Frosted Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies

For the sugar cookies

• 1/2 C vegan butter, room temperature
• 1/2 C organic cane sugar (or regular sugar)
• 1/2 C Stevia
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1 2/3 C gluten free all purpose flour*
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 C Lily's mini dark chocolate chips, divided

For the buttercream frosting

• 1/4 C vegan butter, room temperature
• 2 Tbsp nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 C sugar free powdered sugar**
• 1/2 tsp salt***

1. If you don't plan on chilling your cookie dough,**** preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Cream together the butter, sugar, and Stevia until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and cream until light and fluffy, about another minute.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, whisking until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture until a few streaks of flour remain. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in 1/3 cup of the mini chocolate chips.
4. Use a rolling pin to roll out the cookie dough into 1/4" thick circle and use a glass or cup about 3" in diameter to cut out your cookies. (The diameter doesn't totally matter, but if you want more cookies out of one batch of cookie dough, shoot for 3" cookies.) Note: you don't need to dust your surface with flour before rolling the dough. This will add too much flour and dry out the cookies! If you don't want to roll out the cookie dough, you can also portion out 1 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls and flatten them into 1/4" thick discs. Note: using the no chill method means your cookies will spread more in the oven, so you can't bake more than 7 at one time.‍
5. Place the cookies on your prepared baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
6. In a small bowl (or the bowl of your clean stand mixer), mix the butter, greek yogurt, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt on high speed for 2-4 minutes until smooth and fluffy. Add 1-2 teaspoons almond milk, depending on how thick or thin you want your buttercream. I usually add 2 teaspoons. Use a clean rubber spatula to give one final mix to the buttercream and smooth out any air pockets.
7. Once the cookies are completely cooled, it's time to frost! Using the back of a spoon, spread a thin layer of buttercream on each cookie. Top each cookie with a few extra mini chocolate chips and enjoy!

*If baking at high altitude (over 3000 ft above sea level), add an extra 2 Tbsp flour.

**You can also use regular powdered sugar, but it will significantly increase the calories and grams of sugar per cookie.

***If using regular powdered sugar, reduce the amount of salt by half.

****See blog post for 3 different ways to make your sugar cookies and when you should chill your dough.

Nutrition facts are a calculated estimate of one cookie, including frosting and extra chocolate chips.