Vegan Funfetti Cookies

A vegan twist on Funfetti Cookies. These colorful cookies are soft and chewy and made in just one bowl! The perfect treat for adding a little fun to your day.

Bursting with color and flavor, these soft and chewy cookies are perfect for any occasion – from birthday parties to bake sales and beyond.

Made with classic sugar cookie dough, these cookies are studded with rainbow sprinkles for a fun and playful twist. With their bright and cheerful appearance, these Funfetti cookies are sure to put a smile on your face and brighten up any day.

What is Funfetti?

Fun that’s what! Funfetti cookies are a play on a popular boxed cake mix that is simply a vanilla cake with sprinkles in it.  A colorful, fun cake is often made to celebrate children’s birthdays because it is fun to look at and who doesn’t love sprinkles?

Funfetti cookies take this idea of a sprinkle-filled cake and turn the fun into a super soft cookie form.  A sprinkle-filled sugar cookie to be precise.

Ingredients you will need

• Pastry flour – this is my go-to flour choice for almost every cookie because it has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour and produces a lighter softer cookie. If you don’t have pastry flour all-purpose flour can be substituted.

• Butter-flavored coconut oil – gives the cookie a buttery taste and a soft texture. Vegan butter can also be used.

• Granulated sugar – a key ingredient to any sugar cookie is sugar.

• Baking powder – helps give some rise and airiness to the cookie.

• Vanilla extract – because vanilla is awesome.

• Ground flax seed – used as a binding agent to replace egg usually used in cookies.

• Water – half of the water is used to emulsify the flax seed and the other half is to add moisture to the batter.

• Sprinkles – because you can’t have a Funfetti cookie recipe without sprinkles

What is a flax egg?

A flax egg is a substitution that can be used in many recipes to replace an egg. To make one add 1 tbsp of ground flaxseeds to 3 tbsp of water, stir, and let sit for 5 minutes. When flax seeds get wet the outer layer forms a gelatin-like shell which created a texture similar to egg whites and works in much the same way. Binding ingredients together.

How To Make Funfetti Cookies

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Start by making the flax egg. Add the ground flax seeds to a small bowl with ¼ cup of water.  Stir it up and let the mixture rest for 5 minutes to emulsify.

Next, add the flour, sugar, and baking powder to a large bowl and mix to combine. 

Then add the coconut oil, vanilla and prepared flax egg to the bowl.  I like to use a fork to mix during this stage because the prongs of the fork work sort of like a pastry cutter finely chopping up the coconut oil into the flour. 

The mixture will still be fairly dry, but once you are confident you have the coconut oil mixed evenly throughout the flour add in the remaining ¼ cup of water and mix just until combined.  The dough will be fairly sticky.

Finally, it’s sprinkle time! Add the sprinkles to the batter and mix them evenly throughout but don’t overmix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and chill the dough for the Funfetti sugar cookies in the fridge for about an hour.  The dough should still be soft enough to roll into a ball but less sticky.

Once properly chilled, roll heaping tablespoons of dough into a ball and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake for about 12-15 minutes removing the cookies from the oven as soon as you begin to see the edges of the cookie bottoms turning golden brown.

Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet before removing and let them completely cool on a cooling rack before serving.

What Kind of Sprinkles Are Best?

You can use any color or shape you like but I recommend you keep the sprinkles to the smaller long or tiny pearly type so that they are easy to eat.  You just want a little texture not giant sugar lumps in your cookies.

Some people also don’t like when the color from the sprinkles bleeds into their cookies.  I personally don’t care but if you are one of the people who want to have no color bleed into the batter I recommend purchasing Cake Mate brand.  You can find them almost anywhere baked goods ingredients are sold.

Does The Dough Need To Be Chilled?

Yes. You can make the cookies right away without chilling but they will spread quite a bit and be very thin and flat.  Chilling not only helps with rolling them into the perfect little ball but also prevents them from spreading too much and overbaking.  

Can Funfetti Cookie Dough Be Made Ahead of Time?

Sure can! Once the cookie batter is made simply cover it in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Before rolling the dough into cookie balls, thaw the dough in the fridge and let rest on the counter to soften up enough to allow the dough to be scooped and rolled into balls.

If you only want to make a few cookies at a time instead of a whole batch you can also pre-roll the balls. To do this let the dough chill in the fridge for about an hour after making. Then roll the dough into balls and let freeze on a lined cookie sheet.  Once the cookie balls are frozen transfer them to a freezer-safe container and freeze.

Thaw on the counter or in the fridge until only slightly chilled and then bake as per the instructions.

Storage and Freezing

These Funfetti cake cookies can be stored on the counter in an airtight container for up to 4 days once baked or you can freeze the already baked cookies for up to 3 months.  Thaw them on the counter to bring them to room temperature before eating.  They are delicious but not delicious enough to crack a tooth over!

More Delicious vegan Recipes

• Vegan and Gluten-Free Thin Mints
• Warm Apple N’Oatmeal
• Carrot and Cauliflower Soup
• Vegetable Chickpea Stew
• Smoky Vegan Chipotle Queso

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For the step-by-step version of this recipe, check out the How to Make Vegan Funfetti Cookies Story.