Vegan salted caramel cookies are a fun twist on a classic. Delicious vegan thumbprint cookies made with a buttery dough and amazing caramel poured inside.
Cookies are good no matter what time of year. But there’s something about these vegan salted caramel cookies that scream fall!
These are delicious, buttery cookies that are soft and crumbly.
They are a thumbprint style cookies where you push down the center of the cookie before it is baked and then filled with a delicious homemade vegan caramel sauce and topped with thick salt flakes.
If you are going to or hosting a cookie swap or want to impress someone with how delicious vegan cookies can taste, then this is one of those recipes to make.
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What ingredients do you need for vegan salted caramel cookies?
These dairy free salted caramel cookies have two parts. The cookies and the caramel filling. Even with the two parts, you still only need 9 ingredients total.
The ingredients that you will need for these delicious vegan cookies are:
- flour
- vegan butter
- vegan cane sugar
- vanilla
- brown sugar
- salt
- corn syrup
- vegan condensed milk
- salt flakes
How do you make vegan salted caramel cookies?
To start this recipe, we are going to make the cookie dough.
You are going to mix your flour, melted butter, sugar, and vanilla together and then shape into a ball.
Cover with plastic wrap (or place in a bowl and cover the bowl) and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Then preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Pull the dough out and using a small scoop, form balls. You should get about 12-15.
Then, you are going to use your thumb or the back of a spoon to Indent the center of each cookie.
Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
When you remove from the oven, use the back of a spoon to gently press down on. that Imprint area again. Then, place on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
While your cookies are cooling, you are going to make your vegan caramel sauce.
Grab a large saucepan and over medium low heat, add your vegan butter, brown sugar and salt. Stir until your brown sugar has dissolved.
Add in your corn syrup and mix together. Then pour in your vegan condensed milk and stir again.
Using a candy thermometer, boil your mixture over medium until it reaches 240 degrees F*. Remove from heat as soon as it reaches that temperature. Add in the vanilla and stir together.
Let cool for a few minutes and then add to the centers of your cookies.
Once the caramel is cooled slightly but not all the way, add a few flakes of salt to the top.
Let cool the rest of the way and serve.
*Tip: If you live in a high altitude area, you will need to lower the temperate of how high your candy thermometer gets when cooking the vegan caramel sauce.
A good rule of thumb is for every 1,000 feet above sea level, you should reduce the cooking temperature in the recipe by 2 degrees.
Can you make these Top 8 Allergen Friendly salted caramel cookies?
Flour, butter, and condensed milk are the items that may contain allergens for you.
The flour can be replaced with gluten free flour or almond flour. We like King Arthur Gluten Free measure for measure.
The vegan butter may contain soy, so make sure you grab a soy free version. We like Earth Balance soy free butter. It comes in a red tub.
Lastly, the condensed milk. If you follow our homemade vegan condensed milk recipe, then you will be able to make an allergy free version for yourself.
Can I prep these vegan salted caramel cookies ahead of time?
Absolutely!
You can make the caramel up to 7 days in advance and the cookie dough can stay In the fridge for 24 hours before using.
Or, once made, you can store the cookies in an air tight container for up to 7 days.
What other vegan cookies should I make?
Once you try these delicious egg free cookies, you will want to try more. These are some of favorites, and we know you will love them too !
- Incredible Vegan Triple Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Easy Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan M&M Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Bonus: Try our Vegan Ice Cream sandwiches
Pin these vegan cookies for later:
Vegan Salted Caramel Cookies
Equipment
- Candy Thermometer
Ingredients
For Cookie Dough
- 1 ¾ cup flour
- ¾ cup vegan butter, melted but not hot
- 2 tablespoon vegan cane sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla
For Vegan Caramel Sauce
- ¾ cup vegan butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup corn syrup
- 8 oz vegan condensed milk recipe
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- salt flakes for topping
Instructions
For the Cookie Dough
- In a bowl, mix flour, melted butter, sugar, and vanilla together and then shape into a ball.
- Cover with plastic wrap (or place in a bowl and cover the bowl) and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Pull the dough out and using a small scoop, form balls. There should be about 12-15.
- Use your thumb or the back of a spoon to indent the center of each cookie.
- Place on baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- After pulling out of oven, use the back of a spoon to gently press down on that imprint area again.
- Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
Caramel Sauce (Make while cookies cool)
- Grab a large saucepan and over medium low heat, add vegan butter, brown sugar and salt. Stir until brown sugar has dissolved.
- Add in corn syrup and mix together.
- Pour in vegan condensed milk and stir again.
- Using a candy thermometer, boil mixture over medium until it reaches 240 degrees F*. Remove from heat as soon as it reaches that temperature. Add in the vanilla and stir together.
- Let cool for a few minutes and add to the centers of cookies.
- Once the caramel is cooled slightly but not all the way, add a few flakes of salt to the top.
- Let cool the rest of the way and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Let’s see your creations!
Share to Instagram and tag us @makeitdairyfree so we can see and share it!
Christine
These cookies turned out really well! Followed the recipe exactly except we used canned coconut condensed milk. It made soo much caramel and we’ve been putting it on everything, including eating it right out of the container. The caramel is amazing. The cookies themselves are more of a shortbread cookie than I was expecting but the caramel steals the show. Shared with a few friends and everyone liked them!
LarishaBernard
So happy that you like it! Thanks for taking time to leave a review, we really appreciate it!
Elizabeth
I melted vegan store bought coconut milk caramel and melted them. Kinda plain. My man likes them! They’re fine. Not for a sweet tooth.
LarishaCampbell
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a rating! We appreciate you! You should try out triple chocolate cookies if you have a sweet tooth!