These vegan ginger cookies are super crunchy and made in a ‘gingersnap’ style for a perfect holiday cookie. Packed with ginger flavor.
I’ve long been a fan of ginger cookies and specifically gingersnap cookies. I love crunchy cookies so we based this recipe on a classic crunchy gingersnap cookie.
A gingersnap cookie (as opposed to a regular ginger cookie) needs to be crunchy, so that it ‘snaps’ when you bite into it or break it in half.
It’s the classic crunchy cookie, basically. So of course these cookies need to have some snap. And they definitely do.
Of course if you prefer your cookies super soft then check out our vegan molasses cookies. They’re similar to these but soft and chewy instead of snappy and crunchy.
And if you love all things ginger then also check out our classic vegan gingerbread cookies, vegan gingerbread loaf and our vegan gingerbread cake.
How To Make Vegan Ginger Cookies
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add vegan butter and brown sugar to your stand mixer and cream them together.
- Add molasses and vanilla extract and mix in.
- Sift all purpose flour into a bowl and add baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir in with a spoon until crumbly.
- Add 2 Tbsp non-dairy milk and mix. You should get a very thick cookie dough. However, if you still have crumbles and it’s not yet sticking together then add another 1 Tbsp non-dairy milk. Only do this if you really need it though.
- Break off pieces of the dough and roll into balls. Place them evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray. Aim to get 20 cookies from the batch.
- Roll the balls in white granulated sugar and return to the parchment lined tray.
- Flatten the cookies with a fork.
- Bake in the oven for 12 minutes. If you want them more on the softer side then bake for 10 minutes, if you want more snap/crunch then bake for 12 minutes and if you want them super crunchy then you can bake them for up to 15 minutes, but keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn.
- The cookies will be soft when they come out the oven. Allow them to cool and firm up directly on the tray before moving them.
Ingredient Notes
Vegan Butter: Only a quarter cup of vegan butter is used in this recipe, but it’s the perfect amount for this recipe. It’s possible that you could substitute it for coconut oil (solid form). We haven’t tested this with coconut oil but this is based on reader feedback in other cookie recipes.
Molasses: The molasses should be unsulphured molasses. Grandma’s is a good brand if it’s available to you otherwise just use any molasses that says unsulphured somewhere on the label. If you can’t get molasses at all, then you can substitute something like maple syrup, but you will lose that richness of flavor that you get from the molasses.
Non-dairy milk. Before you add the non-dairy milk (we used soy), your dough will be very crumbly. The non-dairy milk is what makes it form into a cookie dough. However, you only need a small amount (2-3 Tbsp). It’s important that you only use as much as needed so that it forms into a cookie dough, and no more than that.
Chef’s Tips
Flatten with a fork. Once you roll the dough into balls, you then roll them in granulated sugar and then flatten them with a fork. This helps to ensure even baking which also makes them crunchier.
Baking time. We found 12 minutes to be perfect, but if you want them REALLY crunchy, you can bake them up to 15 minutes. Just keep a close eye on them to make sure they don’t burn.
Make Them Gluten-Free
If you’d like to try these cookies as gluten-free then I recommend using a gluten free all purpose flour blend that is meant to replace regular flour in baking. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour is a good brand that we have used many times before and recommend.
We have not tested these particular cookies as gluten-free but this is my recommendation based on other cookie recipes that we have tested.
Storing and Freezing
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for a week.
They are also freezer friendly up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Brown Sugar Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Vegan Butter (56g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- ¼ cup Unsulphured Molasses (60ml)
- 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
- 2-3 Tbsp Non-Dairy Milk
- ¼ cup White Granulated Sugar (50g) for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Cream vegan butter and brown sugar together and then add molasses and vanilla extract and mix in.
- Sift all purpose flour into a bowl and add baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir in with a spoon until crumbly.
- Add 2 Tbsp non-dairy milk and mix. You should get a very thick cookie dough. However, if you still have crumbles and it’s not yet ‘sticking together’ then add another 1 Tbsp non-dairy milk. Only do this if you really need it though.
- Break off pieces of the dough and roll into balls. Place them evenly onto your parchment lined baking tray. Aim to get 20 cookies from the batch.
- Roll the balls in white granulated sugar and return to the parchment lined tray.
- Flatten the cookies with a fork.
- Bake in the oven for 12 minutes. If you want more on the softer side then bake for 10 minutes, if you want more snap/crunch then bake for 12 minutes and if you want them super crunchy then you can bake them for up to 15 minutes, but keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn.
- The cookies will be soft when they come out the oven. Allow them to cool and firm up directly on the tray before moving them.
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method (spoon it 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). Or weigh it on a food scale.
- Molasses: The molasses should be unsulphured molasses. Grandma’s is a good brand if it’s available to you otherwise just use any molasses that says unsulphured somewhere on the label. If you can’t get molasses at all, then you can substitute something like maple syrup, but you will lose that richness of flavor that you get from the molasses.
- Gluten-Free: If you’d like to try these cookies as gluten-free then I recommend using a gluten free all purpose flour blend that is meant to replace regular flour in baking. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour is a good brand that we have used before and recommend. We have not tested these particular cookies as gluten-free but this is my recommendation based on other cookie recipes that we have tested.
- Storing and Freezing: Store them in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for a week. They are also freezer friendly up to 3 months.
- This recipe was first published April 2017. It has been updated with new photos and extra tips, but the recipe itself is unchanged.
Can I use blackstrap molasses, or will that be too strong?
Hi Nathaniel, I think that would work as it’s not in a very large quantity in this recipe so I think it would be okay. 🙂
I made these and they were really good. However, I’m trying to not use sugar. Can I sub dates instead of sugar? I would soak them and then blend them. If so any idea how much would be needed? Thanks!
Hi Nancy, I wouldn’t recommend that as it would throw out the ratios. You could try using a different granulated sugar though, and you can get date sugar (granules). I haven’t tested it on these but as long as it’s a granulated sugar it should work.
just made these, fresh out of the oven- so so so good! i’m going to keep this recipe forever. 🙂 <3
Awesome! Thanks Olivia!
Since coming across this recipe I have made them on a weekly basis. I bake them for 15 minutes and they turn out perfectly every time. I have tried making them with soft light brown sugar and also half dark brown sugar and half white castor sugar… both results were great.
Everybody that’s tried them loves them… many thanks for this great vegan ginger cookie recipe
Anne from Edinburgh Scotland
So glad to hear you love the recipe Anne! Thanks so much for sharing.
These worked amazingly well – I was going for more of a straight ginger flavour, so I increased the ginger and reduced the other spices, and they still turned out magnificently.
As for substitutions, I only had a generic margarine, but that didn’t seem to cause any difficulties. I did use some really nice coconut sugar, although it’s probably not going to make a huge difference if you’re using the specified mix of spices in addition to the molasses.
Awesome Daisy! Thanks for sharing!
Great recipe ! I was wondering if we could freeze the dough ??
Yes sure, I would roll it into balls first and then freeze. You can then either thaw overnight in the fridge before baking or just bake from frozen, but allow a few extra mins baking time. 🙂
Thank you so much! You absolutely made my day. This was just the kind of pick-me-up I needed. I am an beginner-to-intermediate level baker and this recipe was easy to follow and came out wonderful! I did not have vegan butter so I substituted coconut oil. I needed to add 3-4 tbs. of cashew milk to get it to stick but I figure that’s because I used oil and not butter. I ended up cooking for 15 minute because my cookies are on the bigger side. They are divine. I am so grateful to you for sharing this and other amazing vegan recipes.
Awesome April! I’m so glad they came out great! Thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
Loved this recipe! I made some substitutions and it turned out great. I used earth balance for the butter, 1/2 cup coconut sugar and 1/2 cup xylitol instead of brown sugar, bobs 1:1 gf flour instead of AP and freshly grated ginger instead of powdered. I also added 2-3x as much of the spices based on other reviews. I made about 24 cookies and cooked in two batches for 15 min each. They turned out chewy in the middle and crispy on the edges – so good!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Carolyn!
Amazing recipe! Fills the whole house with wonderful smells!!
Thanks Carter!
My husband is crazy about these! I roll them thin, rub some canola oil on the bottom of a glass, dip in sugar and mash them even thinner. They come out nice and crisp. For Christmas I rolled them thicker for the grandkids and used gingerbread man cutouts and let them decorate them. What a treat. Thank you sooooi much!
Awesome! Thanks Susan! 🙂
I just needed the 2T Plant Based milk, worked perfectly. Mine made 28 cookies.
My daughter made these tonight. She made them big so baked them for 15 minutes but forgot to flatten. They turned out amazing! Crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside and the flavor is out of this world! Thanks for sharing!
So glad they were a success! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Made them for Christmas on a baking day with my family
Good
If you are looking for a Ginger snaps, this is not it. This is more of a Ginger bread cookie. I think there needs to be more fat, these were just too cake like to be a snap. The flavor is very nice though.
Hi Joyce, that is really strange, they are very ‘snappy’ for me. I wonder if it could be the oven variance that caused yours to be more soft and cakey.
We both love this recipe and this is my 4th time making it. I use whole wheat flour as I never have all purpose, and add an extra teaspoon of ginger powder. Thanks for a truly delicious cookie recipe ( I am a Brit so for me it is a biscuit).
So happy to hear that Stephen! Thanks so much for the great review!