Cookie of the day · Monday, November 2, 2026
Vegan Pan de Muerto Snickerdoodles
Soft, crackly snickerdoodles flavored like pan de muerto, with crushed anise seed and a splash of orange blossom water in the dough and a roll in fragrant orange-zest sugar. A sweet, easy cookie for your Día de los Muertos ofrenda or for sharing on November 2.
- Total time
- 1 hr 35 mins
- Makes
- 24 cookies
- Oven
- 350°F
- Ingredients
- 13
Includes 30 min chill and two 10–11 min bake rounds.
About these cookies
These snickerdoodles taste like pan de muerto, the sweet bread baked for Día de los Muertos. The soft, chewy dough is flavored with crushed anise seed and orange blossom water, and each ball is rolled in orange-zest sugar in place of the usual cinnamon, so the tops bake into a crackly, citrus-scented crust. Cream of tartar gives them the classic snickerdoodle tang, and the recipe makes two dozen, enough for the ofrenda and for sharing.
Steps
- Tap a step to check it off.
Tips for success
- Crush the anise seed lightly before adding it. Cracking the seeds releases their flavor, and you won't bite into hard whole seeds.
- Orange blossom water varies a lot in strength from brand to brand, and too much can taste soapy. Use no more than the 1 teaspoon called for. If your bottle is very strong, start with 3/4 teaspoon.
- Use block-style vegan butter, not a soft tub spread, and don't skip the 30-minute chill. Vegan butter is softer than dairy butter, and warm dough spreads into flat cookies.
- Take the cookies out after 10 to 11 minutes, while the centers still look a little underbaked. They finish setting on the hot sheet over 5 minutes and stay soft. If you bake them until the centers look dry, they turn crunchy.
- Rub the zest into the coating sugar with your fingertips instead of just stirring it in. This releases the orange oils, so the coating tastes and smells much more like orange.
Swaps
- No vegan butter: use 1/2 cup solid refined coconut oil and add an extra pinch of salt. The cookies will be a little crisper at the edges and spread more if the dough warms up, so chill for 45 minutes instead of 30.
- No orange blossom water: use 1/4 teaspoon orange extract or an extra 1 teaspoon of orange zest in the dough. The orange flavor stays, but you lose the floral note of pan de muerto.
- No anise seed: use 1/4 teaspoon ground anise or 1/4 teaspoon anise extract. Ground anise mixes in evenly, but you lose the small bursts of flavor from the crushed seeds.
- No cream of tartar: leave out both the cream of tartar and the baking soda and use 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder instead. The cookies will be a little cakier and won't have the tangy snickerdoodle flavor.
Storing
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or freeze the baked cookies for up to 2 months. You can also freeze the shaped, uncoated dough balls: roll them in the orange-zest sugar right before baking at 350°F (175°C), and add 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time. To bring back that fresh-baked softness, warm the cookies at 300°F (150°C) for 3 to 4 minutes.
This recipe was developed with AI and checked for vegan ingredients and sensible baking times, but it hasn’t been test-baked in our kitchen yet. How our recipes are made.
