Have you ever walked into the Walmart or Target and seen those sugar cookies that are frosted with the bright colored icing and usually have themed sprinkles? The cookies are delish! They are soft but not crumbly. Not chewy or crunchy, but more melt in your mouth yummmmm. The frosting is perfection as well. You can get them year round and they are always decorated in style for the season or holiday that’s on the calendar.
They’re called Lofthouse cookies, but I’m sure there are several brands out there. Sadly these little morsels of sugary heaven are made with sour cream soooooo if I want to buy a package, I have to eat the entire package myself. I’ve tried the whole freezer trick, but have I mentioned that I can’t resist these cookies even if they’re frozen? I got to thinking that there has to be a way to make these dairy free.
I googled, but all that came up in the results was gluten free recipes. Thanks google but gluten isn’t The Kid’s problem. That’s why I used the search terms I did, LOL. Considering the major success I’ve had using tofu in Magic Bars and Alfredo Sauce and knowing that you can use a milk/vinegar combo in place of buttermilk, I wondered if you could use a tofu/vinegar combo instead of sour cream.
Hell to the yeah, people! You CAN!
Dairy Free Lofthouse Style Cookies 
- 1/2 cup (96g) granulated sugar
- 4 Tbsp (56g) butter flavored shortening
- 2 large eggs
- 3 oz (85g) firm tofu
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups (270g) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Buttercream frosting (recipe below)
- Food coloring of choice
- Sprinkles
Beat the first six ingredients (sugar through vanilla) in a bowl with a mixer until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Mix the remaining dry ingredients in a bowl and gradually stir them into the wet ingredients. I added it in about 3 batches and the dough was beginning to get stiffer after the second batch. Once the dough starts to stiffen, you can knead any remaining dry parts by hand to form the dough into a ball.
Place the dough ball in a covered bowl or wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least an hour. Remove the dough and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll tablespoons of the dough into balls and place on a non-stick or parchment lined cookie sheet. Press the balls flat with your hand so they form circles that are about 1/4 inch thick.
These cookies don’t spread so how you press them is how they’ll end up looking after baking. Repeat the process with the remaining dough, pressing them into circles or desired shapes. I got 44 cookies from my batch. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. You don’t want the cookies to brown so aim for the lowest amount of time. They are meant to be light colored and soft and pillowy.
Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting. You don’t want any of the frosting to melt off the cookie. Add sprinkles, if you like.
Makes approximately 44 cookies at 41 calories each – 1g protein, 7g carbs and 1 g fat (without frosting). 3/4 teaspoon of frosting per cookie adds about 21 calories – 3g carbs and 1g fat.
Buttercream Frosting
- 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar
- 6 Tbsp (84g) butter flavored shortening
- 2 Tbsp (28g) non-dairy butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1-2 Tbsp almond milk
- Food coloring of choice
Beat all of the ingredients with a mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the milk slowly so your frosting doesn’t get too runny. If you’re using liquid food coloring instead of gel, then I suggest adding the food coloring first and then beating in the milk. Frost cooled cookies and refrigerate/freeze the leftovers for another purpose.
I admit that I ate FOUR of these cookies right after frosting. Actually the first two were sucked down the moment the knife left the top of the cookie. The other two at least survived until all the cookies were finished. I love the texture and The Kid was excited to try the cookies for the first time. You can make your cookies bigger if you’d like, but I wanted them on the small size. They’re about 2 inches across which is smaller than the ones you see in the store.
I didn’t use all of the frosting either so there was plenty leftover. You can mix the frosting without color first and make a smaller batch of colored to use now and then save the rest to color differently next time. Excuse the orange frosting this time of year. I was told that it was close enough to Thanksgiving that we should still use orange frosting. AND informed that the next batch would be more winter-themed in coloring, LOL. So there will be another batch.
Another win for the powers of tofu. 😉
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