Popcorn Cookies
The perfect movie night snack! Sweet and salty wrapped up in one delicious cookie.
It’s so secret that we love cookies and we’ve written a lot of cookie recipes, but these popcorn cookies may be a new favourite. Soft, chewy and easy to make — this fun movie night treat is even more delicious than it sounds. Bonus points: it fills your home with a delicious buttered popcorn as it bakes.
The cookie base is where a lot of the magic happens in this cookie. It’s so light and airy in part because we cream together the butter and sugar for a LONG time. The dough is buttery, light, crispy on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside. WE love this base so much we’ve used it for so many other cookies since.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
Light and airy cookie with a crispy exterior.
The perfect balance of salty and sweet.
Easy to whip up on a weeknight.
Top tips for making the best vegan cookies:
Buy a food scale. A couple years ago we made the switch to weighted ingredients rather than cups and tbsp, and we’ve never looked back. For consistent results we highly recommend you do the same, that way you know you’re adding the exact right amount of each ingredient.
Unsalted vegan butter is the way to go. We like to control just how much salt is in our cookies and with unsalted butter we’re able to do that. If you can’t find unsalted vegan butter, we’d recommend leaving out any additional salt.
Cream the butter and sugar together for a long time. Like longer than you think, we promise it’s worth it. What most people don’t understand that creaming or beating isn’t just about mixing together two ingredients, it’s about aerating ingredients. By creaming butter you create little air pockets and when you add sugar its build a system of sugar crystals, fat and air. By doing this, you’re ensuring that the dough will puff up in the oven and create delicious airy cookies. Not to mention creaming butter increases the volume of the dough so you get more cookies! For best results cream the butter at least 6-7 minutes but we recommend closer to 10 minutes.
Do NOT over mix the flour. We’re creaming the butter and sugar a long time, so that when we add the flour we can be sure we don’t over mix it. Over mixing flour can result in extra gluten development which would result in an unpleasantly chewy or gummy cookie. Mix until the flour has JUST combined.
Use a cookie scoop for consistent sizing. For round cookies that are even in size a simple cookie scoop is an easy way to achieve consistent results.
Don’t over crowd the baking sheet. For perfectly baked cookies you want them to have enough room to spread and for the hot air to get all around them. We bake them six cookies per baking sheet and, one baking sheet at a time.
How to make popcorn cookies:
Prep Time: 15 Min | Bake Time: 12 Min | Total Time:
Ingredients
150 g (1¼ cup) all-purpose flour
75 g (⅓ cup) vegan butter
85 g (3/8 cup) white sugar
60 g (5 tbsp) brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
4 g (1 tsp) baking soda
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp lukewarm water)
25 g (2 cups) popcorn, popped
Instructions
Before you start: Prepare the flax egg by combining ground flax and lukewarm water and set aside to thicken.
Heat oven to 350F.
To a stand mixer add vegan butter, sugar and brown sugar – beat until light and airy about 6-8 minutes. Start on low, slowly bringing to high.
Once light and airy, scrap down the sides and turn your mixer on low while slowly adding in the thickened flax egg and vanilla extract until combined.
Add in all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda and mix until just combined.
Add in popcorn and beat until evenly combine throughout the dough – about 15 seconds.
Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto a lined baking sheet (six per sheet). Bake in preheated oven until golden – about 11-12 minutes.
Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.