Place the vegan butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream them together on high speed until smooth and fluffy (minimum 3 minutes). Alternatively use an electric hand mixer in a medium bowl.
130 g vegan butter, 150 g granulated sugar
Add the silken tofu or apple sauce and vanilla bean paste and beat again until smooth.
50 g soft silken tofu, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
In a separate small bowl, sieve together the plain white flour, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, and fine sea salt. Add to the stand mixer bowl and beat on slow until just combined.
180 g plain white flour, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Remove the dough from the mixer bowl, cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
While the dough cools, preheat the oven to 160 °C and line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Place the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
2 tablespoon granulated sugar, 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Once the dough is cooled, remove from the fridge. Use a cookie scoop to scoop a heaped tablespoon of dough. Drop the ball of dough into the cinnamon sugar and roll gently to coat. Transfer to the lined baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough, spreading the cookies out across the baking parchment and the two baking sheets to make sure they don't touch as they bake.
Place the first tray into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. The dough will spread and crisp up around the edges slightly but will still look slightly under-done in the centre. Don't worry - this is correct and will help the cookies to stay soft and chewy in the centre. Remove the cookies and repeat with the second tray while the others cool.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely before serving.