Grinch Cookies
Inspired the classic holiday story, these little green Grinch cookies are a simple and fun way to get your kids into the holiday spirit.
why we love these grinch cookies
Inspired by Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, these dairy free Grinch cookies are a simple, colorful way to get your kids into the holiday spirit.
I’m sharing this recipe as part of The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange, an annual food blogger cookie party and fundraiser, so be sure to click over and check out all the delicious cookies!
Last year when we were in Canada visiting Marc’s family, Ellie watched the Grinch for the first time. And she watched it for the second, third, fourth and fifth time, too. I swear she watched it everyday after that until we came home. That’s a lot of Grinch-watching.
This year, St. Nick brought her the book, and I’m sure we will read it over and over until Christmas is over. Probably into the New Year. When I saw these Grinch cookies on Pinterest, I knew she would think they were awesome. The only probably was that there wasn’t a single dairy free recipe for them, and most of them were made from cake mix, which isn’t my first choice when it comes to baking, even if it is convenient.
But, Grinch cookies are really just green cookies with a red heart in the middle, so I decided to tweak my favorite iced sugar cookie recipe to make it icing-free, and we added just the right amount of green and yellow food coloring to make the cookies the perfect Grinch color.
But the best part about these cookies? You don’t need a fancy stand mixer. They’re simple enough to make them with a hand mixer and any big bowl you might have.
I’m sure these cookies are going to be a yearly tradition in our house (along with these molasses sugar cookies), and they’d be a perfect addition to your cookie spread or a nice change of pace for your next cookie exchange.
And, don’t forget to make some dairy free hot chocolate to go with them.
If you like this recipe, you have to try these almond crescent cookies , and these chocolate chip cookies and these ginger snap cookies. Plus, I’ve turned your Grandma’s favorite baked Christmas goodie into some amazing fruitcake cookies.
Searching for more holiday recipes? Christmas sangria / Microwave fudge / Tourtiere / Relish tray / Pineapple stuffing / Cornflake candy
Ingredients & substitutions
- Butter-flavored shortening – You can typically find butter-flavored shortening in the baking aisle of most grocery stores, usually near other shortening products or cooking oils. It adds a rich, buttery taste to baked goods without the need for actual butter, making it a convenient option for a dairy free butter substitute.
- Peppermint extract – Most grocery stores carry peppermint extract in the baking aisle, near other flavoring extracts like vanilla and almond.
- 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.
The following is a detailed overview of the recipe steps with added tips and tricks for recipe success. For a simplified and printable version, including ingredient amounts and more formal instructions, see the recipe card below.
How to make Grinch cookies dairy free
Preheat your oven to 350˚F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. This helps keep the cookies from sticking to the sheet and if there’s one thing you need to do, it’s this. You could also use a silicone baking mat if you have it.
Prep your dry ingredients. In a medium bowl (not the one you’re going to mix the dough in), whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make sure everything is evenly distributed before setting the bowl aside.
Cream the shortening and sugar. If you’re not dairy-free, you can substitute butter in equal amounts. While using an electric mixer can help speed up the process, you don’t have to—you can achieve the desired fluffiness by using a hand mixer and a large mixing bowl.
Beat the eggs. The egg and the vanilla extract go in next. Mix them only until the egg is incorporated. You do not want to over mix the egg or you’ll end up with not-soft cookies.
Finish the dough. Gradually add the flour mixture, about ½ – ¾ cup at a time. It helps to get everything mixed a little more evenly and it also prevents your flour from flying all over the place. Keep adding and mixing until a dough forms, then add the food coloring.
Scoop and bake. To make the cookies the perfect texture of Grinch fur, I used a cookie scoop and let it do the work for me. Just scoop and release. And, top with an extra big heart. Bake the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet for 10 – 11 minutes in the oven. Keep an eye on them and remove the cookies when the tops have started to crack. They may not look fully set yet, but they will continue to cook a bit as they rest on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes. After that, transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
More dairy free Christmas cookies: soft sugar cookies / fruitcake cookies / chocolate molasses sugar cookies / almond crescents / spicy gingersnaps
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter-flavored shortening
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- Green food coloring
- Yellow food coloring
- Red heart quins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F (180C), and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt – set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the shortening and sugar until combined and fluffy – about 1 minute.
- Add egg, vanilla and peppermint extracts. Beat until combined.
- Add flour mixture in ½ cup increments, mixing to combine and scraping sides when necessary.
- Add food coloring until desired color is reached and mix until even.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough (do not smooth scoops) onto cookie sheet about an inch or so apart. Top each cookie with a heart.
- 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.
The flavor is really good but my cookies never fell.
What do you mean they never fell?
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)
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.
I’m guessing that you probably measured your flour wrong. These shouldn’t be super crumbly.
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!
Made these last year and loved them! This year my dough came out too dry. Did you change the recipe?
No. I haven’t changed the recipe. You may have measured the flour differently or if you used a different brand of shortening or butter, the water content might have been off.
I would like to repeat this recipe, but I need help. They puff up nicely in the oven, then go flat. I use cinnamon hearts but they slide to the edge during baking. How can I keep them looking like your lovely photo? Thanks
Judy
My mixture is crumbly. Is that what it’s supposed to do
I needed to make these gluten-free, as well. I used the America’s Test Kitchen gf all purpose blend, vegan butter (because all the stores were out of butter flavored shortening). I added an extra egg yolk, 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum, and used white vanilla and 15 drops of food-grade peppermint essential oil (instead of extract).
They came out exactly like your pics and tasted just like I expected! Thank you!
Oh- I also weighed the flour – 11.25 ounces.
great recipe,but to me,too much peppermint oil. over powered the cookie. next time I’ll just go without.