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!
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!
Table of contents
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.
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.
Why do you need to rest the cookie dough?
- 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.
Like this simple cookie recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out
- Moist Eggless Chocolate Cake - The Best Ever!
- Simple Peanut Butter Cookies with Sprinkles
- Lemon Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Daisy Cookies - Pretty Flower Cookies
- Easy 3 Ingredient Cookies (Egg Free)
- Homemade Red Velvet Cookies with Chocolate Chips
- Butterscotch Sugar Cookies - Perfectly Soft and Crumbly
- Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
- No Spread Sugar Cookies - Perfect Cut Out Cookies
Recipe (Printable)
Below is the full printable version of my eggless sugar cookies recipe:
📖Recipe
Eggless Sugar Cookies
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 250 g plain flour
- 30 g cornstarch (cornflour)
- 210 g butter
- 100 g icing sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Garnish:
- Brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175°Celsius and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Sift plain flour and corn-starch into a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and creamy. Add in vanilla essence and beat until well incorporated.
- Add in flour, in three batches and mix until all the flour has been well incorporated. Form the dough into a ball and rest it for about 30 minutes before shaping the cookies.
- To shape the cookies, divide the dough into 3 sections for easy handling.
- Knead each section lightly and form into a ball. Flatten the ball lightly with fingers and place it in between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic.
- Roll the dough to about 4mm thick. Use a round cookie cutter to cut the cookies out.
- Lift the cookies off the parchment paper by pushing them from beneath the parchment paper the dough is resting on and place them on the prepared baking tray.
- Sprinkle ⅛ teaspoon of brown sugar on each cookie.
- Bake cookies in the preheated oven for approximately 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies turn golden brown on the sides.
- Remove tray from oven and let the cookies rest in the tray for 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container.
Nutrition
And that's my easy and super yummy eggless sugar cookies recipe for you!
Enjoy!
Amanda
Love these cookies. They are perfect to make for my niece who has an egg allergy. Thank you for sharing.
Kayla
I love the idea of eggless cookies! These were so delicious!
Luca
They do look really nice and perfect for a Sunday snack!
Elizabeth
I cannot wait to try these! Thank you for the detailed recipe!
Andrea
These look so good! The perfect cookie!
Cindy Mom the Lunch Lady
Omg saving this recipe to make soon. So simple but I bet they are so buttery and delicious!
Megan
Deliciously simple and I love how they are egg-free. So crisp and like shortbread.
Andrea
I love a good sugar cookie! These look amazing!
Jeri
These are perfect! My niece has an egg allergy, so I will definitely be making these!
Nart
These cookies are so addictive. I couldn't stop eating them - this is a problem!
Kayla
These sugar cookies turned out great! I love that they were eggless and allergy friendly!
Alexandra
These cookies are so delicious and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.
Amanda
Just found out my son is allergic to eggs, thank you for this, he will love them!
Luca
We just made a huge bunch of this, ready to eat them over the weekend! They taste so good and they were so easy to make!
Oscar
Made these buttery cookies for a family gathering and everyone devoured them. Great recipe
Addie
These cookies are so fun and festive!
Natalie
These cookies look amazing. So buttery and perfectly flavored. I can't wait to make them this weekend.