Vanilla Wafers

These homemade vanilla wafer cookies have a chewy soft texture and buttery vanilla flavor. Delicious cookies to munch with a cup of coffee.

If you’re a huge fan of Nilla wafers, short for Vanilla wafers, I have good news for you – you can easily make a whole batch at home with minimal ingredients – all pantry staples that are affordable and readily available at any grocery store.

And of course, home-baked Vanilla wafers are much healthier as they will not contain any artificial flavorings or preservatives.

Why You’ll Love This Recipes

• These cookies taste much better than store-bought, there is no discussion about it! Thicker chewy center and crisp edges, so good!
• It is a great recipe that makes 70 (!) cookies within 45 minutes. Minimal prep time is my favorite. They also store really well, so you can make them ahead. Don’t count on them to last long though especially if you have tiny humans.
• There is no one who doesn’t love nilla wafers. So it is a good recipe to bake some homemade gifts for the holiday season.
• One of the best ways to eat vanilla wafers is with some banana pudding or fresh banana slices in between two cookies. Tested.

Ingredients Notes

I’m probably not using the same ingredients that the original recipe from the 19th century called for, but my homemade vanilla wafers are made with all-purpose flour, butter, sugar, whole egg, milk, and vanilla extract. That’s it.

• All-purpose flour + baking powder + salt. You can also use GF flour. If you want an extra crispy edge, you should add some baking soda too.
• Unsalted butter softened at room temperature, or salted butter (and then you skip extra salt). The cookies are so rich and buttery, I love that!
• Confectioners’ sugar + granulated sugar, yes, both. Granulated sugar adds crispness to the edges of baked stuff.
• Large egg, room temperature. To make the amazing texture. I know some recipes only use egg whites but I prefer the whole egg.
• Vanilla extract is why these cookies are called vanilla wafers. Use pure vanilla extract, not artificial stuff. However, if you want the cookies to taste exactly like store-bought ones, you should use the imitation extract, but to me, it just tastes bitter.
• Whole milk, full fat, room temperature. For richer flavor in cookies, you can replace milk with heavy cream.

Kitchen Equipment

• 2 bowls (1 large bowl, 1 medium bowl)
• stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer
• baking pan/cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Depending on the size of your oven and sheets, you may need 2 or 3 of them.
• rubber spatula
• spatula
• optional, piping bag with a 2A tip or small cookie scoop to form the cookie dough balls on the sheet.

How To Make Homemade Vanilla Wafers

1: Combine The Dry Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 degrees C).
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Set aside.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside. If using a mixer, mix the flour mixture on low speed.

2: Beat The Butter Mixture

Beat the butter mixture. Combine the butter, confectioner’s sugar, and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until the mixture is smooth and the butter has absorbed the sugars.

3: Combine The Wet Ingredients

Beat in the milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix well.

4: Combine The Dry And Wet Ingredients

Slowly stir in the dry mixture, adding a little at a time to work each addition into the wet ingredients before adding more until it has been fully combined.

5: Form The Cookie Dough Balls

1. Cover the cookie batter and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
2. Once cold, drop ½ tsp-sized balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet about 1-2” apart. You can slightly press them down with wet fingers.
3. If working in batches, prepare the first batch for baking, and return the remaining dough in the fridge.

6: Bake The Cookies

1. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The tops of the cookies will be light yellow while the bottoms will be golden brown.
2. The size of cookies determines how long they need to be baked.

Storage

Vanilla wafer cookies store well at room temperature in an airtight container for a week. You can also freeze cookies for 1 month.

Make sure to let the cookies cool completely before storing or freezing them.

Substitutions & Variations

• You can use melted butter instead of softened stick but I think that beating the solid butter makes a better flavor and texture.
• One whole egg can be replaced with 1 egg + 3 egg yolks.
• Chocolate Vanilla Wafers. Melt white chocolate or chocolate chips and stir it in the cookie batter.

Expert Tips To Make This Vanilla Wafer Recipe

• An alternative way to form the cookie dough pieces is to roll long ropes and chill them. Once they are cold, you can simply cut the circles and place them on the sheet to bake.
• Fresh cookies are best to use in banana pudding recipes.
• Flatter cookies are closer to the original Vanilla wafers. Fatter cookies will be chewy and rich.
• Make sure to avoid long contact with oxygen otherwise Vanilla wafers become stale.

Popular Questions

What Is A Substitute For Vanilla Wafers?

In dessert recipes, you can replace store-bought vanilla wafers with homemade vanilla wafer cookies, butter, and shortbread cookies. If making crusts, vanilla wafers can be substituted by Graham crackers or even Oreos.

Are Nilla Wafers Cookies Or Crackers?

Nilla Wafers are popular cookies known for more than 120 years and made of simple ingredients. They are quite thin, round, and small, with a chewy soft center and crispy golden brown edges.

What Is The Difference Between Vanilla Wafers And Nilla Wafers?

Nilla Wafers is just a short version of Vanilla Wafers and a brand name invented by Nabisco. So the two are the same but one is the general term for all wafer-style cookies with vanilla flavor and another is a particular brand of such cookies.

If you love this copycat cookie recipe, you’re going to love these other copycat recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

Pair These Vanilla Wafers With These Great Recipes

Banana Pudding Cheesecake

Patriotic Cake Batter Dip

Banana Pudding Recipe

Strawberry Ice Box Cake

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