These vegan gingerbread cookies come together with simple ingredients, they’re easy to make, and require NO chill time! Add these cute 'lil guys to your holiday cookie tins, or spend an evening with the kids decorating gingerbread men. You won’t be able to resist their Christmas charm!
When I think of a classic Christmas cookie gingerbread men are the first to come to mind.
Snowball cookies and sugar cookies are an easy second.
But, when I want a cookie with that Christmas flavor, I’m reaching for a vegan gingerbread man.
Their aromatic spices, rich molasses flavor, and chewy yet soft center have me baking up double batches.
For an alternative to this classic cookie try my gingerbread cake. It has the same delicious flavors. Plus, it's easy to make and ready in about 30 minutes.
Just look at that adorable little gingerbread face!
How can you not want to bake up a batch or two and share them?!
Instructions
These vegan gingerbread cookies are easy to make and require NO chill time. Just follow the simple steps below.
step 1. Cream together the oil and sugar until the mixture resembles a sandy texture similar to the image above.
step 2. Pour the remaining wet ingredients into the bowl.
step 3. Mix everything together using a hand mixer or wooden spoon.
step 4. Add half of the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix until the flour is fully incorporated.
step 5. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix as well as you can. It should create crumbly dough.
step 6. To fully bring the dough together you'll want to use your hands and gently knead it. If necessary, add a bit more non-dairy milk until the dough comes together and forms a dough ball.
step 7. To easily handle the cutout cookie dough, place a sheet of parchment paper down on your work surface and dust it with flour. Place the dough ball down and add another sheet of parchment paper on top. Slightly flatten the gingerbread dough ball.
step 8. Roll the gingerbread dough out to about ¼-inch thickness using a rolling pin.
step 9. Use a good quality cookie cutter. Dip the cutter in flour to keep it from sticking to the dough.
step 10. Remove the excess dough from around the cookies. Then, use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake.
Allow the gingerbread cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
To Decorate the Cookies
Once the gingerbread cookies are fully cooled it’s time to make the icing and decorate those cute little guys.
Decorate these vegan cookies any way you like using a piping bag and a small round-shaped tip. Use your imagination and add overalls, a shirt, pants, hair, bowtie, etc.
For a simple design pipe on zigzags and buttons.
- To pipe the eyes and buttons, hold the piping bag straight up and close to the cookie. Squeeze out a small dollop of icing. Stop squeezing and pull up as the dollop reaches the desired size.
- To pipe the mouth and zig-zags, the tip of the piping bag should be held close to the cookie (but not touching) and at a slight angle. Slowly and gently squeeze the bag while moving it in the direction of the mouth and zig-zags.
FAQs
Store the baked cookies in an airtight bag or container at room temperature for up to 5 days. If the cookies are decorated, store them in a single layer to not mess up the icing.
Yes! These vegan gingerbread cookies freeze well after baking. Store them undecorated in an airtight container or bag for up to 2 months in the freezer.
Expert Tips
- For the perfect taste and color use light molasses such as Grandma’s Original Molasses. Avoid using blackstrap molasses. It’s too dark and best used in savory dishes.
- For just the right amount of gingerbread flavor, slightly over-measure the spices rather than leveling them.
- Dip the cookie cutter in flour to keep the dough from sticking to it.
- Use a spatula to carefully transfer the cutout dough to the baking sheet. There should be no need to chill the dough if it's handled with care.
- A small piping tip works best to decorate the cookies. Slowly pipe the icing on the cookies for a clean look.
We'd love to hear from you!
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See ya there!
Recipe
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
Dry
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ¾ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ⅓ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
Wet
- ⅓ cup refined coconut oil, scoop-able
- ⅔ cup coconut sugar, or light brown sugar
- ½ cup molasses, see notes
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 4 Tablespoons non-dairy milk
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon non-dairy milk
Instructions
To Make The Dough
- Sift the dry ingredients into a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer (or stand mixer with paddle attachment) at low-speed to cream together the coconut oil and sugar until there are no large oil lumps. You can also use a wooden spoon but it will take extra arm work.
- Mix in the remaining wet ingredients at low-medium speed.½ cup molasses,2 Tablespoons maple syrup,4 Tablespoons non-dairy milk
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients. Mix everything with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients to the bowl and mix as well as you can with the wooden spoon. It should create a crumbly dough. At this point, use your hands to bring the dough together fully. Gently knead it until it comes together and you can easily make a dough ball. If the dough is still crumbly after working it a bit add a little more non-dairy milk (up to 1 Tablespoon) until the dough holds together.
To Roll And Cut The Dough
- Place a sheet of parchment paper down on your work surface and dust it with flour.
- Set the dough ball in the middle of the parchment paper and dust the top with flour. Place the other sheet of parchment paper on top and slightly flatten the dough.
- Roll the dough out to about a ¼-inch thickness using a rolling pin. Periodically reset the top sheet of parchment paper and dust it with flour as needed.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out as many gingerbread men (or non-gingerbread men) as will fit the rolled-out dough.
- Gather the extra dough from around the cookies. Form it into a ball, and set it aside to re-roll.
- Use a spatula to transfer the cookie cutouts to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake the cookies in single batches of 6 on the middle rack at 350ºF for 8-10 minutes. Baking one pan at a time will keep the cookie texture consistent.
- Repeat the above steps to use up the remaining dough.
To Make The Icing
- Add the powdered sugar to a bowl.
- Pour in the vanilla extract.
- Slowly whisk in the non-dairy milk. Add just enough milk to make a thick icing that will hold its shape on the cookies, but not too thick that it won’t pipe well. The icing consistency should be thick, yet easily drizzle off a spoon and break quickly. If you need to add more milk, slowly mix in a drop at a time.
To Decorate The Cookies
- Use a piping bag and a small round tip to decorate the cookies. It’s best to work slowly and steadily for an even look.
Notes
- I used Grandma's Original Molasses brand, but any light molasses will work. Avoid using blackstrap molasses. It's too dark and won't yield a classic gingerbread taste.
- Add up to 1 extra Tablespoon of non-dairy milk if the dough doesn’t stay together when kneading with your hands.
- Slightly over measure the spices rather than leveling them for the perfect flavor.
Nutrition
**Nutritional info is provided as an estimate based on the ingredients I used and for convenience and as a courtesy only.**
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Romina
Hi, Can this recipe be used for a gingerbread house pls? Thanks
Marlena Luna
Yes, but you may need 2 batches of cookie dough depending on the size of gingerbread house.