• In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment beat the softened dairy-free butter (or margarine) with sugar for 1 minute until smooth, creamy and fluffy. You can also use a hand beater and beat ingredients into a mixing bowl.
• Fold in vanilla, cornstarch, salt, almond milk, and baking powder.
• On the low-speed setting, gradually add the flour until the dough forms. Scrape the bowl again to bring all the ingredients together and combine until the dough is soft and crumbly but holds well if pressed in your hand. If too wet, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time. If too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water.
• Shape the dough into two discs of the same size and wrap them into a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Chill for 1 hour in the fridge.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Oil the paper with coconut oil or margarine. Set aside.
• Remove the discs from the fridge and roll the dough into about 1/4 inch (0.6 cm) thick.
• Use Halloween cookie cutters to shape sugar cookies and slide a flat tool under the cut cookies to transfer them to the baking sheets. Leave half a thumb of space between each cookie - they won't expand in the oven, but this makes it easier to remove them from the sheet later on. Reform a dough ball with the remaining cookie dough, roll again, and reshape more cookies.
• Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 8-10 minutes in the center rack of the oven or until the cookies are set on top and slightly golden brown on the edges.
• Cool down on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack and cool down for an extra 20 minutes or until cold to the touch.

Decoration

• Prepare 1 batch of egg-free royal icing recipe. Divide the batch into 4 bowls. Add a few drops of liquid food coloring of your choice in each bowl: we made orange, purple by adding pink and blue food coloring, black, and kept a batch white.
• Stir to incorporate the color, adding more drops to darken the color if needed. The icing should be thick, if you drop a dollop on a plate, it shouldn't be spreading fast. If it spreads too fast, your icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar until thick, it should be hard to stir in the bowl, and spread very slowly on a place.
• Place each icing color in a piping bag to decorate each cookie. You can also add the icing to the sugar cookies with a small spoon then use a toothpick to spread the icing on narrow spaces of the cookie.

Storage

• Store in a sealed cookie jar at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze and thaw the day before at room temperature.