Festive and fun vegan gingerbread cookies. These gingerbread men are crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and packed with ginger flavor.
Making these vegan gingerbread cookies signals my first foray into the world of molasses.
And…I found it weird! This is probably no surprise to you if you’re familiar with this ingredient – it is weird right?
Like really weird.
It looks a lot like date syrup, which is a syrup I use a lot, as it’s awesome, and made from dates and nothing but dates. But aside from looks, there is no other similarity. Date syrup is very sweet, whereas molasses…. is not.
It’s not just that it’s not very sweet, it’s that it’s got the weirdest taste to it.
The good thing is that molasses in gingerbread cookie batter does the job amazingly well. Going in as an ingredient molasses is quite weird, but once baked into something, it adds something pretty great to the flavor!
These gingerbread cookies came out fabulously well and were so easy too.
And if you love all things ginger then check out our vegan gingerbread cake and our vegan gingersnap cookies too.
How To Make Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
I adapted a recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction in order to make it vegan and I took a few other shortcuts to make sure that I didn’t have to take too much time in making these.
I am always looking for shortcuts. In this case I didn’t want to chill the dough for a couple of hours before baking, I just wanted to mix the dough and then bake the cookies!
So I took some shortcuts and they worked! Yay!
So these gingerbread cookies are super quick. Just 20 minutes to prepare and 10-12 minutes to bake.
If you prefer a crispier/crunchier cookie then you can bake them up to 15 minutes.
If you want yours to be more on the soft side, then you can take them out the oven after 10 minutes.
The main time consuming factor in these cookies is rolling out the dough and cutting out the gingerbread men.
It doesn’t take long, but that’s really the only reason the prep takes 20 minutes rather than 10 or 15.
Decorating
And then there’s decorating them.
Of course this step is completely optional. This was my first attempt at decorating cookies and I have to admit to not being very successful. I had to hand the job over to Jaye who is much more steady-handed when it comes to the ‘fine arts’ of putting eyes and mouths onto cookies.
Even so, some of these guys look a bit psycho!
If you have a few kiddos around, make these with them. My niece was not into the flavor too much (I think I probably wasn’t that big on ginger either when I was 6), but she LOVED the look of these guys!
More Vegan Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Coconut Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
For the Gingerbread Men:
- ¼ cup Vegan Butter (56g)
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar (100g)
- ⅓ cup Unsulphured Molasses (100g)
- 1 Flax Egg 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal + 3 Tbsp Hot Water
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Ground Ginger
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Allspice
- ¼ tsp Ground Cloves
For the Decorating Frosting:
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar (120g)
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Soy Milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)
- Add the vegan butter and brown sugar to an electric mixing bowl and cream together.
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing 1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal with 3 Tbsp Hot Water and allowing to sit for a minute.
- Add the molasses, vanilla and flax egg to the electric mixer and beat together with the vegan butter and brown sugar.
- Sift the flour into a bowl and add the baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves and mix together.
- Add all the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl containing the wet ingredients and mix into a thick batter.
- Flour a surface and your hands very generously and transfer the cookie dough onto the baking surface. Roll it into a ball, adding flour as needed so it doesn’t stick.
- Roll out with a rolling pin to around a ¼ inch thick and cut out some gingerbread men. Dip your cookie cutter in flour each time so it doesn’t stick. Move the gingerbread men to a parchment lined baking tray.
- Gather the scraps of dough, form into a ball and roll out again, cutting out more men.
- Don’t be shy to add more flour each time, this dough can be quite sticky and you need it not to be as you roll it, so add flour as needed. Any excess flour on the gingerbread cookies will bake off.
- Repeat this process until you have used all the dough.
- Place into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes and then remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before decorating.
- When you’re ready to decorate, mix the decorating frosting ingredients together. It should be quite thick, but when you stir it into a peak, it should hold it’s shape for a bit before melting back down and should be quite sticky.
Video
Notes
- Weigh your flour for the most accurate results or use the spoon and level method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife.
- If you have accidentally used too much flour and/or the brand of vegan butter you have used has a lower water content, you may end up with a dough that is too crumbly – in this instance, add in a small amount of non-dairy milk until you get the right consistency of dough that you see in the pictures/video.
- The number of gingerbread men you’ll get from this recipe depends largely on the size of your cookie cutter.
- Baked cookies store well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- Nutritional information is for 1 cookie of 16, without frosting decoration.
These cookies are great! I’ve made a few batches and am getting ready to make a house and ice an obnixous number of cookies with the kids. i have a question about the royal icing. Most of the other vegan icings have garbanzo bean water in them and this one doesn’t. i like that this doesn’t, makes it easier, but will that hold up as glue when I put this house together?
Hi Alexis! So glad the cookies came out well! This icing is sticky, so I hope so, but I also have never attempted something like a gingerbread house! All the best!
Hello! I made these and the dough came out perfect/ worked great, but after baking they are very hard and didn’t come out chewy 🙁 I’m not sure what went wrong..they look so nice and I don’t want to waste them so I may still
Decorate/keep for dipping etc. any ideas why that could be? I only baked for ten minutes!
Hi Lauren, could you have perhaps used a bit too much flour? This can cause them to be dry and hard. If you have a food scale then it’s most accurate to weigh the flour but if you don’t have a food scale, then the spoon and level method is the correct way to measure it. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup. All the best! 🙂
Really excellent recipe, exactly as described, very much enjoyed by all as vegan Christmas treat, thank you. Incidentally I used a mixture of spelt (50%) rice/millet flours which worked a treat.
That’s wonderful Jacqueline! Thanks so much!
Hi,
I made this recipe last year and it was a total hit. My girlfriends only wanted one thing from me this year. These gingerbread cookies :)) I was wondering..i don’t have molases at hand right now or syrup..could i possibly use just more brown sugar? Have a great day and cozy holidays <3
Hi Alexandra, a potential issue that I see with that is that the batter may not be wet enough to hold together and be rolled out. You could try it that way, but it might be risky! If you do go ahead though and it’s too dry, then add non-dairy milk, just a little at a time until the batter holds together and can be rolled out.
do you know how long these cookies last?
Up to a week in an airtight container.
Hey!
I wanted to know how long these cookies can be kept after baking? Planning to have them for Christmas but don’t want to make it too early!
Thank You!
Hi Rania, they will keep up to a week in an airtight container at room temp.
Made these today and they were tricky at first to get the dough onto the cookie sheet. However, got the hang of it after awhile after adding more flour. Great taste. Would make these again for sure!
So glad they worked out! Thanks for sharing Joan!
Thank you for this recipe!! These cookies are awesome. I rolled out my dough on parchment, moved it to a flat sheet tray and stuck it in the freezer for a couple minutes. It made the dough really easy to work with. Definitely a new family favorite!
Wonderful Julie! Thanks so much!
Can I leave out the vegan butter and just add the non dairy milk until it’s soft enough like in the picture? Or is the butter important? Maybe coconut oil instead?
The butter is super important and can’t be left out. You can try coconut oil, but I haven’t tested that.
Can regular butter be used?
Yes it can.
Hi! Made these with my kids and they were great, very forgiving with little hands involved! The dough was really dark though, even after baking. Any thoughts as to why?
So glad they worked well Lisa! What brown sugar did you use? Light brown sugar will result in a lighter cookie.
I definitely used light brown sugar. I’m going to make another batch now, so I’ll see if its still dark! Thanks!
Can’t wait to try this recipes! Can the dough be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for a few days?
Hi Alison, yes it can. You can prepare the dough and then cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days before proceeding. All the best! 🙂
Absolutely delicious! Very simple! I doubled the recipe and we now have 45 cookies and a house to eat !!Would you recommend freezing it ? Thanks!!
Hi Emilie, so glad they were a success! Yes they are freezer friendly!
Hi…I’m hoping to make these this week but I’m having trouble getting molasses…. any ideas as to what might be the best substitute for this Thanks!
Hi Sarah you could use maple syrup instead or really any syrup.
Thank you!
I’ll give that a go!
My daughter is allergic to flax seeds. Is it possible to substitute the flax egg with something else?
Hi Gabi, I think you could leave it out, follow all the steps but when you get to the point of needing to mix it all into a thick batter, add non-dairy milk, only as much as needed to get the right consistency, I would estimate 2-3 Tbsp. I think that will work!
Ground Chia seeds can be used in place of flax seeds as well!
You can also replace an egg with apple sauce in some recipes, 1/4 cup of apple sauce for one egg. There are also store bought egg replacers (like Bob’s red mill) that might work.
Heyy!! I have someone who’s allergic to seeds so I bought replacement egg from Planet Organic (UK store) to replace the flaxseed. The replacement egg is basically vegan egg if you are confused 🙂 Hope that helps!!
Try 3 Tbsp garbanzo bean flour + 3 Tbsp water to replace 1 large egg for rising and binding. I haven’t made these cookies yet, so i can’t rate them, but i’m drooling!
Would this recipe work as a gingerbread house?
I don’t see why not!
Made these in my cooking class they turned out great thank you!!????
Awesome! 🙂