Vegan Christmas sugar cookies with royal icing

Measure out the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together. Drain the chickpeas into a bowl. You'll need the liquid, which is called aquafaba, later

To a food processor with the dough hook attached add the softened (NOT melted) vegan butter, the sugar, and the optional vegan yoghurt. Mix on high speed for 5 minutes or until smooth. Then add in the vanilla and the optional almond extract. Mix again for a few minutes. Then add in the dry ingredient mix one tablespoon at a time. Mix this on high until the dough is just coming together.

Lay out a piece of baking paper and sprinkle it with a little flour. Put the cookie dough on this and lay another piece of baking paper on top. Roll the dough out into a circle, make sure you don't roll it out too thin because then you risk burning the cookies!

Put the dough in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes, and then in the freezer until the dough is completely frozen.

About 10 minutes before you take the dough out of the freezer preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F and lay a piece of baking paper on a baking tray.

Take the dough out of the freezer and put a little pile of flour on the side. Dip your cookie cutters in the flour each time you cut out a cookie. Use any cookie cutters you like!

Carefully place the cookies on the baking tray. Don't put them too close together because they will expand a bit. If you want to hang cookies in your Christmas tree, you need to press out a hole in the cookies. I used a metal straw for that.

Once your baking tray is full put it in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, but check on them regularly. Don't let them get too brown! If you have leftover dough, roll it out again and put it in the freezer again until ready to use.

Then take the cookies out of the oven to cool down completely. If any of the holes have closed, open them again with the straw, a toothpick, or a chopstick! When the cookies are cool you can tie some string in the cookies you want to hang in the tree.

While your cookies are cooling down you can make the icing. In a clean food processor with the whisk attachment, add in the aquafaba and whisk on high until foamy. Then add in the sifted powdered sugar and mix on high for 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides and add a splash of water. Then mix on high for 5 more minutes. Check the consistency. I needed to add another splash of water and a little more processing (2 more minutes).

Decide how many different colours icing you want. Separate the icing in that amount of bowls. Mix in the food coloring and add more water if you want a more runny consistency. Put the icing into separate piping bags and then start decorating the cooled down cookies however you want! Then add the sprinkles while the icing is still wet and then let the icing harden completely, this may take a few hours.

The nutritional values are for 1 cookie but remember that it will vary depending on how big you make your cookies!