The ultimate healthy gingerbread cookies
So these might actually be my favorite of all Christmas cookies this season, and I’ll tell you why.
These gluten free vegan gingerbread cookies have a beautiful warm spiced flavor, and they’re not overwhelmingly sweet. Just enough sugar to satisfy the craving but not give you that sugar rush.
They also snap like a traditional gingerbread man cookie should. It’s literally like eating a Pepperidge Farm gingerbread cookie (those were my mom’s words, not mine!), only fresh out of the oven ;).
Plus, these healthy Christmas cookies are completely vegan and gluten free, yet you’d never know, making them the ultimate Christmas cookie to bring to any cookie exchange. I mean, that’s pretty cool right?
But before we go over how to make these cookies, let’s get a few questions out of the way!
Are gingerbread cookies soft or hard?
Really, gingerbread cookies can be soft or hard! I personally believe that gingerbread snaps and the gingerbread man cookies that you make with cookie cutters tend to be on the crisper side, like these ones. I’d go so far as to say Paul Hollywood would even approve of this crispness.
Meanwhile, some people prefer their gingerbread to be soft and chewy. I think it really boils down to what you personally enjoy!
Ingredients for vegan gingerbread cookies
For these vegan ginger cookies, you’ll need only a few key ingredients:
- Flour: you can use gluten free 1:1 baking flour or all purpose here.
- Granulated sugar: or coconut sugar.
- Spices: I like to use ground ginger and ground cinnamon. You can also add in nutmeg and/or ground cloves!
- Molasses
- Vegan butter or coconut oil: a note about the coconut oil- make sure it’s soft, and not solid!
- Unsweetened applesauce: This replaces the eggs found in traditional gingerbread cookies.
As you can see, we’re not using baking soda here. This helps the cookies have a bit more of a “snap” to them!
How to make vegan gingerbread cookies (overview)
As delicate as these Christmas cookies look, they are actually extraordinarily easy to make, and really fun to involve the kids too 🙂
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
Make the dough
Much like my vegan chocolate chip cookies, the cookie dough part of these vegan gingerbread cookies is very easy to put together!
First start by whisking together all of the dry ingredients:: the flour, spices, and sea salt. Then set that aside.
- Whisk the dry ingredients.
First start by whisking together all of the dry ingredients:: the flour, spices, and sea salt. Then set that aside.
- Combine the wet ingredients.
Use a hand mixer or stand mixer and cream together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. First the vegan butter and sugars, then add in the molasses and applesauce.
- Fold in the dry ingredients.
Next, combine the wet and dry ingredients together until it forms a consistent and slightly sticky gingerbread dough.
- Chill!
Place the dough into plastic wrap and chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
How do you make gingerbread man cookie cutters?
One of my favorite parts 🙂 When your gingerbread cookie dough is ready to be rolled out, simply dust a clean surface and your rolling pin with flour and begin to gently roll out the dough.
- Roll the dough out to be about 1/4 of an inch thick and make sure to flour your cookie cutters on the side that will cut into the dough.
- Press your favorite cookie cutter shape (I recommend a little gingerbread man cookie cutter, a Christmas tree cookie cutter, snowman, or snowflake! But have fun with it!).
- Repeat until there is no more space to make a cookie, then peel off the scraps. Use a spatula to gently carry the cookie onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- You can re-roll the dough out to make more cookies as well!
- Then simply bake the cookies at 350F until done, and let cool before piping your vegan icing 🙂
Tips, Tricks, & Questions for making vegan gingerbread cookies
Yes, this is actually the recipe I use for my vegan gingerbread house!
I hope you love making these vegan gingerbread cookies as much as I do! They’re the perfect treat for Santa 🙂
If you make these cookies, let me know how they went in the comments below, as well as if you have any questions! As always, I would absolutely love to see your beautiful decorations on these cookies, so be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest!
Happy vegan gingerbread cookie baking!
More vegan Christmas cookies!
Paleo Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms
Paleo Vegan Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Gluten Free Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
Print
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 14
- Total Time: 24 minutes
- Yield: 32 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: baking
Description
Easy and delicious vegan gingerbread cookies that are crisp, lightly sweet, and packed with flavor! Naturally gluten free, these gingerbread man cookies make for one of the best healthy Christmas cookies for Santa!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup gluten free 1-to-1 flour or all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup vegan butter or coconut oil, softened
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- 1 batch vegan royal icing
Instructions
- Please read all instructions before beginning.
- Prep: Measure out all ingredients.
- Whisk the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, and sea salt. Set aside.
- Make the gingerbread cookie dough: In a medium bowl, beat together the vegan butter or coconut oil and sugar until combined. Add in the molasses and applesauce, and continue to beat until completely combined. Add wet ingredients into dry and combine into a stick dough. Round dough into a ball, and wrap with plastic wrap. Place the dough into the fridge and chill for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the gingerbread dough: When the dough is chilled, lightly flour a clean surface and rolling pin, and roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick (it doesn’t have to be exact!). Choose your cookie cutters, lightly flour the side that is going to be cutting into the dough, and press the cookie cutter into the dough. Repeat for the remaining dough, rolling out the dough with the extra scraps until all of the dough is gone.
- Bake: Place the gingerbread men cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (you can use a spatula if it’s hard to pick them up!) and place the cookies back into the fridge to chill while the oven preheats to 350F. When the oven is preheated, baked the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until slightly puffy and slightly tough to touch (they shouldn’t be soft).
- Cool + decorate: Let the cookies cool for 15 minutes before icing. Make the vegan royal icing according to the post instructions.
- Enjoy! Spoon icing into an icing bag with tip, and pipe a design onto each cookie. Let set for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Keywords: gingerbread cookies, vegan gingerbread cookies, christmas cookies
These gingerbreads are so cute, and totally have me in the mood for holiday baking! Going to add this to my list of weekend activities. Thanks for the recipe Britt!
Aw thank you Hannah! You are so kind!! Enjoy, and happy new week! 🙂
These are just the cutest! And they snap just like a gingerbread cookie should! They definitely deserve the Hollywood Handshake 🙂
★★★★★
HAHA you are too kind!! Thank you!!
can i use coconut sugar instead of cane sugar in the cookies??
Absolutely!! It will be slightly darker but not too much of a difference!
Have you tried this recipe with WHOLE WHEAT flour???
Hi Alex! I have not tried this recipe with whole wheat flour- I imagine it would be a bit different since whole wheat flour acts differently! I’ve read that you use 3/4 cup whole wheat flour for every 1 cup regular flour and add in 2 tsp extra liquid, but I have not tried this myself!
These gingerbread cookies are amazing! The dough was really easy to work with, and the cookies came out perfectly crisp. The balance of spice and sweetness is just right, too. Thank you for sharing the recipe!! Happy holidays ❄︎
★★★★★
Aw I’m so happy to hear it!! Thank you so much for giving it a go! Enjoy, and happy holidays to you and yours as well!
Made these to go with the cupcakes (I wanted the cute little gingerbread men on top!) and they are SOOOO GOOD!!!
★★★★★
LOVE it!! Ah that’s wonderful!! Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
The instructions above the recipe card call for applesauce, yet the recipe card calls for a flax egg. What are the recipe instructions for the version with applesauce, please? Also, what type of molasses did you use? Thank you.
Hi Emily! Apologies for that confusion! I updated the recipe to be a bit softer, which is why I used applesauce instead. The instructions should reflect that! For the molasses, I used unsulphured blackstrap molasses (specifically wholesome sweets’ version!). Enjoy!
The recipe says to add applesauce, but I do not see how much applesauce to use. Should I just replace the flax and water with the same amount of applesauce? 2Tablespoons and 1/3 cup? Can you please advise thanks,
Hi Jada I’m so sorry about that! The recipe card wasn’t fully updating for some reason (a code issue!) but I think I force updated it so it should reflect the proper recipe right now- please let me know if you see it on your end! So sorry for that confusion! Flaxseed or applesauce works either way, but I prefer the applesauce for a softer gingerbread cookie!