
I hope you enjoy these Chanukah sugar cookies. Please leave a comment below or tag me @eatingbyelaine so I can see all of your beautiful creations during the festival of lights!
Hanukkah Sugar Cookies (Dairy-Free Recipe)
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- Author: Elaine Gordon
- Total Time: 18 minutes
- Yield: 20 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Celebrate Hanukkah in style with these soft and buttery holiday sugar cookies. They have the perfect consistency and texture, allowing them to hold their shape for any type of cookie cutter, whether it be a star of David, menorah or dreidel!
Ingredients
UnitsScale
Sugar Cookies
- ¼ cup coconut oil or vegan butter, softened
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ¼ cups super fine blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ cup oat flour (do not use homemade oat flour here)
- ¼ cup arrowroot powder
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
Frosting/Decoration Options
- Dairy-free cream cheese frosting
- Dairy-free vanilla icing
- Dairy-free vanilla frosting
- Natural food dyes for colored frosting
- Dye-free sprinkles: light blue, royal blue, white
Instructions
- Mix the wet ingredients. Add the coconut oil (or softened butter), maple syrup, vanilla extract and almond extract to a large bowl and use a hand mixer to combine on medium-low speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl. Mix in the almond flour, oat flour, arrowroot powder and salt on low speed until combined.
- Flatten the flour mixture and refrigerate. Divide the dough into two balls, wrap each of them in plastic wrap and flatten them into a disc. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour (or overnight).
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two half-sheet baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out the dough. Place the refrigerated discs of dough in between sheets of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is ½-inch thick. Do not roll too thin or they will harden when baked.
- Cut the dough into desired shapes. Use Hanukkah-themed cookie cutters to cut the cookies into holiday shapes and carefully pull away the excess dough.
- Bake for 8 minutes. The cooking time can vary based on the size of the cookie shapes, so be sure to check on the cookies toward the end to prevent burning. You want them to look just slightly golden brown around the edges.
- Allow the cookies to cool. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes to harden a bit before handling. I sometimes stick the entire cookie sheet in my freezer on a silicone mat.
- Carefully transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack. They will harden once fully cooled.
- Decorate the cookies. Top the cookies with frosting or icing, silver sprinkles or any other festive toppings if desired.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 8
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Almond Flour
- Oat Flour
- Winter
- Hanukkah
- Gluten-Free
- Refined Sugar-Free
- Vegan
- Oven-Baked
- Easy
- Food Gifts
- Kid-Friendly
