These perfect vegan gingerbread cookies are the warmth of the holiday season in a cookie! Soft, chewy insides and sturdy enough to decorate. Easy recipe you’ll love.
Free from: dairy, casein, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, coconut, fish, shellfish, crustaceans, mollusks, celery, corn, sesame, mustard, lupin, sulfites, and more
These are soft gingerbread cookies that you can cut out into fun shapes! My family loves to make tons of cookies for the christmas season and these gingerbread cookies are some of our favorite ones. They make for perfect cookies to pack into cookie boxes, share at cookie swaps, or just for snacking on by yourself with a mug of coffee or tea.
Make sure you also check out my vegan ginger cookies, vegan spritz cookies, and vegan sugar cookies.
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Why You’ll Love these Vegan Gingerbread Men
- Soft, chewy cookies that are sturdy enough to decorate
- Perfectly spiced with lots of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice
- Super easy to make
- Freeze well to save for later
- A great addition to cookie boxes or to give as gifts
- Dairy free, egg free recipe
Ingredients
You only need some easy to acquire simple ingredients to make these amazing gingerbread cookies.
- Flour: Normal all purpose flour makes for a great soft and chewy cookie.
- Molasses: I like to use Grandma’s Unsulphured molasses. It has a rich taste and isn’t too overwhelming. I've also made this with blackstrap molasses which has a bit more nutritional oomph.
- Flax egg: While some traditional gingerbread recipes don’t call for an egg, I find that adding a flaxseed egg really helps with the rolling and cutting of these cookies. Plus, it makes these cookies kinda healthy because of the flax seed.
- Spices: You can’t make gingerbread cookies without a lot of spices! Ground ginger, ground cinnamon, cloves, and allspice are my favorite mix. If you like nutmeg, you can add a pinch of that as well.
- Other ingredients you’ll need: Vegan butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda, and salt
Allergy Substitutions
If you are avoiding flax seeds, you can use an equal amount of chia seeds.
Avoiding corn? Make sure that your vanilla extract is corn free! See my favorite baking ingredients here.
How to make gingerbread cookie dough
In a small bowl that is heat proof, combine the ground flax seeds with the boiling water to make the flaxseed egg. Give it a good mix and set it aside for 5 minutes. This lets it gel together.
In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients of flour, baking soda, salt, and all the spices.
In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature vegan butter. Mix this on a medium speed for about 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy.
Next, add the remaining wet ingredients to the vegan butter. The brown sugar, molasses, vanilla extract, and the flax egg can all be added at the same time. Whip this on medium speed again for about a minute to really combine it, and to keep it light and fluffy.
Now, add the sifted flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix this on low speed until it starts to come together. I like to turn the mixer up to medium speed for a few seconds to help the dry mixture fully incorporate into the wet ingredients. You can also use a spatula or wooden spoon to help this gingerbread dough come together.
Divide the dough into two equal balls and wrap in plastic wrap. Set these into the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
Why chill the dough?
Chilling the dough is super important in egg free baking! It helps the fats in the dough (vegan butter in this case) firm back up to make the rolling and cutting of shapes easier. Plus, when they go into the hot oven, they are less likely to lose their shape if chilled.
The flax seed egg does a good job of holding the cookies together but let’s use everything we can to make these the best cookies ever.
Baking
Onto a lightly floured surface, it’s time to roll out the cookies!
Roll the chilled dough out to about a ¼ inch thick with a rolling pin. Using your cookie cutters, gently cut each cookie out and transfer to a lined baking sheet.
Pro tip! Never shake the cookie cutter back and forth when cutting cookies out. This will prevent them from properly rising up in the oven. Use cookie cutters in a simple up and down motion.
Bake the cookies for 8 to 11 minutes, depending on how large your cookies are. While the bake time will be different for each cookie, for best results I generally use this as a guide for cookies.
- Cookies smaller than 4-inches in size: 8-9 minutes baking
- Cookies about 4-inches in size: 9-10 minutes baking
- Cookies over 4-inches in size: 10-12 minutes baking
The cookies are done when they are slightly browned and have a set look to them.
Let the cookies rest on the hot baking tray for at least 10 minutes after baking to allow them to finish setting. After 10 minutes you can transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Let them cool completely before decorating.
Note. This recipe makes for amazing vegan cookies. However, this dough is not sturdy enough to make a gingerbread house.
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Gingerbread Cookie Icing Recipe
The gingerbread cookie icing recipe I use couldn’t be easier to mix up!
Combine one cup of powdered sugar (aka icing sugar) with one tablespoon of water. Mix it up and you are done! Transfer it to a piping bag with a small round tip to make the perfect gingerbread men, reindeer, trees, and more.
I like to use this simple icing because of how easy it is to mix up. It also lets these cookies sit out at room temperature with no problems. Plus, it is vegan!
How to store
The awesome thing about these cookies is how well they store for the holidays.
Countertop: Store the cookies in an airtight container on the countertop for up to a week. (If they last that long!)
Freezer: These cookies freeze amazingly well. Chill cookies in a single layer on a baking tray. After they are frozen, transfer to a freezer safe container, with a sheet of parchment paper in between each layer of cookies. Allow cookies to thaw before serving after freezing.
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Recipe
Equipment
- mixing bowls
- mixing spoons
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- hand mixer or stand mixer
- parchment paper
- baking trays
- cookie cutters
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons vegan butter room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ⅔ cup molasses
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- 3 tablespoons water boiling
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon cloves
Instructions
- Make the flax egg. In a small heat proof bowl, combine the ground flax seeds with the boiling water. Mix them together well and set aside to cool slightly. Let this rest for 5 minutes.
- Sift the dry ingredients. In another bowl, sift together the flour with baking soda, salt, and all the spices. Set this aside.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or in the stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the softened vegan butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar, flax egg, vanilla, and molasses. Mix this well on medium speed for about a minute to really incorporate all the ingredients.
- Combine ingredients. Now, add the dry ingredients to the wet. Mix on slow speed at first and then on medium until the dough comes together in the bowl.
- Chill the dough. Divide the dough into two equal portions and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven. Line 4 baking trays with parchment paper (number of trays will depend on size of cookies).
- Roll the dough. Dust the work surface generously with extra flour. Roll the chilled gingerbread dough to about a ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookies with your favorite cookie cutters. Use a spatula to carefully transfer them to the prepared baking trays. These cookies won’t spread that much but it’s still a good idea to leave a little room between cookies. Re-roll the dough and use until no dough remains.
- Bake. Bake the gingerbread cookies for 8-11 minutes or until done. The edges will be set and a slightly darker color will be developed on the edge of the cookie. Don’t over bake these! For smaller cookies that are under 4 inches in size, I find they only take about 8 minutes. Larger cookies take upwards of 11 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the hot tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Decorate. Mix together the powdered sugar and water until it is the thickness of icing that you like. Transfer to a piping bag. Decorate the cooled cookies with icing and sprinkles. Enjoy!
Notes
- Ideally you will bake one cookie tray at a time. If you need to bake more than one, place the oven racks in the top two thirds of the oven and rotate the trays halfway through baking.
-
Allergy Substitutions
- If you are avoiding flax seeds, you can use an equal amount of chia seeds.
- Avoiding corn? Make sure that your vanilla extract is corn free! See my favorite baking ingredients here.
- Baking Times
- Cookies smaller than 4-inches in size: 8-9 minutes baking
- Cookies about 4-inches in size: 9-10 minutes baking
- Cookies over 4-inches in size: 10-12 minutes baking
-
How to store
- Countertop: Store the cookies in an airtight container on the countertop for up to a week. (If they last that long!)
- Freezer: These cookies freeze amazingly well. Chill cookies in a single layer on a baking tray. After they are frozen, transfer to a freezer safe container, with a sheet of parchment paper in between each layer of cookies. Allow cookies to thaw before serving after freezing.
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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