These Vegan Butterhorn Cookies are the perfect holiday treat! Flaky pastry dough filled with cinnamon and sugar, you won't want to miss these!
Holiday cookies are my favorite. I love all the spices and the flavors of the holidays. When I first started dating Michael, I was introduced to a whole new set of recipes! One of the recipes that I fell in love with were these Italian Butterhorn cookies. The cookies tasted like mini cinnamon rolls! I quickly fell in love with these cookies and knew that I had to recreate them. These Italian Butterhorn Cookies taste exactly like the originals! I think I might have eaten them all in one sitting!
For some other delicious holiday recipes, check out this Vegan Christmas Crack or these Vegan Peppermint Brownies.
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Ingredient Notes
- Vegan Sour Cream- The vegan sour cream in this recipe helps to make the dough soft and fluffy. The dough will be almost pillowy. If you don't have vegan sour cream on hand, you can swap it with a vegan greek yogurt.
- All-Purpose Flour- This recipe uses AP Flour as the base, you can swap for whole wheat flour, however, it will make the dough a little denser. You can also swap your favorite Gluten-Free flour in this recipe.
- Chickpea Flour- You will notice that this recipe contains chickpea flour. When you mix chickpea flour with water, you get a thick, egg-like consistency. The traditional butterhorn recipe contains egg yolk and the chickpea flour will mimic that egg yolk consistency. You can swap for a flax egg or one egg yolk.
- Vegan Butter- I use my favorite vegan butter in this recipe, however, feel free to swap coconut oil instead.
See the recipe card for full ingredients and quantities.
Instructions
How to make the butterhorn dough:
- Add the chickpea flour and water to a small bowl. Stir and set aside.
- Cut the butter into the dough using a pastry cutter
- Add the vegan sour cream and chickpea egg.
- Mix until well combined. The dough will be the texture of pie dough and will be very fluffy and pillowy.
- Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight
How to Cut and Bake the Butterhorns
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut it into four equal pieces.
- Roll each quarter into a circle
- Add 4 tablespoons of the cinnamon-sugar mixture to the center of the dough and spread to the edges
- Cut into 8 triangles and starting at the widest end, roll towards the center, forming a crescent.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees
Hint: When cutting the butterhorns, I like to envision cutting a pizza. That will help you picture how to cut it into 8 equal slices. Make sure to always use a sharp knife to avoid injuring yourself!
Substitutions
- Greek Yogurt - Feel free to swap the vegan sour cream with vegan greek yogurt in this recipe.
- Gluten-Free - use gluten-free flour instead of white flour to make these cookies gluten-free
- Sugar-Free - Make these butterhorn cookies sugar-free by swapping your favorite sugar-free substitutes.
Variations
- Maple Glaze - Add some ground cloves and maple syrup to the icing to turn these into maple-glazed butterhorns.
- Chocolate - Omit ½ cup of the AP flour and replace it with ½ cup cocoa powder to turn these into chocolate butterhorns.
- Citrus - add orange zest to the glaze to give these a citrus spin!
Check out another great recipe here!
FAQ's
No, this butterhorn recipe does not contain nuts. Some vegan butter alternatives do contain nuts such as cashews, so just double check the vegan butter that you are using if you have an allergy. On an alternate note, if you prefer having nuts in your sweets, you can add chopped walnuts to the cinnamon sugar mixture to make these butterhorn cookies with walnuts.
The main difference between Italian Butterhorn Cookies and Hungarian Butterhorn Cookies is the filling. Italian Butterhorn cookies are filled just with a cinnamon sugar mixture, whereas Hungarian Butterhorn Cookies are filled with a meringue.
No, these cookies are almost a hybrid of a pastry and a cookie. These butterhorn cookies are made without yeast. The dough is almost closer to a pie dough.
Equipment
Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. See below for the equipment you will need for this recipe.
- Pastry Cutter
- Mixing Bowl
- Rolling pin
- Cookie Sheets
Storage
Store the vegan butterhorns in an airtight container for up to one week.
This vegan butterhorn recipe is also a great recipe to freeze. Freeze the dough for up to 3 months and then pull it out of the freezer to defrost fully before slicing and baking.
To give these as a gift, line tins with parchment paper. Leave a cute note for your friends or family members instructing them for proper storage and how long to keep.
Top tip
Wait until the cookies are completely cool to drizzle the icing on the top. If you don't, the icing will just melt off. These cookies only have a light frosting, however, it is key to the flavor!
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Vegan Butterhorn Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup vegan butter
- ¾ cup vegan sour cream
- 1 tablespoon chickpea flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons plant milk I used almond
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add one tablespoon chickpea flour and one tablespoon water to a small bowl. Stir and set aside.
- Cut and cube the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter
- Add the vegan sour cream and chickpea egg.
- Mix until well combined. The dough will be the texture of pie dough and will be very fluffy and pillowy. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut it into four equal pieces.
- Roll each quarter into a circle
- Mix together the granulated sugar and the cinnamon. Add 4 tablespoons of the cinnamon-sugar mixture to the center of the dough and spread to the edges
- Cut into 8 triangles and starting at the widest end, roll towards the center, forming a crescent.
- Bake for 20 minutes
- While the cookies are in the oven, mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together and set aside.
- Let the cookies cool completely and then dip each cookie into the sugar glaze. Let set for 5-10 minutes and then enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Food safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
Gloria says
Presentation perfect for the holidays. I would devour these all day long. I know my family would too.
Sue says
I love cinnamon and these cookies look ideal for my family.Thank you!
Angela says
Thanks for the tip about the chickpea flour. I had no idea. These butterhorn cookies turned out great.
Meryl says
These cookies are delicious! The frosting glaze is so good. Fun to make too, the kids helped!
Bobbie says
I love the step by step instructions! These are perfect for the holidays with the cinnamon sugar!
Natalie says
What a lovely cookies. Yum! I'm going to save them on my Holiday baking list. My family will love them I'm sure.
Lindsay Howerton-Hastings says
These are so yummy! It was wonderful to have a vegan treat on our last cookie tray, and everyone gobbled them up. Thanks for the great recipe!
Shilpa says
These cookies are absolutely delicious and we loved it. I’m going to make them again soon. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Jeannie says
These cookies are great addition in the festive table! They are easy and love the flavor from the cinnamon
Andra says
I absolutely love cinnamon cookies and I love the fact that these are vegan. Thanks for another delicious recipe 😀
Elizabeth says
Very delicious and easy to make! Thank you for the in depth instructions it helped a lot.
Megan Ellam says
These are my kind of treat! Thanks for sharing.
Gina Abernathy says
These bring back so many memories from my childhood baking. I am adding these to my baking list now. My family will enjoy them as much as I will.
Addie says
These are so fun and festive! So delicious too!
Andrea White says
these cookies are the absolute best! love that they're vegan too!
nancy says
adding these lovelies to the christmas cookie box!
Alexandra says
Such delicious cookies, and perfect for festive baking!
Amanda Scarlati says
The perfect cookies for the holiday season! Making these this weekend!
Oscar says
These were delicious. So flaky and I love pastries with sugar and cinnamon. Hard to believe these are vegan.
Liz says
these are so adorable and i cant wait to bring them to my neighbors house who is vegan!
Jeri says
These butterhorn cookies were fantastic! They didn't last long though, I have to make another batch!