Looking for the perfect movie night snack ideas? Take your popcorn game up a level and add them to cookies! Our Vegan Popcorn Cookies are the perfect balance of sweet and salty while still being dairy free, eggless and completely plant based.
We love cookies, that’s no secret. These Vegan Popcorn Cookies may just be our new favourite! Soft, chewy and easy to make — this cute movie night treat is even more delicious than it sounds. The aroma that escapes the oven while they bake will make it almost impossible to wait for the timer to count down. But we promise, it’s worth the wait.
This recipe starts with a simple cookie base of vegan butter and sugar beat until light and fluffy. To substitute for eggs in the recipe we’re using a flax egg. A flax egg is simply 1 tbsp a ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp of lukewarm water and left to thicken for a few minutes. Then beat it into the butter/sugar mixture along with some vanilla extract. Finish with a quick mix of the dry ingredients and of course some buttery (vegan) popcorn! Bake, let cool and serve with your favourite movie.
Top tips for making the best vegan cookies:
- Buy a food scale. A couple years ago we made the switch to weighted ingredients rather than cups and tbsp, and we’ve never looked back. For consistent results we highly recommend you do the same, that way you know you’re adding the exact right amount of each ingredient.
- Unsalted vegan butter is the way to go. We like to control just how much salt is in our cookies and with unsalted butter we’re able to do that. If you can’t find unsalted vegan butter, we’d recommend leaving out any additional salt.
- Cream the butter and sugar together for a long time. Like longer than you think, we promise it’s worth it. What most people don’t understand that creaming or beating isn’t just about mixing together two ingredients, it’s about aerating ingredients. By creaming butter you create little air pockets and when you add sugar its build a system of sugar crystals, fat and air. By doing this, you’re ensuring that the dough will puff up in the oven and create delicious airy cookies. Not to mention creaming butter increases the volume of the dough so you get more cookies! For best results cream the butter at least 6-7 minutes but we recommend closer to 10 minutes.
- Do NOT over mix the flour. We’re creaming the butter and sugar a long time, so that when we add the flour we can be sure we don’t over mix it. Over mixing flour can result in extra gluten development which would result in an unpleasantly chewy or gummy cookie. Mix until the flour has JUST combined.
- Use a cookie scoop for consistent sizing. For round cookies that are even in size a simple cookie scoop is an easy way to achieve consistent results.
- Don’t over crowd the baking sheet. For perfectly baked cookies you want them to have enough room to spread and for the hot air to get all around them. We bake them six cookies per baking sheet and, one baking sheet at a time.
Vegan Popcorn Cookies FAQ:
What is the trick to making soft cookies?
There are a couple key tricks to making perfectly soft cookies; bake time, brown sugar, and recipe method. Watch your cookies carefully and remove them after about 11 minutes (but this depends on your oven) so you can avoid over baking them and losing a gooey middle. Brown sugar adds moisture to a cookie, but ensuring you don’t leave out the brown sugar you can get a soft, chewy cookies. Finally be sure to cream the butter and sugar a lot time, and not to over mix the flour — any change to this method can drastically change the texture.
How do you make cookies vegan?
All you need is some store bought vegan butter or margarine (coconut oil works too) and to replace the eggs with a simple flax egg.
What kind of popcorn can I add to these cookies?
Baking with popcorn is so much fun and we used a simple store bought, vegan-friendly buttered popcorn. However you can add whatever popcorn you want. Freshly popped would work well but so would caramel or something unique like a maple popcorn.
Vegan Popcorn Cookies
Ingredients
- 150 g (1¼ cup) all-purpose flour
- 75 g (⅓ cup) vegan butter
- 85 g (3/8 cup) white sugar
- 60 g (5 tbsp) brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 4 g (1 tsp) baking soda
- 1 flax egg, 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp lukewarm water
- 25 g (2 cups) popcorn, popped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Make flax egg if you haven't already and set aside to thicken.
- To a stand mixer add vegan butter, sugar and brown sugar – beat until light and airy about 6-8 minutes. Start on low, slowly bringing to high.
- Once light and airy, scrap down the sides and turn your mixer on low while slowly adding in the flax egg and vanilla extract until combined.
- Add in all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda and mix until just combined.
- Add in popcorn and beat until evenly combine throughout the dough – about 15 seconds.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto a lined baking sheet (six per sheet). Bake in preheated oven until golden – about 11 minutes.
- Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
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