These vegan gingerbread cookies are perfect for the holidays! Soft, chewy, and deliciously spiced, they're fun to make, fun to decorate, and fun to eat.
These vegan gingerbread cookies might just be my new favorite holiday cookie! They’re so good that I’ve made them quite a few times this month already. We (ahem, Jack) kept devouring batch after batch, so I just had to make them again this weekend so we could snap some photos and share them with all of you!
These vegan gingerbread cookies are soft, chewy, and deliciously spiced. If you ask me, they’re just as good as traditional gingerbread, but they’re made with wholesome, plant-based ingredients like coconut sugar, coconut oil, and almond butter – my secret ingredient. It makes these vegan gingerbread cookies so tasty that I couldn’t stop eating little pieces of the dough while I was mixing it together!
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies Ingredients
These vegan gingerbread cookies are a treat, don’t get me wrong, but they’re still packed with good-for-you ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Ground flaxseed – You’ll mix it with a little water to make a flax egg. It helps bind the other ingredients together and adds fiber and healthy fats to these vegan gingerbread cookies.
- Spelt flour – If you don’t have spelt flour on hand, don’t worry! A 50/50 mix of white and whole wheat flour will work here too.
- Spices – You can’t make good gingerbread without them! I use ginger, of course, as well as cinnamon and cardamom. They fill these cookies with delicious warm flavor.
- Baking soda – To help the cookies puff up as they bake.
- Melted coconut oil – It makes these vegan gingerbread cookies rich, soft, and chewy.
- Almond butter – It adds extra richness and nutty depth of flavor.
- Coconut sugar – This natural sweetener has a dark, molasses-like taste, so it adds depth to the cookies’ spiced, sweet flavor.
- Molasses – A gingerbread essential! Along with the coconut sugar, it makes these cookies lightly sweet.
- And sea salt – Don’t skip it! It makes all the sweet, spiced flavors pop.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Like classic sugar cookies, these vegan gingerbread cookies are a bit of a project. Still, they’re super fun to make – the perfect holiday activity to do with family, friends, or all on your own! Here’s what you need to do:
First, mix up the dough. Whisk together the flax and water, and set it aside to thicken. Meanwhile, whisk together the dry ingredients. Then, add the remaining wet ingredients to the flax mixture, whisking until smooth. Pour in the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. When the dough becomes too thick to stir, use your hands to knead and form it into a thick disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.
Then, roll it out. Place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper, and roll it out until it’s 1/4-inch thick.
Now for the fun part! Use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes. I like to start near the edges and work inwards, puzzling together the cut-outs to create as many cookies as I can. Re-roll the scraps as necessary to cut out more cookies.
As you work, transfer the cut-outs to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Finally, bake! Transfer the cookie sheet to a 325° oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned. If you have too many cookies for a single baking sheet, bake one sheet at a time so that the cookies bake evenly.
It’ll be tempting to eat these cookies right away (they smell amazing right out of the oven!), but it’s crucial that you don’t. They’re soft and tender, so let them rest for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies Variations
These vegan gingerbread cookies are really tasty on their own, but they’re also fun to decorate. Top them with this vegan frosting, the glaze from this recipe, or traditional royal icing. I think they’d also be adorable with a simple dusting of powdered sugar.
If you’re not in the mood for decorating or cutting out cookies, you can skip both! Instead of rolling out the dough, roll it into balls to make chewy, soft gingerbread cookies instead. Both versions of these vegan gingerbread cookies are delicious, so you really can’t go wrong. Just note that if you choose to decorate the cookies, they’ll need to be at room temperature before you begin. If they’re still warm, the frosting or icing will melt. Happy holidays, friends!
More Favorite Holiday Treats
If you love these vegan gingerbread cookies, try one of these tasty holiday treats next:
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Cookies
- Best Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Tahini Cookies
- Lemon Shortbread Cookies
- Perfect Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal
- 3 tablespoons warm water
- 2¼ cups spelt flour (or white/wheat mix)
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger (3 for a stronger ginger flavor)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup unsulphured molasses (I used this one from Wholesome)
- In a large bowl, combine the flaxseed and water. Stir and set aside to thicken.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, baking soda and salt.
- Give the flax mixture another stir, and then add the melted coconut oil, coconut sugar, almond butter and molasses. Whisk until smooth. Add the dry mixture and stir to combine. When the dough gets thick, use your hands to lightly knead the dough to form a thick disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove the disk from the fridge. Place it between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll the dough until ¼“ thick. (If your dough is too sticky, you can add a little bit of flour). Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes and carefully place them on the baking sheet. Re-roll any remaining dough.*
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned (although this is hard to see since the cookies are dark). Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes on the hot baking sheet without touching them before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
- *Optional: Instead of re-rolling any extra dough, form the remainder into soft ginger cookies. Place ¼ cup cane sugar into a small bowl. Roll the dough into 1½“ balls, and then roll them in the cane sugar. Place the balls on a cookie sheet and press down on them lightly to flatten. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.
These were great. I found them to be a bit crumbly, but my flax was not super finely ground so that may have been part of it. I think next time I will add some cloves and bump up the ginger to the full 3tsp.
These look delish!!
But, I am on a low saturated fat vegan, (with fish) for multiple sclerosis, it’s called the Overcoming MS Diet. Can you recommend a substitution for coconut oil? It’s too high in saturated fat. Thanks!!!