Ready in under 30 minutes, these vegan gingerbread cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. The ultimate vegan cookie recipe!
Back in grade school I loved super dorky things like my American Girl dolls (who thought they were the coolest girl because of these?), every single horse thing I could find, and of course, Colonial Williamsburg. Oh, you haven’t gone to a place that acts like you are living in the 1800’s?
Let me tell you, I thought it was freaking awesome when we went to visit Williamsburg in Virginia. They played that awesome hoop game! Everyone lives in cool old houses! Besides the fact that I got to pretend that I was Felicity from American Girls, I also found out that this magical place also knew how to do tasty baked goods. In the main part of ‘town’ there was a place called the Raleigh Bake Shop and they sold the absolute best baked goods, from pies to cookies, they had it all. My family’s favorite always seemed to be the ginger cakes, which were basically gingerbread cookies, but thicker and puffier and coated with a dusting of flour, from rolling out and cutting.
Luckily for me, they also sold a small cookbook that detailed the treats they made in the bakery so I could make them any time I wanted at home. I haven’t made many other recipes from the book since, but the ginger cakes seem to always find their way into our family’s cookie arsenal year after year. One year, I even went as so far to close off the kitchen from my dad (who loves these cookies) while I made a giant batch of these cookies for him as a Christmas gift. I kept yelling at at my dad ‘You can’t come in here!!’ and trying to keep the cookies under wraps by shutting all the doors and insisting he was banished to the other half of the house for the afternoon, even though I knew he knew what I was doing. Even from an early age, I started showing my love with cookies!
Creating these vegan gingerbread cookies
I’m all in and full force into the holiday baking season. Right now, we have no less than three types of cookies in the house and maybe even a pie or bar or two. I don’t think you are hearing complaints from anyone in our house right now. I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat flour for these sturdy cookies and the Sparkling Sugar is just perfect to sprinkle on a batch of these vegan gingerbread cookies.
These did turn out a bit thinner than I had hoped, but they are still a perfect cross between some of the teeth breaking hard gingerbread cookies out there and the super puffy pillows of ginger cakes that I remember. One of the biggest struggles in vegan baking for me has been making a crispy cookie, especially sans oil or butter. In the end, I figured out that a couple tablespoons of coconut oil does the trick for these vegan gingerbread cookies, while not going too overboard with the fat content.
You can go without the sparkling sugar garnish on these cookies, but I think they add a little more sweetness and kind of look like they are dusted with shimmering snow, so why wouldn’t you want that? These also keep well for a few days, so if you need to bake cookies ahead of time that will hold up, these will do the trick.
How to make gingerbread cookies
These vegan gingerbread cookies are arguably the easiest crispy gingerbread recipe on the internet. (Bold claim, I know). Literally all you have to do is add all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined. Then, you’ll have to use your hands and knead the dough for a few minutes until it’s nice and smooth. The gingerbread cookie dough will be extremely firm, but that’s what you want!
Once you’ve made the dough, you’ll need to roll it out and use cookie cutters to form your desired shapes. I used a round biscuit cutter to make my life easier, but you could totally use the traditional gingerbread cookie cutter or something more creative. You’ll only need to bake these crispy gingerbread cookies for 10-12 minutes. When in doubt, pull them out of the oven at the 10 minute mark to be safe. You can’t really tell when these vegan gingerbread cookies have turned golden brown, and as much as I love them crispy on the outside it’s better to have them be slightly under baked than over baked!
More holiday cookie recipes on Heart of a Baker:
- Ginger Maple Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- The BEST Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Vegan Russian Tea Cakes
Crispy Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 24 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Ready in under 30 minutes, these vegan gingerbread cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. The ultimate vegan cookie recipe!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 +1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil (melted)
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
- 1/2 cup unsulfered molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except for the whole wheat flour. Once mixture is thoroughly mixed, add in the whole wheat flour and mix until dough is stiff and comes together.
- Knead dough for an additional 2 minutes to create a smoother texture.
- Dust a work surface with flour and roll out cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes (I used a biscuit cutter to cut into circular shapes).
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.
Keywords: vegan gingerbread cookies, how to make gingerbread
Thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post. I received product and was compensated for my time, but all opinions are my own.
thenomadicvegan says
My parents went to Colonial Williamsburg decades ago and absolutely loved it, so I guess it’s not just for kids! They talked about it for years and years afterwards and always said they would take me there once I was old enough to appreciate it, but somehow that never happened. Anyway, thanks for the recipe, I just might try these.
The Frosted Vegan says
I hope you do try them! Looks like you will have to take a trip there yourself, it’s lovely!
Sara @ Cake Over Steak says
My parents went to Colonial Williamsburg for their honeymoon and my mom picked up the Williamsburg cookbook. I guess there’s a recipe in there for a Williamsburg cake (or at least that’s what we call it), and it has become a family favorite, usually making an appearance for at least one birthday. Happy Christmas cookie baking! xoxo
The Frosted Vegan says
Ah I love that! I need to look for that cake, I’m sure I ate it a time or two in my travels there! xoxo
Lindsey | Mabel & the Wooden Spoon says
Felicity was TOTALLY my favorite. 😀
The Frosted Vegan says
I LOVED her too! I had Samantha and Kiersten : )
nataliejo344 says
I NEED these cookies…I have a mild gingerbread obsession! Yep, the crispy cookie without loads of fat is a challenge for me too, but 2 tbsps never hurt anybody 🙂
The Frosted Vegan says
Agreed! Just enough but not too much!
Kelsey @ Snacking Squirrel says
totally making tonight or tomorrow night. recipe saved! thank you thank you thank you
The Frosted Vegan says
Hooray! Hope you enjoy!
Erin | The Law Student's Wife says
I had Kirsten 🙂 Bob’s WW pastry flour is the best!!
The Frosted Vegan says
Me too! I loved her hair so much!
whiskandshout says
That sugar is gorgeous! Bookmarking this great recipe for my holiday baking 🙂
The Frosted Vegan says
It really is the BEST!
montemarg says
If you could only have one cookie which would it be?
Enter your answer at: http://www.dashofthisandthat.com
The #1 most popular cookie will be revealed on Saturday, December 6th, 2014. Should be fun! Happy Baking!!
Kath McDonald says
Kirsten Larson foreverrrrr!!!
The Frosted Vegan says
I knewwww you would say that! : )
ZoeEdelman says
Do you this this recipe would be good for building a gingerbread house?
The Frosted Vegan says
Hi Zoe! It could be, because it turns out pretty stable, but I can’t say for sure. I actually should try that out and report back : )
Brigitte says
I am just done making the cookies I did a little les 1/3 of a cut of sugar just a little less and 1/3 cup molasses ..double the spices ..the dough is so nice to work with it’s perfectly sweet for me not too much . I baked mine 17 minutes I wanted them crispy has i am using them to make Trifin recipe https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-tiffin this will be the perfect cookie for it . What I like about those cookies is there is only 2 tbsp of coconut oil and whole wheat flour !! Perfectly healthy than store bought . All the other recipes had like 1 cup of butter way to unhealthy . Thank you great recipe .
blessmyfood says
I love cakes but don’t want eggs in them. Well, to me as a food enthusiast, it’s a delight. I am surely going to try it. All thanks to Payal mam.