These Paleo & Vegan Snickerdoodles are some of the chewiest, softest cookies ever, with tons of cinnamon and a delectably crunchy cinnamon sugar coating. You’ll be making them again and again!
Normally, I make and post and recipe and then it becomes a staple that I make all the time (like these paleo chocolate chip cookies). These paleo and vegan snickerdoodles went in the opposite order though. I made them once…and they were perfection.
Then I made them again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. And then Kyle ate them all, so I made another batch to bring to share with my sister Shaina at the MindBodyGreen Revitalize conference. Three batches, all within a week.
When I shared them with my sister and everyone else who was lucky enough to be sitting with us at breakfast on Sunday morning, they got rave reviews…and that was after traveling across state lines with me and sitting in a container for 4 days.
Kyle’s already asking for another batch, so you know these will be in my future again soon. Now that I’m sharing the recipe, I hope they’ll be in YOUR future too.
Let’s get to baking paleo & vegan SNICKERDOODLES!
One of the reasons these cookies are so soft is the combination of fats. In addition to my usual go-to coconut oil, these also include some cashew butter. I prefer cashew butter because it has the most neutral, buttery flavor, but another nut butter like almond would also work. The nut butter also provides some structure to the cookies.
We mix the fats with coconut sugar to sweeten and then use a flax egg and vanilla extract for flavor. I haven’t tested them with a regular egg, but substituting with one egg should work well.
For the dry ingredients, we use a mixture of blanched almond flour and cassava flour! Together, they create a delightfully soft and chewy texture. Of course, they also have a hearty dose of cinnamon, too, along with baking soda and salt!
While the dough chills, we mix together the outside coating. I used raw turbinado sugar for extra crunch and texture, mixed with a whole lot of cinnamon. You could use raw cane sugar or coconut sugar also – whatever you prefer.
Once the paleo and vegan snickerdoodle cookies are baked, make sure you try one warm! They’re delightfully good. Soft, sweet, and loaded with warm cinnamon flavor. Not exactly a summertime recipe, but honestly, these are good all year round. Hope you love them as much as I do! Enjoy :D
P.S. I have another paleo and vegan snickerdoodle recipe on my site too (linked here). They’re both so good, but this newer version is my new favorite! I find it a little chewier and richer than the previous one. Would love to hear your favorite version if you’ve tried both!!
Paleo & Vegan Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 3 tablespoons (37g) refined coconut oil softened with a texture similar to softened butter
- 3 tablespoons (48g) creamy cashew butter
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1½ flax eggs 1.5 tablespoon flax meal + 4 tablespoons water, whisk and let set for 10 minutes
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1⅓ cups (128g) blanched almond flour
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (53g) cassava flour
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoons kosher salt
To roll the cookies in
- 3 tablespoons coconut sugar or raw turbinado sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the coconut oil, almond butter, and coconut sugar until fully combined, about 1 minute.
Beat in the flax eggs, then stir in the vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the blanched almond flour, cassava flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together until completely combined.
Place dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before forming balls to make it easier to work with - you can leave the dough in the fridge (covered) for up to 48 hours.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl to roll the cookies in.
- Use a small cookie scoop (mine fits 2 teaspoons of dougto make cookie dough balls, roll into a ball with your hands, and then roll each dough ball in the sugar mixture. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until they’ve puffed and cracked. Let cool completely on the cookie sheet.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Anita says
What can I sub for the cassava flour? Non of our stores here carry it.
Rachel says
Hi Anita, you can use more almond flour instead. Enjoy!
karen says
I would like to make these this weekend. But, I was wondering if they can be made with vegan butter instead of coconut oil? I just hate coconut oil.
Rachel says
Hi Karen, I don’t really use vegan butter so no guarantees but as long as it bakes well, that should be fine. You can also use refined coconut oil, which I recommend and has no coconut flavor.
Pam says
Hi! I JUST made them. Like right now I took them out of the oven and I’m so disappointed I absolutely love your recipes, they never fail! I follow them exactly as you write… but this one didn’t work for me. I knew the dough was way too dry, after I tores it for like 40minutes in the fridge but I though “oh well….maybe this is how it’s supposed to look…?” And put them in the oven anyways, just trusting the process. But now that they’re done, I just feel like throwing them out to the trash. They’re super dry and crumbly… they actually taste like flour when they crumble in my mouth…
I used the measuring you said 1+1/3 cup of blanched almond flour and then an extra 1/4c cause I didn’t have cassava flour…
Well, just wanted to let you know that this is your first recipe ever that didn’t work! You’re still my favorite tho but wanted to give you some (hopefully positive) feedback.
Have a beautiful Sunday!
Cheers,
Pam
Rachel says
Hi Pam, so sorry that this recipe didn’t work out for you! The dough for this should definitely be on the softer side, and not dry or crumbly at all. Did you change anything else about the recipe? I would love to help figure out what went wrong here!!