Healthy vegan sugar cookies made with coconut oil and beautifully colored pink naturally from beets! Gluten-free beet cookies you can feel good about eating and pretty enough for the holidays and Valentine's Day!
These healthy sugar cookies are vegan and really easy to make in a blender in less than 20 minutes! Looking for a green version for the cookie tray? Try my Healthy Christmas Sugar Cookies, naturally colored with spinach.
Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes, with roasted beets ready
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 10 minutes at 350 degrees F for soft cookies, 12 to 15 for crisp
- ⏳ Total Time: 20 minutes, plus cooling before icing
- 🍽️ Serving: 11 cookies
- ⚡ Calories: 150kcal per cookie without icing, per the recipe card
- 🥣 Ingredients: roasted beets, maple syrup, vanilla, melted coconut oil, gluten-free flour, tapioca flour, baking powder and Himalayan salt, with a confectioners sugar, cassava sweetener, coconut milk and beet juice icing
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Super soft, fluffy and naturally sweet
- ✋ Difficulty: Blend, mix, roll, cut, bake
Quick Answer
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet. Blend ½ cup roasted beets with ½ cup maple syrup and 1 teaspoon vanilla for 30 to 45 seconds until smooth. In a large bowl mix 1 cup gluten-free flour, ½ cup tapioca flour, 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder and ¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt, add the beet mixture, then fold in ¼ cup melted coconut oil. Roll the dough ¼ inch thick between two sheets of wax paper, cut into shapes and bake 10 minutes for soft cookies or 12 to 15 for crisp. Cool completely before icing. It makes 11 cookies.
Jump to:
Over the Christmas holiday when we were visiting my sister I really wanted to make sure we made our traditional cut out cookies to decorate. I wanted them to be red and asked my sister what she thought if we tried to use beets as a natural dye in place of food coloring. She's all about trying my crazy concoctions, and so the birth of these healthy beet cookies was created!
How Beets Color These Cookies Naturally
Click to see why it works
- The whole roasted beet. Blending the whole roasted beet, not just the juice, colors the dough and adds extra nutritional value.
- Roasted, not raw. Raw beets can leave chunks in the dough.
- Extra flour for the extra liquid. The base is like my vegan gluten-free sugar cookies, with more flour to balance the beet.
- Tapioca flour keeps them soft and fluffy.
- Beet juice icing. A teaspoon of juice from the roasted beets turns the icing a silky light pink.
What These Beet Cookies Taste Like
- Super soft.
- Extraordinarily fluffy.
- Moist.
- Naturally sweet with maple syrup.
- Vegan and gluten-free, and I can eat the cookie dough while making them:-)
Key Ingredients
- Roasted beets - preferably roasted, with the skins removed. You can buy them already roasted, like at Trader Joe's.
- Maple syrup and vanilla extract - blended with the beets.
- Coconut oil - melted.
- Gluten-free flour and tapioca flour.
- Baking powder and Himalayan salt.
- Pink icing - confectioners sugar, Cassava sweetener or corn syrup, coconut milk (not canned) and beet juice.
See recipe card for quantities.
Raw or Roasted Beets?
Preferably roasted beets. Instead of just using beet juice, I decided to use the whole roasted beet to add extra nutritional value to our sweet treats! Make sure when making these healthy sugar cookies to roast the beets first and then remove the skins. If you use raw beets it may add chunks to the dough and that, in my opinion, will not be as aesthetically pleasing:-)
If you can't find them already roasted you can easily roast them by covering them in foil and baking at 400 degrees F for about 30-45 minutes (depending how large the beets are). You will know they are done if they are soft in the center when poked with a fork. Let the roasted beets cool for a bit then remove the skins before using. Or follow my guide to how to roast beets.
You might be wondering what Cassava sweetener is. It is a sugar that has no artificial sweeteners in it and is naturally made from Cassava root, also known as tapioca. It has a similar consistency as corn syrup or honey (only slightly not as thick) and can be used in its place.
How to Make Beet Sugar Cookies
1Blend the beets. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. In a blender add the roasted beets, maple syrup and vanilla and blend for about 30-45 seconds until smooth.
2Make the dough. In a large mixing bowl add the gluten-free flour, tapioca flour, baking powder and salt and mix to combine. Add the wet beet mixture and mix slightly with a spatula, then add the melted coconut oil. Mix and fold until everything is combined.
3Roll, cut and bake. Roll out the dough between two pieces of wax paper until it is about ¼ inch thick. Cut out your desired shapes, place them on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes for a soft and fluffy cookie or about 12-15 minutes for a crispier cookie. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
4Make the icing. Let the cookies cool completely. In a small bowl mix the confectioners sugar, cassava sweetener or corn syrup, coconut milk and beet juice. It will be very thick for a while, so keep mixing and folding and it will turn into a silky smooth light pink icing.
5Decorate. Pour the icing into a zip top baggie, snip one bottom corner with scissors and pipe your fun designs. Add sprinkles, edible powder, nuts or edible pearls.
As always, be sure to check out the full recipe details in the recipe card below.
Expert Tips
- Roast first, peel after. Remove the skins once the beets cool.
- Roll between wax paper so the soft dough does not stick.
- Soft or crisp is up to you. Bake 10 minutes for soft cookies or 12 to 15 for crisp.
- Keep mixing the icing. It starts very thick and turns silky as you fold it.
- Go easy on the icing. It goes a long way, and the card nutrition does not include it.
More Vegan Sugar Cookies
Here are a few more of my favorite vegan sugar cookies: Grain-Free Vegan Sugar Cookies, Healthy Christmas Sugar Cookies (naturally colored with spinach!), Vegan Sugar Cookie Truffles and vegan gluten-free sugar cookies.
For another vegan holiday bake, try my gluten-free gingerbread house recipe or Vegan Gingerbread Man Cookies.
More pretty pink beet recipes: Pink Beet Latte and Egg White Beet Souffle.
Beet Sugar Cookies FAQs
Use roasted beets with the skins removed. Raw beets can add chunks to the dough.
Cover them in foil and bake at 400 degrees F for about 30 to 45 minutes, depending on size, until soft in the center when poked with a fork. Let them cool and remove the skins.
Mix 1 cup confectioners sugar with 1 tablespoon cassava sweetener or light corn syrup, 1 tablespoon coconut milk and about 1 teaspoon beet juice from the roasted beets. Keep mixing until it turns silky.
A sweetener made from cassava root, also known as tapioca, with no artificial sweeteners. It is similar to corn syrup or honey and can be used in their place.
Bake them for about 12 to 15 minutes instead of 10.
Yes. They are made with gluten-free flour, tapioca flour, maple syrup and coconut oil, and the icing uses coconut milk.
More Holiday Cookies
Fill the cookie tray with Vegan Christmas Cookies, Healthy Christmas Sugar Cookies, Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies and Vegan Gingerbread Man Cookies. I hope you enjoy these healthy beet sugar cookies! Follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for a feature and more recipe inspiration! And don't forget to leave a comment below!
Healthy Vegan Beet Sugar Cookies
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Ingredients
- ½ cup roasted beets or about 3 small one's from Trader Joe's
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- 1 cup gluten-free flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt
Pink Icing
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon Cassava sweetener or corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon of coconut milk not canned
- 1 teaspoon beet juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- In a blender add the roasted beets, maple syrup and vanilla. Blend for about 30-45 seconds until combined to a smooth liquid. In a large mixing bowl add the gluten-free flour, tapioca flour, baking powder and salt and mix to combine. Add the wet beet mixture and with a spatula mix slightly then add the melted coconut oil. Mix and fold until everything is combined.
- Roll out the dough in between two pieces of wax paper until the dough is about ¼ inch thick. Cut out into desired shapes. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes for a soft and fluffy cookie and about 12-15 minutes for a crispier cookie. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Let the cookies cool completely before icing.
- For the icing, in a small bowl add the confectioners sugar, cassava sweetener or corn syrup, coconut milk and beet juice. Mix to combine. The icing will be very thick so keep mixing and folding over and it will turn into a silky smooth consistency.
- Pour the icing into a baggie that zips and cut one of the bottom ends slightly with scissors. Use that as the opening to decorate the cookies. Create your fun designs and add sprinkles, edible powder, nuts or edible pearls.
Preslava says
Hello, is it normal for these cookies to change color on the inside when baked?
Preslava says
Hello, I want to ask why the red color didn't stay after I broke the cookie?
Danielle Fahrenkrug, Certified Health & Nutrition Life Coach says
Hi! The red color of beets is blended into the cookie. It stays as it is the whole cookie so I am not sure what you mean.