These fun, holiday Vegan Gingerbread Cookies have molasses, spices, and feature both fresh and dry ginger for a double punch of flavor. ‘Tis the season for making these whimsical and charming little cookies.
I’ve always loved gingerbread cookies. Pretty much any dessert that is full of spices is a winner in my opinion. Ginger is one of my favorites, so I make these cookies with two forms of it, fresh and dried, to give them an extra gingery taste. In fact, when I make these, I even add more ginger than is in this recipe. I know that not everyone loves the burn of excessive ginger, however, so I toned it down a bit for this recipe. This is a gingerbread cookie that is familiar and everyone will surely love it.
You can, of course, use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to make the traditional shape, but these cookies also look great using other cutters like stars, snowflakes, or snowmen. Or, if you don’t have any cookie cutters, you can carve out shapes using a small paring knife. It’s definitely more tedious, and, unless you are an artistic rockstar at carving out shapes, you may end up with misshapen little men or deformed stars. For a simpler solution, use the rim of a drinking glass or small jar to give you consistent circle-shaped cookies, then use a fork or knife to make decorative indentations.
Leave them as is to preserve an understated look or decorate with the sugar icing to create personalized little gingerbread men and women. This icing acts like a conventional royal icing, but because it doesn’t contain any egg whites like the traditional version, it will take longer for the icing to set. After decorating, let them dry in a single layer until the icing sets enough so that the cookies don’t ruin each other if they touch.
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 stick or 8 Tablespoons vegan butter or coconut oil
- 2 flax "eggs" (2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds mixed with 6 Tablespoons water until it becomes gloppy)
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 tablespoon ginger juice (finely grate some ginger then squeeze the pulp to get just the juice)
- 3¼ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 pinches ground clove
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2¼ teaspoons non-dairy milk or water
- Cream the brown sugar with the butter or coconut oil in a mixer until well combined. Add in the flax eggs, molasses, and ginger juice and blend for another minute or two. The mixture may look curdled. Don't worry, that's normal.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture with the mixer on low. Keep mixing until all the flour has been incorporated.
- The batter will be tacky yet it will come together well. Remove it from the mixer and wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap. Flatten it slightly into a disc shape and refrigerate it for 30 minutes or up to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove the disc of dough from the refrigerator and place it onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to a thickness of anywhere between ⅛ and ¼ inch. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the desired shape and put the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes for a softer cookie and 12-15 minutes for a crisper cookie.
- Make the icing by whisking together the sugar and non-dairy milk and put it into a piping bag. Decorate the cookies then allow them to air-dry until set.
-If you want a darker colored cookie and a deeper molasses flavor, use the same amount of blackstrap molasses.
-This recipe makes about 45-60 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
I love gingerbread cookies too. After seeing this post, you definitely have inspired me to make the recipe! Thanks for sharing it!
It’s cookie time! I’m sure you’ll add a chic twist to them, Thalia. Hope you love them!
I made these cookies tonight, and they’re great! They cut out easily. I doubled the recipe and used the food processor to mix smaller batches of the wet and dry ingredients, so the dough would adhere. One word to those who like sweeter cookies: add more sweetener to this recipe, as these cookies are not very sweet. I’m thinking that with frosting tomorrow at the school where I work, when my students decorate them, they’ll be a hit.
I have a question: Can I freeze the remainder of the dough (less ideal, due to limited freezer space)? Or can I wrap tightly in plastic, refrigerate and use 5 days from now?
Thanks for the nice comment, Jane! Smart move by doing it in steps in the food processor. You’re definitely right that they are not too sweet. I think with the frosting they’ll be perfect for the kids!
I think you can get away with keeping the unused dough in the fridge until then. Just put it into an airtight container and throw it in the back of your fridge. When you are ready to use it again, you’ll probably notice that the dough will be very hard. No worries…just let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes or so to come back to a pliable consistency. Enjoy!
Are these cookies soft or crunchy ?
Hi Dylan, these gingerbread men can be soft or crunchy–whichever you prefer. Bake for 9-10 minutes for a softer cookie and 12-15 minutes for a crisper cookie.
How big were your cookies?
Hi Emily. For these gingerbread men I used a cookie cutter that is 4 1/2 inches from top of his head to tip of his toes and 3 1/2 inches from arm to arm!
Thanks! Wow, that recipe makes a lot of cookies! My cookie cutters are about the same size I think.
Sure! Yes, it also depends on how thin or thick you roll out your dough, but if you follow the guidelines in the recipe, it should make the 50-ish cookies. They keep well if you put them in an airtight container so…the more the merrier! 🙂
Awesome!
Hey if i use coconut oil instead of butter, do i use 8tblsp liquid oil or solid oil?
Hi Anna, use melted coconut oil. Of course, it won’t cream with the sugar like vegan butter does, but that’s not a problem. Just mix well with the sugar and then proceed with the recipe. 🙂
This recipe was excellent! I didn’t have any fresh ginger, so I just added an extra tablespoon of water to the flax egg and an extra bit of powdered ginger. I imagine the fresh ginger juice would make these cookies even better, though! I also used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar and blackstrap molasses instead of the lighter molasses. I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment to cream the vegan butter and sugar but had to switch to the dough hook when I added the flour. I doubled the recipe as well and must’ve flubbed my measuring somewhere because the dough turned out just a wee bit too stiff at first. I added about a tablespoon of molasses, re-mixed, and we were good to go. I wish I had read how many cookies the recipe made before I doubled it because I just iced 44 cookies and that was only about 1/3 of the dough! The cookies themselves are the perfect amount of sweet to eat on their own and even with the icing, they’re not overwhelmingly sweet – perfect!
Very good last minute substitutions you made! I’m so glad they worked out for you. And you’re right, it makes plenty of cookies! Thanks for your comment! 🙂
The icing didn’t turn out. It spilled all over my cookies.
Also, my dog ended up in the dishwasher.
I don’t think the instructions were clear enough.
KM
Haha sounds like you had a wild night, Kale!
These cookies are AWESOME!!!!! Thank you so much for an easy, delicious, vegan recipe without difficult ingredients 🙂 Baked these this afternoon and my household LOVES them!
Hi Robyn! So nice to read this! I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season!