Why we love these grinch cookies
These festive cookies are inspired by Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch, and they’re a simple, fun way to get kids excited about holiday baking.
They’re easier than you might think. You don’t need a stand mixer or any fancy decorating skills. The dough comes together quickly with a hand mixer, and a simple cookie scoop does all the work to create that perfectly textured Grinch fur look.
Plus, they’re made from scratch (no cake mix here), so you get soft, flavorful cookies with just the right hint of peppermint.
More Christmas cookie recipes you’ll love: soft sugar cookies / hot cocoa cookies / almond crescents / spicy gingersnaps / fruitcake cookies
Ingredient notes:
- Dairy free butter – I like to use Earth Balance buttery sticks. You can use whatever brand you like best, but keep in mind that each brand will yield a slightly different result. Earth Balance sticks come already salted, so I typically omit salt the salt from my baked goods.
- All purpose flour – Standard all purpose flour works perfectly here. I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour blends.
- Peppermint extract – Most grocery stores carry peppermint extract in the baking aisle, near other flavoring extracts like vanilla and almond.
- Gel food coloring – You’ll need both green and a tiny bit of yellow to get that perfect Grinch color, but just green will work. If you can’t find gel, liquid will work.
- Red heart quins – These small, flat heart-shaped sprinkles you can usually find at the grocery store in the baking isle. I found these extra large heart quins on Amazon, and they were just the right size.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Melissa’s tips + tricks:
- Use a cookie scoop. A medium cookie scoop ensures consistent sizing, which means even baking. All cookies will be done at the same time.
- Don’t overbake. Remove the cookies when the tops just start to crack. They’ll look slightly underdone, but they continue cooking as they rest on the baking sheet.
- Storage: Keep cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. You can bake these cookies up to 2 days ahead and store them in an airtight container. You can also freeze the unbaked dough for up to 3 months. Just scoop the dough onto a baking sheet, freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag.
You can leave it out or substitute with an extra 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. The cookies will still be delicious, just without the subtle peppermint flavor.
The cookies are done when the tops just start to crack and the edges look set. They’ll seem slightly underdone in the center, but that’s normal. They firm up as they cool.
More holiday recipes: Christmas sangria / dairy free hot chocolate / microwave fudge / fruitcake cookies
Dairy Free Grinch Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 300g
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 60g
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup dairy free butter, 2 sticks
- ¾ cup sugar, 150g
- 1 large egg, 50g
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- Green food coloring
- Yellow food coloring
- Red heart quins
Instructions
- Mise en place. Preheat your oven to 375˚F (190˚C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Then, gather and measure all of your ingredients before starting.
- Prep your dry ingredients. In a medium bowl (not the one you're going to mix the dough in), whisk the flour, baking powder, and powdered sugar. Make sure everything is evenly distributed before setting the bowl aside.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the shortening and sugar until combined and fluffy – about 1 minute. Next, add the egg, vanilla and peppermint extract. go in next. Mix only until the egg is incorporated – being careful not to over mix.
- Finish the dough. Gradually add the flour mixture, about ½ – ¾ cup at a time. Keep adding and mixing until a dough forms, then add the food coloring and mix until the dough is a uniform color.
- Scoop and bake. Using a small cookie scoop, drop dough onto cookie sheet about an inch or so apart. Top each cookie with a heart quin.Bake cookies for 10 – 12 minutes or until cookies have spread and dough is set. Remove from oven and allow the cookies to rest for several minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
These are the best! They are chewy and soft with just a hint of peppermint, and they’re so cute!
Where did you find the vegan hearts? Everything I’ve found has confectioner’s glaze (shellac) in them.
I didn’t. These cookies aren’t vegan, they just don’t have milk in them. I used Wilton hearts and they do contain confectioner’s glaze. Sorry! I have no idea where you would be able to find vegan ones. I did a quick search and couldn’t find anything. If I see anything I’ll let you know.
We don’t seem to have butter flavoured shortening in Canada is there a substitute? Like vegan margarine or would vegetable shortening work. Thanks!
We don’t seem to have butter flavoured shortening in Canada. Is there another substitute. Would vegan margerine would or vegetable shortening. Thanks!
Absolutely! We use vegetable shortening all the time! Vegan butter should also work but I haven’t tested it!
Do you have to put peppermint in them? And if it’s omitted should I add more vanilla?
No. You can definitely use more vanilla if you want!
I did a dose of 30 as instructed and batter was dry had to add another egg to moisten the batter. My cookies never spread during baking.
Any tips on how much of each yellow and green gel food coloring and which brand to use?
Can I replace the shortening with butter? If so, is the measurement the same? Thank you
Yes. You can substitute an equal amount of butter for the shortening!
Could I make these egg free and gf? By using gf all purp flour and egg substitute?
Thanks!
I honestly don’t know. I have had a few readers make my sugar cookie recipe (this recipe is based on that one) gluten free with success, but I haven’t tried that or doing it without eggs, so I can’t say for sure. If you do it, I’d love to know how it turns out!
The flavor is really good but my cookies never fell.
What do you mean they never fell?
Dough was so dry and crumbly it wouldn’t mix. I added an extra egg and I feel like it still could have used a little bit more liquid. Cookies taste ok.
Hi there, mine never fell either – I added everything that I was supposed to and even the green coloring wasn’t as bright as your photo and I used all of my green food coloring. Any suggestions?
These cookies aren’t supposed to spread a ton, but the food coloring is probably because of the brand you used. I used a gel food coloring, which is typically more concentrated than liquid food coloring. If you want your cookies to spread a bit more you could add a small amount of baking soda (about 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon)
I’m guessing that you probably measured your flour wrong. These shouldn’t be super crumbly.