Eggless sugar cookies are a quick and easy small batch cookie recipe you can make, even when you're out of eggs! Or, if you're baking for those with egg allergies.
Egg Free Sugar Cookies
When it comes to making cookies with kids, I’ve found that a small pan of 6 cookies is the perfect amount. However, I know lots of kids with egg allergies, so I adapted my easy small batch sugar cookies recipe to omit eggs.
This eggless sugar cookie recipe is also great if you need cookies, but you’re out of eggs. Fans of my chocolate chip cookies without eggs and eggless banana bread will love this recipe, too!
What to use in place of eggs for these Eggless Sugar Cookies
We’re using a tablespoon of softened cream cheese as an egg replacement. Cream cheese acts as a binder, much in the same way that an egg yolk in a cookie dough does. Use regular, not whipped, cream cheese, and soften it enough that you can easily press your finger through it. Avoid the temptation to melt the cream cheese in the microwave, or else the dough will be too soft and spread too much.
The best way to soften the butter and cream cheese in this recipe, is to leave it out on the counter at room temperature for about 2 hours.
If you're making pancakes instead of cookies, I use a mixture of oil and water to replace the eggs. Try my eggless pancakes recipe.
In my case, that means pull the butter and cream cheese out of the fridge when I wake up and make coffee. By the time I tell the kids we’re making cookies, they want to start right away! This way, all of the ingredients are ready to go.
How to make Eggless Sugar Cookies
- First, put the butter and cream cheese out on the counter for about 1-2 hours to soften. Then, gather the rest of your ingredients:granulated sugar, vanilla extract, flour, baking soda and salt. I’m sure you have all of these ingredients in your house already!
- Preheat the oven to 350, and line a standard-sized sheet pan with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment, spray the pan with nonstick spray. It’s best to bake cookies with a light-colored cookie sheet—dark metal sheets can cause cookies to cook too quickly and burn on the bottom.
- Use an electric mixer to beat together the softened butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until very fluffy and well-blended, about 45 seconds.
- Next, evenly sprinkle the flour, baking soda and salt over this mixture in the bowl. This is a one-bowl recipe, and one of the ways we accomplish this is by sprinkling the dry ingredients evenly over the bowl before mixing.
- Once the dough comes together, press it flat into the bowl, and divide it in half by eye. Form 3 dough balls from each half of the dough. Roll the dough balls in sugar before placing them on the baking sheet, evenly spaced.
- Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, and check them—the edges should be just barely starting to turn golden brown and the tops of the cookies should appear dry.
- Remove the cookies from the oven, and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes to finish cooking before moving them to a wire rack to cool.
How to store this Sugar Cookie Recipe (No Eggs)
The cookies are best eaten the day-of, but will store in an air-tight container at room temperature for 2 days. I doubt they will last that long, though! You can freeze raw dough balls and bake directly from frozen, just add an extra few minutes in the oven. You can also freeze already baked cookies flat in between layers of parchment paper for up to 3 months. To defrost, place on counter for a few hours.
No Egg Sugar Cookies FAQs
If you leave eggs out of a regular recipe that doesn’t account for this, the resulting dough will lack moisture. Eggs help bind cake batter, pancake batter and cookies, too. However, if a recipe knows you are leaving out the eggs and has another type of binder, the result will be nearly identical to a cookie recipe with eggs.
Butter cookies are more similar to shortbread and has a dense, buttery flavor that crumbles when biting into it. The cookie dough for butter cookies contains less ingredients, and has a higher percentage of butter, not so surprisingly. Sugar cookies are chewy in the middles and crackly on top. They have more sugar than butter cookies, and as such, as sweeter and softer in texture.
Hard sugar cookies are over-baked. This can be because you left them in the oven too long, or you let them cool too long on the cookie sheet, which has residual heat that continues to bake the cookies. Soft sugar cookies have a higher percentage of sugar. Rolling the cookies in sugar before baking guarantees a softer sugar cookie.
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Sugar Cookie Recipe (No Eggs)
Eggless sugar cookies, small batch of 6 of egg-free cookies.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon cream cheese, softened
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350, and line a standard-sized sheet pan with parchment paper. Gather ingredients.
- In a medium bowl, beat with an electric the melted butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and vanilla extract until homogenous and fluffy.
- Next, sprinkle the flour, baking soda and sea salt on top. Beat in just to combine; do not over mix.
- Divide the mixture into 6-7 dough balls, and roll into balls.
- Roll each ball in extra granulated sugar before placing evenly spaced on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes. They will be puffy when you remove them from the oven and start to crack as they cool. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Store any leftover cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature for 2 days.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 129Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 103mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 0gSugar: 11gProtein: 0g
Michelle says
I made these this morning and they spread more than yours. Should I have let the melted butter cool completely before mixing in all the other ingredients? Chill the dough for a bit to firm it up? I also used a silpat instead of parchment paper....any issue there?
Thanks!
Christina Lane says
You can definitely chill dough to help minimize spread. I love that you used a silpat--it helps too :)
roberta says
I am allergic to diary, how can I make this with eggs? I can use butter when I clarify it, but cannot do the cheese option.
MaryEllen says
Look for the "Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe" on this site.
It uses an egg yolk and no liquid milk.
Sherrell Cherry says
Can these cookies be rolled out and cut with cookie cutters?
Christina Lane says
No, I'm sorry :(
Amelia H. says
Hi! I just made these, last week and decorated them with eggless royal icing and they tasted just like regular cookies! So good!!
Michelle P says
I made these a few months ago and they were delicious! Do you think adding m&ms would work out ok?
Christina Lane says
Yes, that sounds yummy!
Kim says
can I make this recipe without cream cheese
Joe nuts says
I just melted the butter in the microwave lol
(It works)
Haleigh says
I used the same amount of full fat Greek yogurt in place of cream cheese. Worked great. Thanks for the recipe - will make again!
Joanne says
Can you frost these sugar cookies with a simple milk and confectionary sugar frosting
Christina Lane says
Absolutely :)
Nicole R says
I made these this morning. Got a text that someone was coming and needed to bake a few small batch desserts to put out. Then I saw I had 1 egg. I saw these and thought, eh ok ill try. Well, let me say, A~MAZING!!! Everyone raved, I mean raved to the point I made more right away!!! I will not make any other kind of sugar cookie again! I absolutely love these. So full of flavor and so soft. These are the best sugar cookie Ive ever tasted!!!! My family thanks you so much!
Donna Strom says
Late night craving for a cookie with my tea. But I was distracted watching a podcast. The bottom line is that I ended up dumping all the ingredients together (no cream cheese - used cottage cheese) mixed very well with my fingers, added a tablespoon of applesauce. I expected to have to throw them away for sure, but instead I got a great, thin, perfectly round (no cracking) cookie. Crispy on the outside chewy on the inside. Wow. I seriously doubt I can replicate it, but I sure took care of that craving:)