Thick, soft-centered, crispy-edged, crackly, melt-in-your-mouth Vegan Ginger Cookies complete with drizzles of buttery, maple glaze. They are easy to make, festive, and deeply delicious!
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If you're yet to start your festive baking then Vegan Ginger Cookies are a great place to start. This is a real no fuss, mix, bake, glaze cookie situation. They are so quick and easy. No cookie dough chilling required!
A riff on my Vegan Molasses Cookies, these cookies are packed with ginger spice and molasses and have all the textures going on. We're talking perfectly crackly, chewy, sugary, soft and crispy, and as if that wasn't enough, then comes a hefty drizzle of silky smooth, buttery, maple glaze.
Ingredients
To make the Vegan Ginger Cookie magic happen you will be needing:
And a few important ingredient notes:
- Vegan butter - A hard dairy-free butter is necessary for good cookie texture. I like the tub Earth Balance for baking. Don't use the really soft margarine style spreads in a tub like Becel/Flora.
- Molasses - I recommend using fancy molasses in this recipe. Blackstrap is too dark and strong and that is all you will taste. Fancy is a little less potent. If you aren't a fan of molasses, corn syrup would work well. If you are in the UK you have a choice to make: Black Treacle or Golden Syrup. Neither is like fancy molasses but both will give you a delicious result. Bear in mind that treacle will give a strong "molasses/treacle" flavour and stop the ginger flavour coming through.
- Dark brown sugar - Essential for flavour and the texture of these cookies.
- Ground flaxseed - My secret weapon in cookie recipes. I rarely use flax in baking but in cookies it gives AMAZING texture! Please note that you DO NOT make a flax egg here. You're just adding the dry ground flax as it is. Don't use any other vegan egg substitute. They will not work well in this recipe.
Success Tip - It's really important to measure the flour correctly in this recipe. I recommend using a digital kitchen scale for the very best results, but if using cups be sure to spoon the flour into the cup without compacting or shaking it down, then level the top with a knife. Don't scoop it up into the cup or you will end up with a lot more than intended.
How To Make Vegan Ginger Cookies
Here's a quick visual walkthrough of how to make this recipe:
- Make the dough: Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add the other ingredients to form a rich, sweet, spiced, cookie dough.
- Roll into balls: About 3 tablespoons per ball. Roll in plenty of sugar to make them all glistening and festive, lay out on baking sheets then bake!
- Glaze: Mix up the glaze ingredients in a small bowl.
- Drizzle: Once the cookies are at room temperature drizzle or dunk to your hearts content!
Variations
Amazing as they are but also great with mix-ins like:
- chocolate chips (white ones would be amazing if you can get them!)
- dried cranberries
- diced candied ginger
Also incredible when made into ice cream sandwiches with dairy-free vanilla ice cream!
Storing Cookies
Store vegan gingerbread cookies in a single layer (so the glaze isn't damaged), in airtight containers. They keep really well for about 7 to 8 days and although they get softer with age their flavor gets better and better!
They can also be frozen for up to 3 months, either cooked or as uncooked cookie dough balls. Simply remove from the freezer, place the frozen cookie dough balls on lined baking trays and add 2 minutes to the bake time.
Recipe
Vegan Ginger Cookies
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 1 cup (216 grams) vegan butter , (a hard one, not a soft spread style. I like the tub Earth Balance.)
- ½ a very packed cup (100 grams) dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated white or cane sugar , plus about ¼ cup more for rolling
- ¼ cup (60 mls) fancy molasses , In the UK use golden syrup or treacle
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons (45 grams) ground flaxseed , (it must be ground and is essential so don't sub for anything else)
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour , (plain flour in the UK)
- 1¼ teaspoons baking soda , (bicarbonate of soda in the UK)
For the glaze
- 2 tablespoons melted vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup , real maple syrup, NOT pancake syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (125 grams) powdered sugar
- a few small drops plant milk , only if necessary
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (175°C) with 2 shelves placed near the middle of the oven. Then line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- To a large mixing bowl add the vegan butter and both sugars. Beat them together until fluffy. I use an electric hand mixer but you can do it by hand or in a stand mixer.
- Add the molasses, vanilla, ground flax, ginger, cinnamon and salt then mix again until combined.
- Add the flour and baking soda and stir by hand with a spatula. It's a very thick cookie dough and at first it will feel like there is too much flour, but it will all mix in. Don't be tempted to add any liquid.
- Scoop out 3 tablespoon portions of dough and roll into balls. Roll each ball in a small bowl of granulated white or cane sugar so it sticks all around the outside, then place them on the trays with at least 3 inches of space around each one. Leave them as they are in balls. Don't squash them down.
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, depending on how well done you like your cookies. I cook mine for 14 minutes. They should be well set around the edges but feel very soft in the middle.
- Remove from the oven and leave them on the baking tray to cool. Don't try to move them as they will be too fragile. They firm up as they cool and will also deflate a bit and crack more.
The glaze
- Once the cookies are completely cool, to a bowl add the melted vegan butter, maple syrup and vanilla. Stir them together. Add the powdered sugar and whisk together until smooth with no lumps. It should be drizzleable but pretty thick so that it will set properly on the cookies (check my video if you want to see the texture). If it's a little too thin add a little more powdered sugar, if it's too thick add a teeny tiny drop of plant milk.
- Either drizzle the glaze over the cookies with a small spoon, or partially dip them into the glaze. Leave to set for a few minutes.
NOTES
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