Name: Eggless Sugar Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 42 min
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour; 30 g cornstarch ((cornflour)); 210 g butter; 100 g icing sugar; ⅛ tsp salt; ½ tsp vanilla essence; Brown sugar

Jump to Recipe

These are my best eggless sugar cookies. I had this awesome cookie recipe in a very old recipe book. It is one of my favorite cookie recipes, not so much because it’s eggless, but because of its light and soft, crumbly buttery texture (like shortbread cookies). They are simply delicious!

In fact, because the dough holds its shape so well after baking, these cookies make a great option as eggless cut-out cookies too. The dough is easy to handle just like my no-spread sugar cookies and is perfect for making decorated cookies.

You can cut it into simple shapes with cookie cutters and decorate these with fondant cut-outs or use simple glaze icing. They are definitely a great choice for festive occasions too!

Scalloped cut out cookies in a blue plate — Eggless Sugar Cookie Recipe - Sugar Cookies without Eggs

I chose to cut these eggless cookies into simple scalloped round shapes and dredged the tops with brown sugar for a lightly caramelized crunch. You can leave these cookies plain and they are perfect that way too.

All in all, whether or not you are into eggless cookies, these amazing sugar cookies are a must-try. They are so easy to make and will give you the best results every single time!

How to Make
Notes
Like this simple cookie recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out
Recipe (Printable)

How to Make

In terms of the ingredients, this recipe uses pretty much the same standard ingredients used in most cookies which are butter, sugar, and flour. And while most recipes use eggs, this one doesn’t, so that is one main difference. The other difference is that this eggless recipe uses cornstarch (also known as corn flour) as part of its ingredients. Cornstarch plays are a big role in giving the cookies their light, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Ingredients

Plain flour + salt
Cornstarch (cornflour)
Butter
Icing sugar
Vanilla extract
Brown sugar (optional, for garnish)

Making and baking the cookies

Start by sifting both the plain flour and cornstarch (dry ingredients) into a large bowl. Set is aside.
In a separate large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and salt until creamy with a paddle attachment on an electric mixer (stand mixer or hand mixer). There is no need to beat until the mixture is light, suffice if the ingredients are mixed until they appear creamy.
Add the vanilla extract and beat briefly.
Next, add in the sifted flour mixture into 3 batches into the creamed wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
Form the dough into a ball. Place the eggless cookie dough in the mixing bowl and leave it aside to rest for 30 minutes, covered in a kitchen towel or a cling wrap.

Shaping and baking the cookies

To roll and cut the cookies, divide the dough into 3 sections for easy handing. Form it into a ball and flatten lightly with your fingers.
Place it between two sheets of parchment paper on a flat surface. Place a dowel rod on either side and make sure your rolling pin rests on the rods as you roll it. This is to guide the cookie thickness (about 4mm thick). You can also use rolling pin guides or simply roll without any guide by eyeballing it.
After rolling, remove the parchment sheet that sits on top of the rolled dough.
Use a cookie cutter to cut the cookies out. Dip the cutter in flour if the dough is sticky.
Lift the cookie dough off the bottom layer parchment paper by lifting the paper and pushing the cut cookie from underneath the paper.
Place the cut eggless sugar cookies on a parchment paper (or cookie sheet / baking sheet) lined cookie tray. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with about ⅛ teaspoon of brown sugar and bake in a preheated oven at 175 degrees Celsius for approximately 10 minutes until they turn lightly golden on the sides.
Remove the tray from the oven. Let the cookies rest in the tray for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack (cooling rack) to cool completely to room temperature.
Store the baked cookies in an air-tight container.

Scalloped cut out eggless sugar cookiescookies on a wire rack — Perfect Eggless Sugar Cookies - Great Recipe for Easy Sugar Cookies

Notes

Cornstarch

Cornstarch, in comparison to all-purpose flour, is very light in texture. And when added to cookies, it gives lightness in texture to the finished cookies. Cornstarch also adds crispiness to cookies, and that is basically the secret to the light and crumbly texture of these eggless sugar cookies.
In terms of the proportion of cornstarch to all-purpose flour in the recipe, the cornstarch added is only 30 grams as compared to flour which is 250 grams. That is relatively a very small amount but it surely does make a difference to the cookies.

Butter

Butter also plays an important role in the taste and texture of these eggless sugar cookies. Always make sure to use good quality butter for the cookies as it will really have an impact on the taste.
I prefer to use salted butter and add in a little bit of extra salt in mixing the cookie dough. Using unsalted butter is fine too, just make sure to increase the amount of salt added into the cookie batter.

Icing Sugar

Also, these eggless sugar cookies are made with powdered sugar (icing sugar) instead of normal granulated sugar or castor sugar. Icing sugar tends to clump so it is always a good idea to sift it first before adding it to the butter for creaming. This is to avoid lumps of sugar in the cookies.

This eggless sugar cookie dough is quite soft immediately after mixing (but not soft enough for piping). Resting it for about 30 minutes helps in making it easier to handle.
Even then, the dough would still be soft, so the easiest way to shape these egg free sugar cookies is to form them into round dough balls and flatten them with the back of a drinking cup. Having said that, you can also make cut-out cookies with this recipe. And that was what I normally do with mine.

Best way to roll and cut the sugar cookies

Since the dough is quite soft, the best way to handle it is by rolling it between 2 sheets of parchment or plastic. I normally place 2 dowel rods on either side of my dough and ensure my rolling pin rests on them on both sides before rolling it. That way, the thickness will be consistent for all cookies. You can also use rolling pin guides to help you with the dough thickness.
To transfer the cut-out cookies into your baking tray, lift the parchment sheet underneath the rolled dough and gently push the cut-out cookies from underneath the sheet to separate them out. And then, I lift the cookies and arrange them on a baking tray.

Can you decorate these cookies?

You can decorate these eggless sugar cookies with anything you like. I chose to decorate mine with just a light topping of brown sugar. I applied the sugar onto the top of each cookie before putting them into the oven for baking. That allowed the sugar to stick to the cookies and gave them the extra crunch.
You can use these cookies to make the eggless version of decorated cookies. Instead of royal icing, you can use glaze icing or fondant to decorate them and that makes the cookies totally eggless (just make sure the fondant you use is eggless too).

How to store?

After baking, always keep these eggless sugar cookies in an airtight container to retain their crisp and crumbly texture. These cookies last well for a good 2 weeks.

Recipe (Printable)

Below is the full printable version of my eggless sugar cookies recipe:

Eggless Sugar Cookies

These eggless sugar cookies are perfect. They are buttery, light, and crumbly and hold their shape so perfectly well for cut-out cookies!

4.96 from 23 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Eggless Sugar Cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 42 minutes

Yield: 40 cookies

Author: Priya Maha

Metric - US Customary