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 it 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 a cookie cutter, 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.
Let the icing dry for a few hours before storing the cookies in a cookie tin.
Notes
No molasses? Use maple syrup instead and add 2 tablespoons of cacao powder to the dough if you want the cookies to be a dark brown.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.Store them in a cookie tin at room temperature.Keeps fresh for one week.Make-Ahead: You can store the 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. Freeze cookies for up to 3 months in a freezer bag and thaw single cookies for 30 minutes at room temperature.