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These are the BEST vegan gingerbread cookies you will get your hands on. They are easy to make, don’t require any funky ingredients and are SO DANG GOOD!
Gingerbread cookies are the best Christmas cookies, I don’t care what anyone says 😉
They are bursting with flavor, they smile back (lol) and I don’t know, they are just so cozy tasting to me! Serve these with a cup of fresh almond milk and oh my dayummm, it’s perfect. Santa is going to love these, too!
Chris and I realized that we somehow did not have a vegan gingerbread cookie recipe on the blog yet so today, we are changing that!
A few notes to make this recipe easier for you:
- We recommend you roll and cut out cookie dough directly on a lightly floured silicone baking mat (or parchment paper) that you will be baking them on. This way you can pick up the mat/parchment and place it directly on the baking sheet to avoid distorting the shape of the cookies
- Chill the cut cookie dough on the baking sheet in the fridge for at least 10 minutes before baking just to ensure that they keep their shape.
- The cookies will seem soft them you remove them from the oven but fear not! The cookies will set as they cool.
- The baking time will depend on the size and thickness of your cookies, plus how soft or crunchy you will want them. The first batch is a good test for you to determine what works for you. We baked ours for 11 minutes as we like them soft.
- Be sure to ice the cookies only when they are completely cooled! Also, the icing is a bit sensitive so stacking the cookies on top of one another to store may smear the icing.
Looking for more holiday desserts? We’ve got you covered!
- Homemade Vegan Hot Chocolate Mix
- Classic Vegan Brownies
- Vegan Peppermint Meltaways
- Gluten-Free Thumbprint Cookies (Vegan + 8-Ingredients)
- Cinnamon Twist Christmas Cookies (8-Ingredients)
- Chai Spiced Hot Cocoa Mix
If you make this recipe, let us know what you think in the comments below! + If you post any photos on Instagram, make sure you tag us @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris so that we don’t miss it, we love seeing your photos!
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
- Total Time: 1 hour 27 minutes
- Yield: 3 dozen
Description
These are the BEST vegan gingerbread cookies you will get your hands on. They are easy to make, don’t require any funky ingredients and are SO DANG GOOD!
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cookies
- 1 stick (1/2 cup or 112g) vegan butter, softened/at room temperature
- 3⁄4 cup packed (168g) dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (180mL) molasses
- 1/2 tablespoon (6.5g) vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tablespoon (7g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (4g) baking soda
- 1 tablespoon (5g) ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon (2.5g) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon (1g) ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.5g) ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5g) salt
Icing
- 1 cup organic powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk, or as needed
Instructions
- Remove the butter from the refrigerator and allow it to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before starting.
- In a large bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Add in the salt and mix everything together until uniform. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, add in the softened vegan butter, molasses and brown sugar. Using a hand mixer or standing mixer, cream everything together until nice and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and mix until it has combined. Alternatively, you can do this by hand by whipping vigorously with a whisk. Carefully add the dry mixture to the wet and mix until uniform using a spatula or wooden spoon.
- Gather the mixture together in your hands and “knead” it together to form a large ball. Place it back into the bowl and cover it with a lid (if it has one) or with plastic wrap and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- After an hour, remove the dough from the fridge. Next, you will need to roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thick using a rolling pin, cup, etc. We broke our dough into 3 pieces to roll out. To make things easier and also to not distort the shape of the cookies, we rolled and cut our cookie dough directly on a lightly floured silicone baking mat (or parchment paper) that we will be baking them on. This way we could pick up the mat/parchment and place it directly on the baking sheet. Be sure to leave 1/2-inch between each cookie so they do not bake into each other. If you do not want to do this, just roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface, cut it out with your cookie cutters, and use a spatula to transfer them to a lined baking sheet.
- Chill the cut cookie dough on the baking sheet in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. We also like to place our leftover dough in the fridge when we are not using it to keep it chilled.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Once the cookies have chilled, place them into the oven and bake for 11-13 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. (See notes)
- Once the cookies have completely cooled, you are free to ice them as you would like! To prepare the icing all you have to do is whisk all of the ingredients for the icing together, transfer it to a piping back, and have fun! Just be sure to allow the icing to rest to harden.
- Store in airtight container and enjoy 🙂
Notes
- Keep in mind that the cookies will firm up as they cool! Also note that the baking time will depend on the size and thickness of your cookies, plus how soft or crunchy you will want them. The first batch is a good test for you to determine what works best for you. We baked ours for 11 minutes as we like them soft.
- The icing is a bit sensitive so stacking the cookies on top of one another to store may smear the icing a bit.
- The nutrition facts do not take into consideration the addition of icing.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Cookies, Christmas
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional’s advice. This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
Jasmine and Chris, I’ve been watching for years so I should’ve known these would be good… but these are legit the BEST cookies I have ever made. Obsessed. The easiest dough, the finished cookies are perfectly soft and chewy when you roll them thick and take them out at 11 mins– you have created an actual addiction in our household. Nothing weird or scary or complicated, just a simple and delish recipe. THANK YOU!!
I made these cookies for the second time, for my daughters Christmas Party and everyone loved them and wanted the recipe! I wish I could send pictures they were snow flakes, and they turned out beautiful Thank you Sherry Olson
After they were decorated, they were break your teeth hard. The next day, however, they were PERFECT! They softened up into a chewy, amazing cookie. The level of spice is wonderful, and I do believe this chocolate loving girl now loves gingerbread the best!!!! I have tried many eggless and dairy free gingerbread cookies due to my son’s allergies, and these win BY FAR! Amazing recipe, thank you!!!!!
This recipe was great! My dough was very crumbly and I added a few splashes of almond milk until it held together on its own. I’ve made other cookie recipes before when the dough was crumbly and pressed together and they didn’t turn out well after baking, but the milk addition really helped here. The ball of dough kept well in the refrigerator for a couple days until I was able to bake and they turned out beautiful. Made cookies a little thicker and baked for ~12 mins, they cooled and firmed up nicely while keeping soft.
I only had blackstrap molasses, so I used maple syrup and it worked beautifully!! Made the dough the night before and rolled it out first thing in the morning into a cookie sheet sized man to surprise our grandson when he arrived. We read the Gingerbread Man book and then frosted and devoured our giant Gingerbread Man cookie! I rolled my cookie dough on the thinner side and baked 9 minutes. They are the exact right texture, the perfect amount of soft and chewy, and absolutely delicious!
These cookies were phenomenal. Tasted great and were simple to make. We like our extra soft so we only baked for nine minutes and they were still firm once cooled. If you are looking for an awesome gingerbread recipe, look no further.
So excited to try these out tonight with my babies. Unfortunately our house got hit with Covid and we are all doing our best to keep the spirit and joy alive. I can’t taste or smell and neither can my husband, but I’m sure they’ll be delicious!! ????
Hi can I use Oatmilk instead of almond. I’m very allergic to almonds
Absolutely!
Can I freeze these cookies?
We haven’t done it, but from our research they can be frozen, just make sure they’re completely cooled before doing so.
Would a regular stick of butter work as well??
We haven’t tested it!
Could I use coconut sugar instead of brown? cant wait!!
Hey Taylor, that should work 🙂
Hi, can I keep the dough in the fridge overnight? Thanks much.
Yes, you can. It may need to sit out a little bit longer before rolling the dough though 🙂
If I do not have molasses. Can i use maple syrup? I guess it will taste differently, but will it change texture? Thank you
Hey Veronika,
We haven’t tested it, so we can’t say for sure, but molasses is much thicker than maple syrup so it may affect the texture. Also, maple syrup is a bit sweeter so it may make the cookies sweeter. We wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but it might work!
I just made them with maple and they were good! Perfect amount of sweetness.
Do you think that a gluten free 1:1 flour blend would work for this recipe? Thanks!
Hey Glory,
We haven’t tried it, but from our experience with the GF 1:1 flour, it should work. Hope this helps!
Very delicious!!! It was my first time making gingerbread cookies and I give this recipe 2 thumbs up. Made them a few days ago, stored in an airtight container and they are still chewy and delicious. I will say, though, mine did not turn out as fancy as the picture as I made a huge mess of the icing and got to the point where I gave up and just dipped them flat in the icing I didn’t spill all over the place Lolol… anyways thank you guys for the recipe.
Very good! Thank you for the recipe. I doubled the icing recipe. I can’t make fancy designs. So just a simple coat of icing with sprinkles for us. I’d definitely recommend using this recipe!
These turned out amazing!! SO yummy and easy to make.
Thank you! This is the recipe I’ve been searching for. They were amazing.
I really appreciate that you take “classic” recipes and veganize them. It makes it much easier to enjoy childhood favorites and great treats without using animal products. Thank you!
I made these for a Christmas gathering and they turned out SO well!! I also baked them for around 10 minutes and they came out perfectly soft with firm edges! Thank you!
Many of us who are looking for vegan recipes are doing so in the interest of greater heart health – so recipes that start with “a stick of vegan butter” and have lots of sugar simply don’t work. I’d love to see some cookie recipes that are actually good for my heart too, and not just my tastebuds!
Well these are classic gingerbread which contain vegan butter. If you search “cookies” on our blog you can find healthier options 😉
I’d like to say I appreciate you not trying to “healthily” vegan baking. It can be frustrating to find vegan recipes that actually taste good! I want yummy cookies like my grandma used to make while also being mindful of animal product/byproduct consumption. Thank you for this recipe!!
I would not call 1/4 cup of sugar in a dozen “lots of sugar”…these are very healthy in my book! Jasmine, these are very good!
Nah. Most people that are vegan are vegan because they care about animals.
Nice try though.
Hehe yeah, exactly. My kids would be partially annoyed if I made any more gingerbread date and walnut balls. Also all things in moderation. I’d assume that if you ate the whole batch to yourself you would be doing a naughty thing, but sharing them with family is what’s up 😉
Okay boomer, if you want a healthier recipe then just Google one! No need to criticize something the creator has clearly put a lot of effort into just because it doesn’t fit what you’re looking for. Peak Karen behavior on display. Personally, I cannot wait to make these!
Same. I eat vegan for animals 1st, health reasons 2nd. It baffles me that people think just because it’s vegan means that it’s “healthier”. In many cases, yes, but c’mon… We are talking cookies! If you are that concerned with your heart healthmaybw you should just cut them out completely
Oh my goodness, really?! They’re gingerbread cookies…you’re not going to eat 50 of them every day!
Many vegans come to vegan recipes because we want delicious food. I’m not sure what you thought, you’d get when searching for cookies.
Butter is delicious. This recipe is perfect and exactly (what I A VEGAN that came for taste) was looking for.
*im a little late to the reply party but this comment triggered my tastebuds.