Just in time for the Christmas season: A recipe for Molasses-Free & Vegan Gingerbread Cookies. These aren't like your typical soft gingerbread, they are gingerbread-flavored crispy cookies. They are the perfect Christmas cookies!
So my goal for these Gingerbread cookies was to make them without molasses. Because I really dislike working with the sticky mess and I end up having leftover molasses in the pantry all year round. And they worked great! These aren't like the typical soft gingerbread, they are crispy gingerbread cookies.
These Christmas cookies get their specific gingerbread taste from the cinnamon and ginger powder. If you're looking for more vegan Christmas cookies, make sure you check out these No-Bake Marzipan Rum Balls or the easiest Christmas cookies ever with only two ingredients!
Molasses-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cup white flour
- ½ cup white sugar (make sure it's vegan!)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ⅛ cup almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- ¼ cup cold vegan butter (EarthBalance, Alsan,...)
Instructions
- Combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon powder, and ginger powder. Give it a quick whisk. Add in the maple syrup, vegan butter (cut in small pieces) and almond milk. Mix and knead with your hands until it's a smooth dough. If it's too sticky, feel free to add more flour.
- Cover the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (the dough should be cold when you roll it out). Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut out cookies with a cookie cutter until all the dough is used up. Transfer them on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes. They are quite soft when fresh out of the oven but they will harden once cooled, so let them cool off completely, before munching them or decorating them further.
Iga | Dietmap says
time to start christmas recipes! xx
Bianca says
Yes! Let the baking begin :)
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
OMG!!! These are just too cute for words <3 The fact that you made them into elephants...awwww so perfect! And such a fun challenge making them molasses free, that stuff can be such a mess I swear it just leaves a trail of stickiness no matter how much I clean the bottom of the bottle :D Cookie season is on!!
Bianca says
hahaha, yeah, molasses are a sticky mess. I never used it much, except for gingerbread, and then I had half a jar sitting in the pantry for a year, so making molasses-free gingerbread cookies was my way to deal with that :) I love cookie season! ^.^
Adesso says
Is the mixture supposed to be so dry? It seems like it needs more liquid? Too crumbly ..
Veerle says
these are so freakin cute! Could you use stevia instead of xylitol? xo
Bianca says
Thanks! I haven't worked with stevia before. It could definitely work with granulated stevia (but I'm not sure if it's a 1-to-1 conversion rate). It's definitely worth a try :)
Tara says
Is there something wrong with the temperature and liquid amounts?
180* C = ~350 F
but you have 80*F listed as the temperature...
Also my dough is just powder I had to add a ton of water to get it to hold together.
Bianca says
Hi Tara, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! The temperature was most definitely an error. I've just remade the cookies and I've updated the ingredients and instructions. It needs a bit more milk, plus I've added in the instructions to use the hands for kneading the dough. It will need the body's warmth for the butter to get warm enough to bind everything together :)
Chris says
I had the same issue as the other commenter with my dough essentially being a powder. I added some more almond milk but it was too much and my dough was too wet. Added some more flour and it came out pretty good though. I'll have to try again with a different amount of almond milk and see how it comes out. Wasn't really "gingerbread" to me but that's just because of not using molasses I'm sure. Tasted and cooked great after all that though!
Bianca says
Thank you so much for your comment, Chris! I've just remade the cookies and I've updated the ingredients and instructions. You're right, it needs a bit more almond milk, plus I've added in the instructions to use the hands for kneading the dough. It will need the body's warmth for the butter to get warm enough to bind everything together :) Yeah, it's not a typical gingerbread recipe, it's more like gingerbread-flavored cookies. Glad you liked them nonetheless! :)
célia says
second winter i made them, super quick, super easy, super appreciated ! thank you
Bianca says
So glad to hear that, Célia!! <3
Judy says
I made them :) It was so good! Tasted like biscoff lotus biscuits :). I used some tapioca starch and homeade oat flour because that's what I had on hand. I also used chilled coconut oil instead of butter. It turned out amazing tho :). Thank you so much, I will be trying out many more of your recipes soon:)
Miruna says
Best recipe ever. Thanks a lot! 💕
Maria says
Made these for my vegan friend. I hate kneading but used gloves and got by fine, and after that the dough was a breeze to work with. I would personally say this needs at least 3x more spices (I also use cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and a whisper of black pepper in mine and did the same here), but maybe I just like my gingerbread cookies extra spicy.
I would also recommend mentioning that they will expland and puff up a lot and you have to take that into account when choosing a cutter - these wouldn't make good intricate snowflakes for example. I was prepared from previous experiences and used a star cutter, pinching the rays after shaping so that it would make more of a star and less of a flower after puffing up in the oven.
Overall a great recipe and a godsend for not using molasses or other finicky ingredients.