Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (2024)

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These Vegan Gingerbread Cookies are perfectly spiced with ginger and cinnamon and flavored with molasses. They are crispy and delicate. This recipe for Homemade Gingerbread Cookies decorated with easy white icing is the best for Christmas baking.

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (1)

THESE GINGERBREAD COOKIES ARE:

  • vegan
  • egg-free
  • dairy-free
  • crispy
  • spicy
  • warm
  • flavorful
  • tasty
  • best Christmas cookies

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (2)

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE VEGAN GINGERBREAD COOKIES WITH ICING:

You need the following ingredients to make these Gingerbread Cookies:

  • Vegan butter – Use vegan butter that has around 75-80% fat. Don’t forget to let it soften at room temperature before making the dough.
  • Brown sugar – You can use coconut sugar instead.
  • Unsulphured molasses – Adds that characteristic gingerbread flavor.
  • Unsweetened almond milk – Use any unsweetened plant-based milk of your choice.
  • All-purpose flour – I don’t recommend using any other type of flour for this recipe.
  • Cocoa powder – adds color to the cookies. Use unsweetened cocoa powder.
  • Gingerbread spices – The recipe calls for ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. You can always adjust the spices.
  • Baking powder – Helps to raise the dough.
  • Sea salt – to bring out all those flavors.
  • Icing sugar – for the gingerbread icing.
  • Cornstarch

Equipment you need:

  • Mixing bowl – for mixing the gingerbread dough
  • Hand mixer or stand mixer
  • Sifter
  • Wooden spoon or spatula
  • Plastic wrapper
  • Rolling pin
  • Cookie cutters
  • Baking tray – I recommend using one with a lighter surface, so the cookies won’t get brown too much on the bottom
  • Parchment paper
  • Medium-size bowl – for the icing
  • Piping bag

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (3)

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE VEGAN GINGERBREAD COOKIES WITH ICING:

You will find the instructions and ingredients list in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

1. Step: Make the gingerbread dough

To the mixing bowl, add soft vegan butter, brown sugar, and molasses. Cream together with a hand mixer (or use a stand mixer) for about 1 minute. Add unsweetened almond milk. Mix until combine. Next, sift all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, and baking soda. Add a pinch of sea salt. Mix everything with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined.

2. Step: Let the dough chill

Wrap the gingerbread dough in a plastic wrapper and put it in the fridge to let it chill overnight (or at least for about 3 hours). It will help to combine the flavors and firm the dough, so it will be easier to work with it.

3. Step: Let the dough thaw and preheat the oven

The next day, take the dough off the fridge and let it thaw at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (4)

4. Step: Roll out the dough and cut out cookies

Unwrap the dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Always try to use as little flour as possible. (However, the dough should never stick to the surface or rolling pin.) Lightly flour the dough as well.

Roll out the dough evenly using a rolling pin to around 0,5 cm (1/5 in) thick. Use any shape of the cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Dip the cookie cutter into flour every time you cut a new cookie, so the dough doesn’t stick to it.

Gather the scraps of dough, form into a ball, and roll out again. Cut more cookies. Repeat this process until there is no more dough.

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5. Step: Bake the gingerbread cookies

Carefully transfer the cookies onto a baking tray with parchment paper. Bake in preheated oven for about 6-7 minutes. Baking time depends on how large and thick your cookies are, so make sure to keep your eyes on them. If you want softer cookies, bake them for a shorter time.

After cookies are baked, transfer them to a cooling rack. Let them cool completely before decorating.

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6. Step: Make icing and decorate cookies

To a medium-size bowl, sift icing sugar and cornstarch. Then add almond milk and whisk until combined into thick icing (it should hold shape). You can add more milk if it’s too thick.

After the cookies are cooled, transfer the icing to a piping bag and decorate your cookies.

Make sure to let the icing harden.

Store your gingerbread cookies in an airtight container.

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (7)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

HOW LONG WILL THE GINGERBREAD DOUGH LAST IN THE FRIDGE?

You can make the dough ahead a few days and keep it in the fridge. It will last up to one week.

HOW TO STORE VEGAN GINGERBREAD COOKIES?

Place the cookies in an airtight container and keep them in a cool, dry place. Make sure that the icing is completely dry first.

HOW LONG GINGERBREAD COOKIES LAST?

Gingerbread cookies will last for about 4 weeks in a cool, dry place.

CAN YOU FREEZE GINGERBREAD COOKIES?

Yes, you can freeze gingerbread cookies. Place them into a covered container and keep them in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (8)

IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE, MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING:

  • Vegan Gingerbread Sheet Cake With Molasses Frosting
  • Walnut Crescent Cookies
  • Vegan Hot Chocolate With Rum
  • Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
  • Homemade Vegan Nutella

If you try this recipe, please let me know by leaving a comment below. Or share your photo on Instagram and tag @plantifulbakery.

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (9)

VEGAN GINGERBREAD COOKIES WITH ICING

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These Vegan Gingerbread Cookies are perfectly spiced with ginger and cinnamon and flavored with molasses. They are crispy and delicate. This recipe for Homemade Gingerbread Cookies decorated with easy white icing is the best for Christmas baking.

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Prep Time:25 mins

Cook Time:6 mins

Course: Cookie, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Czech

Diet: Vegan

Yield: 35 cookies (approx.)

Calories: 48kcal

Author: Plantiful Bakery

Ingredients

For the gingerbread cookies:

  • 70 g vegan butter, soft, (around 75-80% fat)
  • 90 g brown sugar
  • 40 g unsulphured molasses
  • 3 tbsp (45 ml) unsweetened almond milk
  • 200 g all-purpose flour, + extra for flouring
  • 1/2 tbsp (3 g) cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch sea salt

For the icing:

  • 80 g icing sugar
  • 8 g (1 tbsp) corn starch
  • 20 ml (1 tbsp + 1 tsp) unsweetened almond milk

Instructions

Make the gingerbread cookies:

  • To the mixing bowl, add soft vegan butter, brown sugar, and molasses. Cream together with a hand mixer for about 1 minute. Add unsweetened almond milk. Mix until combine. Next, sift all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, and baking soda. Add a pinch of sea salt. Mix everything with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined.

  • Wrap the gingerbread dough in a plastic wrapper and put it in the fridge to let it chill overnight (or at least for about 3 hours).

  • The next day, take the dough off the fridge and let it thaw at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes.

  • Preheat the oven to 170°C.

  • Unwrap the dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the dough.

  • Roll out the dough evenly using a rolling pin to around 0,5 cm (1/5 in) thick. Use any shape of the cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Dip the cookie cutter into flour every time you cut a new cookie.

  • Gather the scraps of dough, form into a ball, and roll out again. Cut more cookies. Repeat this process until there is no more dough.

  • Carefully transfer the cookies onto a baking tray with parchment paper. Bake in preheated oven for about 6-7 minutes. Baking time depends on how large and thick your cookies are, so make sure to keep your eyes on them.

  • After cookies are baked, transfer them to a cooling rack and let cool completely before decorating.

Make the icing:

  • To a medium-size bowl, sift icing sugar and cornstarch. Then add almond milk and whisk until combined into thick icing (it should hold shape).

  • After the cookies are cooled, transfer the icing to a piping bag and decorate your cookies.

  • Make sure to let the icing harden before storing it in an airtight container.

Notes

The prep time does not include the chilling time of the dough.

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 1 cookie (aprox. 12g) / Calories: 48kcal / Total Fat: 1,7g / Saturated Fat: 0,8g / Cholesterol: 0mg / Sodium: 8,6mg / Total Carbohydrate: 7,7g / Fiber: 0,2g / Sugar: 3,1g / Protein: 0,7g / Calcium: 13,4mg / Iron: 0,3mg / Potassium: 35mg

*The nutrition facts are for guidance only and are counted without the icing.

Nutrition

Calories: 48kcal

Did you make this recipe?Tag @plantifulbakery on Instagram and hashtag it #plantifulbakery!

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Vegan Gingerbread Cookies With Icing Recipe - Plantiful Bakery (2024)

FAQs

Why are my ginger cookies so hard? ›

“There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

What makes gingerbread cookies crack on top? ›

You have a few things that can go wrong: The oven isn't hot enough. (it needs to set the top before the middle's fully risen) Not enough leavening (it needs to be strong enough to crack the top once it's set)

Is a gingerbread house a cookie? ›

A gingerbread house is a novelty confectionery shaped like a building that is made of cookie dough, cut and baked into appropriate components like walls and roofing. The usual base material is crisp gingerbread, hence the name.

Why do gingerbread cookies spread? ›

Putting warm dough into the oven will cause the dough to immediately “melt” before it bakes. This results in wider, blob cookies- not what you want! Prevent gingerbread cookies from spreading by chilling the dough after you have cut out your shapes, letting it get a little more firm before going into the oven.

How do you make cookies soft and chewy vs hard and crisp? ›

Different types of sugars affect the texture because they absorb different amounts of water. Remember moisture is the key! White sugar creates crispier cookies and brown sugar creates chewier cookies.

What's the difference between gingerbread cookies and ginger cookies? ›

Introduced in colonial times, the main differences between Gingerbread and Ginger Snaps are a longer bake time for an extra crisp and the use of molasses versus sugar. Molasses was used as substitute for sugar as it was the more affordable alternative to sweetening.

What happens if you put too much butter in gingerbread cookies? ›

Too much butter made for sticky dough, but delicious cookies. I had to use a spatula to lift these people-shaped cutouts from my flour-dusted countertop and onto a baking sheet. The dough was sticky, which resulted in slightly swollen cookies, but the finished product was nearly perfect.

Should gingerbread cookies be soft or crunchy? ›

First, the texture of the cookie needs to be fairly crispy along the outside with a semi-soft, cake-like inside, and like all "perfect" cut-out cookies, they definitely need to keep their shape when baked. Secondly, they must taste sweet but notably spicy, and have a rich molasses flavour.

How do you keep gingerbread cookies from getting hard? ›

Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start baking. This definitely makes a difference with this dough. Don't overbake them. The cookies should still be slightly soft when you take them out of the oven.

What is the dark history of gingerbread? ›

​Superstitions about gingerbread flourished in the 17th century. Witches supposedly made gingerbread figures, ate them, and thereby caused the death of their enemies. Dutch magistrates went so far as to declare baking or eating molded cookies illegal.

What is another name for gingerbread cookies? ›

'pepper cake' because it used to contain pepper) or Lebkuchen (of unclear etymology; either Latin libum, meaning "sacrifice" or "sacrificial bread," or German Laib for loaf or German for life, leben). Pepper is also referenced in regional names like Norwegian pepperkaker or Czech perník (originally peprník).

What is Victorian gingerbread? ›

gingerbread, in architecture and design, elaborately detailed embellishment, either lavish or superfluous. Although the term is occasionally applied to highly detailed and decorative styles, it is more often applied specifically to the work of American designers of the late 1860s and '70s.

How to tell when gingerbread cookies are done? ›

So how do you know that they're done? Here's how to tell if gingerbread cookies are done: They'll be firmly set. They'll be a lovely medium-brown color.

How long will homemade gingerbread cookies last? ›

I don't chill my gingerbread dough, but it can go in the fridge in the meantime as you are waiting for other biscuits to bake. Gingerbread biscuits last for 2-3+ weeks at room temp – the decorated biscuits will last for 1-2+ weeks. They also freeze well for 3+ months. I used these cookie cutters.

What if I put too much butter in my cookies? ›

Too much butter makes cookies turn out just as you'd expect: very buttery. This batch of cookies was cakey in the middle, but also airy throughout, with crispy edges. They were yellow and slightly puffy in the middle, and brown and super thin around the perimeter.

Why do my homemade cookies get so hard? ›

To keep your cookies soft and chewy, it's important to store them properly. The best way to store cookies is in an airtight container at room temperature. Avoid storing them in the fridge or freezer, as this can cause them to become hard and dry.

What do I do if my gingerbread dough is too hard? ›

My nana used to make it without a recipe. If the dough seemed too hard and didn't go into a tidy ball (her words) before refrigerating for 15 mins she'd add a little bit more golden syrup and a teeny bit of butter or a dash of milk.

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