Years ago, my dear friend Hannah sent me an adorable bundle of peppermint chocolate sandwich cookies for the holidays. They were perfectly piped vegan chocolate spritz cookies with a dairy-free candy cane creme filling in the middle. They were so delicious, they didn’t last until Christmas. In fact, they were devoured in less than 24 hours! Fortunately, Hannah was happy to share her recipe so we can enjoy them year after year. They’re great for cookie swaps, gifting, and gatherings. And if you happen to have leftovers (this never happens in our house), these sandwich cookies freeze well, and taste fantastic straight from the freezer.
Special Diet Notes: Vegan Chocolate Spritz Cookies
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.
- 2 cups non-hydrogenated shortening
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1 (6-ounce) container vanilla dairy-free yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup dairy-free buttery spread or sticks, softened
- ½ cup non-hydrogenated shortening
- 4 cups powdered confectioner’s sugar
- 4 ounces smashed candy canes or starlight mints
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line two baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put the shortening and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and cream with a mixer. Add the yogurt and vanilla and mix until creamy.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in thirds, mixing the batter after each addition. The dough will be very thick. Try to refrain from adding any liquid!
- Once you achieve a cohesive dough, place a few mounds of it into your spritz cookie gun affixed with your design of choice. Squeeze out the cookies onto your prepared baking sheets, reload when you run out of dough, and repeat.
- Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until they no longer look wet on top and the cookies look solid. It can be hard to tell when they’re done since the cookies are dark, but do not bake them for more than 10 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for at least 10 minutes, and then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Place the buttery spread and shortening in a large mixing bowl, and cream with a mixer until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, crushed mints, and vanilla, and slowly incorporate it with your mixer on low.
- Once the powder is fully incorporated, turn your mixer up to high and beat the frosting for about 5 minutes. It should be smooth, creamy, and fluffy.
- Sandwich some filling between two cooled cookies. Repeat with the remaining cookies
More Vegan Holiday Cookie Recipes
Snowball Cookies
Cookie Butter Pinwheels
Easy Holiday Sandwich Cookies with Various Fillings
16 Comments
I have been making these cookies for years (they’re a family fav) but I’ve done something wrong this year and I just can’t figure it out! My dough is so sticky the cookies won’t come out of the press. I keep adding more flour but it’s not cutting it. Hmm…
That’s so odd. Hmm, if you measured all ingredients correctly and didn’t miss any (not judging, we all do it sometimes!), then perhaps you use a different dairy-free yogurt brand or another shortening? Those are the only two wild cards I can think of here.
what is the shelf life ?
These types of cookies are usually good for a few days covered at room temperature and then can be refrigerated or frozen.
I’m making these right now. The cookies look fabulous! I’m mixing the filling. Is it suppose to look a little dry? I followed the recipe to a T. This is my first dairy free baking experience. Wanted to make sure before I piped it into the cookies.
This filling will be a little on the dry side – that tends to work better as a filling than a frosting would. If too dry, you can splash in a touch of milk beverage, but keep in mind that does shorten the shelf-life a little more. Store chilled.
Is margarine dairy free? My 6 year old grandson has a very severe milk allergy, and we have never ever used margarine in our receipts. I would assume soy butter could be a substitute?
Thank you
Hi Billie, not all margarine is dairy-free, but some brands are. See this post for details – http://www.godairyfree.org/dairy-substitutes/how-to-substitute-butter
Can these cookies be frozen?
They should be fine.
Hi Alisa – What brand of margarine (dairy-free) do you like to use to bake with and what did you use in the Candy Cane Cookie filling?
Hi Cyndi, Earth Balance – they have various dairy-free option, and several soy-free too, if needed.
Hello , I am writing you to let you know that I LOVE looking at and reading your amazing cookie recipes . . . and to also ask you a question . I have the same problem as everyone else …. NO milk , or butter …. but I am even worse then just that . I can not even use the other items that they can sub. with . . . like the none dairy special items , or the coconut milk , or even vinegar that some recipes call for . The few items that I can use is Sprit (soda/pop) , water , and Crisco veg. oil . I would like to know if there is a way to make changes to this recipe , or even any of your other ones that I can use these few items with , or really simple recipes that only has 4-5 simple /basic items that a plane kitchen would have ? Life without sweets is SO cruel ! . . . I am getting burnt out on just the one treat that I can eat … a certain type of pretzel … Thank you .
Hi Mina, I wish I could help, but I’m not quite sure that I understand your restrictions. What I recommend doing is figuring out what ingredients do work for you and creating your own sweet treat rather than trying to modify other recipes. If you have a lot of restrictions, modifying existing recipes can prove frustrating.
Pingback: Festively Delicious Cookies « Small World Supper Club
I love this idea! I’ve made these cookies twice, and they’ve been big hits both times. I had to use and veganize the spritz recipe that came on the box of my cookie press because other recipes refuse to work with it (one recipe broke the first cookie press), but I used this recipe for the filling. It’s delicious and non-vegans love them. Thanks for this cute and tasty recipe!