Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

An easy vegan gingerbread cookie recipe for Christmas! They are soft and chewy, have a beautiful gingerbread flavor, and are fun to make!

Gingerbread cookies are one of the most classic and popular Christmas cookies!

No wonder, the spices used for the dough are typical winter spices and turn every meal and hot comfort drink during the winter chill into a delicious treat.

Ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, those four spices are responsible for the gingerbread cookies deliberate taste.

And let me tell you, baking dairy-free and egg-free gingerbread cookies is a breeze. So simple!

The dough is mixed together in no time, and cut-out cookies are always fun to make with or without kids.

Molasses & Alternative Product

Classic gingerbread cookies are made with unsulfured blackstrap molasses, which gives them a unique flavor and the typical dark brown color.

If you didn’t know, molasses is a by-product of sugar production.

But let’s be honest, buying a can of molasses only to use it once a year for baking isn’t something everybody is interested in. Furthermore, in some places it’s hard to get.

Where I live, we don’t get the blackstrap molasses, only a mixture of molasses and glucose syrup. That’s why my gingerbread men are slightly lighter in color.

If you don’t have molasses at hand or don’t want to buy it just to make one recipe, go for maple syrup.

You can add two tablespoons of cacao powder to the dough to achieve almost the same dark-brown color as with molasses. However, adding cacao powder is totally optional!

Gingerbread Cookies Recipe – Step by Step

This step-by-step guide will help you along the way – definitely recommended if you’re a baking beginner! 

The exact quantities and everything else you need to know for the recipe can be found in the recipe card below.

Dough

• Mix vegan butter, brown sugar, molasses, and vanilla extract until creamy (2-3 minutes) in a bowl using a stand or hand mixer.

• Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and all the spices in a bowl.

• Add the dry ingredients with ¼ cup dairy-free milk to the wet ingredients and mix for another minute until you have a smooth dough.

• Form it into a ball or disc, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. → The dough can be refrigerated for up to two days. If so, let it sit for 15 minutes at room temperature before rolling it out.

• Preheat your oven to 355°F (180°C).
• Place the dough on a floured surface and roll it out, using a rolling pin, to about ¼-inch (½ cm) thickness.

• Using gingerbread man cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all dough is used.

• Transfer the cookies to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet
• Bake for 6-8 minutes in the preheated oven. → The shorter the baking time, the softer they are.

• Remove from the oven, allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.

Icing

• Whisk powdered sugar, dairy-free milk, and vanilla extract in a small bowl. → It should be quite thick! Add more powdered sugar if it’s too thin or more dairy-free milk if it’s too thick.

• Transfer in a piping bag and decorate the cookies to your liking. Don’t have a piping bag? Use a Ziploc bag and snip a small corner of the bag off. It’s not ideal but works just fine.
• Let the icing dry for a few hours before storing the cookies in a cookie tin.

Do you love colorful cookies? Divide the icing between different small bowls and add to each a different food coloring.

Recipe FAQ & Tips

How long do they stay fresh? They are best freshly baked. However, you can store them for one week in a cookie tin or airtight container at room temperature.

Can I freeze those cookies? Once cool, transfer them into a freezer bag and freeze for a maximum of 3 months. Defrost them one by one at room temperature (takes 15-30 minutes) or rebake them for a few minutes in the oven.

Can I make the dough ahead of time? Absolutely! Store the raw cookie dough after step 3 for up to 2 days in the refrigerator. Let it sit for 15 minutes at room temperature, then continue with step 4. 

Want to make gingerbread cookies without molasses? Use maple syrup instead and add 2 tablespoon of cacao powder!

More Vegan Cookie Recipes You’ll Love:

• Vegan Sugar Cookies
• Almond Crescent Cookies (German Vanillekipferl)
• Cinnamon Star Cookies (German Zimtsterne) → these are gluten-free
• Vegan Linzer Cookies 

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📖 Recipe