Homemade Vanilla Wafers
Homemade Vanilla Wafers, made with real ingredients like butter and milk. Â Super-simple recipe, with a taste and texture that blows the boxed kind away!
Vanilla wafers are such a classic cookie, and they go so well with just about anything. Â But have you ever thought about making your own, from scratch?
I have! Â A lot actually. Â Vanilla wafers were a huge favorite for my younger son when he was a toddler, and he still enjoys them to this day.
I’ll never forget when he was just a little guy, barely talking.  He would wake up in the morning, all tousled hair and rosy cheeks, and toddle straight to the kitchen, where he’d push a chair over to the counter, climb up, and reach for the box of vanilla wafers.  All the while repeating, “Googie.  Googie.  Googie.”  The first thing on his mind, from the moment he woke, was cookies.
I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Â He’s got a mean sweet tooth, just like his mommy and dad.
I don’t mind indulging it from time to time, but I feel much better about that if I know that what he’s eating was made from wholesome ingredients.
I’ve tried a few different vanilla wafer recipes, but none of them tasted all that much like the original. Â This one really nails it. Â It’s got that same crunchy texture, but it’s not at all hard. Â The cookies practically melt in your mouth, with a rich buttery and intensely fragrant vanilla flavor.
Best of all, the recipe is so simple.  Just a handful of basic ingredients in the mixer and you’ve got a big enough batch to make around 65 cookies.  Now that’s a lot of toddler snacks!
Got a cookie monster in your house too? Â Make sure you’re following my “Cookie Recipes Galore” Pinterest board, for lots more awesome cookie recipes!
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Homemade Vanilla Wafers
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, (1 stick), softened
- 1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (61 ml) milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the butter, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl, and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy (3 to 5 minutes).
- Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then mix in the milk and vanilla until combined.
- Stir in the flour and salt, taking care not to overwork the dough.
- Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a 1A tip. Pipe 1-inch diameter circles onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottoms and around the edges.
- Cool completely, then store in an airtight container.
Hey Allie!!!! These are my family’s fav! Can I make these without using a pastry bag?Â
That’s great! Absolutely, you could just use a small cookie scoop or a spoon. Good luck!
Has anyone tried this with non-dairy substitutes? My go-to would typically be Silk Unsweetened Cashew Milk and Melt plant based butter, or just straight cold-pressed coconut oil.
I would love to get your feedback on how these might turn out!
“Made with real ingredients like butter and milk…”
Cashew milk is a real ingredient. Vegan butter (made from live active cultures and coconut) is a REAL ingredient.
Ten YEARS ago I woke up to the fact that ANY use of dairy, eggs, milk, butter, meat, fish, honey, etc… Â inherently involves exploitation and unspeakable suffering to animals.
Yes, even your precious backyard chickens eggs involve suffering. Â Unless those chickens just wandered into your yard, they came from a breeder who is selling off hens, and killing their baby brothers because they’re considered useless since they don’t lay eggs. Â Even if that weren’t the case, those eggs are not YOURS. Â They belong to the chickens, and any unfertilized eggs that don’t hatch, the hen eats them HERSELF to restore her health, as laying an eggs depletes her of many valuable nutrients.
Look – I get it. I’m from Wisconsin. Born and raised to a famous “dairy celebrity” and a well known restauranteur. Â There’s no one who was raised more meat and potatoes and CHEESE than I was.
If I can do it — YOU can do it. Â There are no excuses anymore.
Pick up a copy of “The Joy of Vegan Baking” by Colleen Patrick Goudreau. Â Pick up “The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples” by Miyoko Schinner.
It’s beyond easy and accessible to make baked goods, meals, snacks….. Â basically ANYTHING you can make, I can make VEGAN and BETTER!
Do you know what it’s like going to bed each night knowing no animals had to suffer for my sake? Â No cow had to be forcibly impregnated (think what else we might call that) in order to produce milk, not did they have to have their babies taken away from them the day they’re born.
I don’t have to separate babies from their mothers to get milk!
And I don’t have to murder countless baby male chicks and steal a hen’s precious eggs in order to bake cookies.
GET CREATIVE ABOUT FOOD! Â Are none of you even curious about the idea “Hey, there are other ways to do this”??? Â You’ve all been sold a myth that eggs are necessary in baking. Â They’re just NOT. Â They can be replaced with so many things — and often even with NOTHING! Â My Oma’s german apple streusel cake calls for an egg in the crust. Â Guess what turned out to be the best substitute? Â Nothing! Â Literally just SKIPPING it yielded a PERFECT result.
You’ve all allowed marketing to turn you into the kind of people who justify the HORRIBLE things we do to animals.
And if you aren’t aware what we do to animals, go watch the documentary “Dominion” before you respond to me.
Any response not grounded in an understanding of the industry standard cruelty PERMISSIBLE toward animals will not be taken seriously.
Yes, absolutely! Feel free to substitute with your favorite non-dairy milk or butter substitute. As long as you’re using a product that can sub 1:1, it should work no problem. There are no eggs in this, so you are already a step closer to a vegan recipe before you even start. Good luck and I hope you enjoy!
These homemade vanilla wafers require minimal ingredients and effort, but deliver on taste and texture! I used salted butter since that’s all I had and made no other changes to the recipe-they piped beautifully and turned out great! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
My pleasure Nikki! I’m so happy it worked well for you!
this is the best vanilla wafer cookie recipe I’ve tried yet. excellent texture, but I would suggest that it be baked at 325° degrees F. fir the same length of time if you’re out of parchment paper…
So happy you enjoyed! And thanks for the tip!
I tried this recipe yesterday. It was absolutely perfect!!! Cookies are delicious, very addicitive! Thank you for an amazing recipe, desfinitely will be trying other recipes 🙂
You’re welcome Marcela! I’m so happy you enjoyed. Thank you so much for the 5-star review!
Could I put the dough in a cookie press and make spritz?
Hey Steph! I would think so, but rather than fiddle with that, it might be a lot easier just to use my spritz cookie recipe. You can find it by typing “spritz” into the search bar at the top of my site. Good luck!