Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

These Vegan Gingerbread Cookies are soft and chewy with a hint of molasses flavor! Perfect for holidays or any day you need a treat!

Course Vegan Dessert Recipes

Cuisine American

Diet Vegan

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Servings cookies

Calories 100kcal

Author Louisa

Ingredients

4 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup vegan butter
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
granulated sugar for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.
To a large mixing bowl, add the ginger, maple syrup, molasses, apple sauce, and vegan butter. Mix well using a hand held mixer.
In a separate medium mixing bowl, add the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Mix well.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until ingredients are incorporated. Toward the end, it may work best to use your hands, as the batter gets quite thick. Form the dough into a ball.
Taking Tablespoon-sized scoops of dough, form into round balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass or small dish. Sprinkle a small amount of granulated sugar on top of each cookie.
Bake for 12-14 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool on a cooling rack.

Notes

Make sure the ginger is tiny

The last thing you want when you bite into one of these cookies is to have a massive chunk of ginger in your mouth. Talk about a kick of spice! My trick to keeping the ginger as tiny as possible is to grate it with a zester or microplane. Just peel the ginger and grate away.

Chill the dough

This recipe doesn't require you to chill the dough like many other gingerbread recipes, but chilling for even 10-20 minutes before baking will ensure your little dough balls aren't spreading all over the baking sheet and into each other.

Use room temperature butter

I highly suggest using room temperature butter in this recipe, making it easier to beat with the other ingredients and allowing it to incorporate easier.

Measure flour correctly

There's a right and a wrong way to measure flour, and it makes a huge difference in your baking results. The way I recommend is to first start out by fluffing the flour in its container or bag so it's not all packed in there. Then with a spoon, scoop the fluffed flour out into a measuring cup until its overflowing a bit. Don't pack it in there. Just place spoonfuls into the measuring cup. Once filled, using the back of a knife, level off the top of the flour so it's flush with the measuring cup.

For softer cookies

If you want to ensure soft cookies, I would opt for the lower cooking time, pulling them out of the oven when they're JUST baked in the center and still seem a little underdone. Leave them on the baking sheet when you pull them out of the oven and they'll finish off perfectly! If you want more of a gingersnap, feel free to bake for the full 14 minutes.

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