If you're looking for a delicious holiday treat, these soft Vegan Gingerbread Cookies are a must-try this holiday season! These gingerbread men are perfectly soft, easy to make, and are the ultimate vegan Christmas cookies for holiday baking. Whether you're baking for family, friends, or just yourself, these cookies will bring festive cheer to your kitchen this holiday season!
My grandmother loved Christmas cookies, and though she passed away when I was young, my mom kept her spirit alive by making Christmas cookies with me every year. Now, I make vegan versions in her honor, and I know she is smiling upon me as I make them. This year I decided to tackle a classic: gingerbread men! These vegan Christmas cookies are perfect for sharing at holiday gatherings and can be enjoyed by vegans and non-vegans alike.
Table of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Perfectly soft: These cookies are like soft pillows with warm holiday spices.
- Fun to decorate: You can make the classic gingerbread men or get creative with other shapes! Decorate however you wish, you can even have the kids of the family help with decorating for a fun Christmas activity!
- A vegan take on the classic: All the classic gingerbread flavor without any animal products. Everyone can enjoy these tasty cookies!
Key Ingredients
- All purpose OR whole wheat pastry flour: All-purpose is the traditional option, but whole wheat pastry flour keeps things WFPB while still making soft, fluffy cookies!
- Baking soda and apple cider vinegar: These work together as a vegan egg replacement!
- Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves: Classic gingerbread spices. The ginger really shines here!
- Pumpkin puree: Replaces butter while adding a subtle, cozy flavor that pairs beautifully with our spices.
- Maple syrup: Natural sweetener that complements our flavors.
- Molasses & vanilla extract: Essential for a signature gingerbread taste.
- Optional icing & decorations: For festive and fun gingerbread men!
How to Make Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
These vegan Christmas cookies take a little extra time, mostly for chilling the dough and cooling the cookies. But they’re totally worth it!
- Using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, combine wet ingredients in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and combine into a dough.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge.
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Prepare your workspace by flouring your surface, rolling pin, and hands.
- Roll out your dough and cut into shapes using a cookie cutter of your choice.
- Place your cookies on a prepared baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until baked to your liking. Repeat this in two batches.
- Once completely cool, decorate your cookies as you wish.
- Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Be sure to keep an eye on your cookies as they bake, as different shapes and sizes of cookies will vary a bit on bake time! Remove when they are cooked to your liking.
- Preparing Christmas cookies is a great opportunity to make some fun holiday memories! Put on some festive music and have your loved ones help you roll out the dough, cut out the cookies, and decorate!
Decorating & Serving Suggestions
- Get creative with shapes and decorations! Classic gingerbread men are of course an option, but you can make any festive shape you'd like. Decorate with icing, sprinkles, chocolate chips, or whatever else makes you happy!
- These would be perfect for a Christmas party or holiday potluck! If anyone at your gathering is dairy free or egg free, they'll be so appreciative of these fully vegan Christmas cookies.
- For a real treat, be sure to serve these with some Easy Vegan Hot Chocolate!
Substitutions & Variations
This Vegan Gingerbread Men recipe is carefully tested, so I don’t recommend changing up the main ingredients. But here are some options to keep in mind!
- As much fun as decorations are, don't forget that these Christmas treats can also be enjoyed plain! If you want a more basic option or just don't want to put in the time to decorate your gingerbread men, they're delicious on their own as well.
- If you choose to use icing, you can use store bought or homemade! I used store bought vegan icing in these photos, but in the past I've also used this Vegan Royal Icing from the Wallflower Kitchen blog!
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! The dough has to refrigerate for at lesat 30 minutes, but can also chill overnight if you'd like to prep it the day before.
These Vegan Gingerbread Cookies are soft and chewy, not crispy! Crispy ginger cookies are usually called ginger snaps, which are different from these pillowy gingerbread cookies.
These cookies are mostly WFPB-friendly, and fully oil-free! I’ve kept them vegan and tried to use minimally processed ingredients where possible, such as whole wheat pastry flour and pure maple syrup. Molasses is not typically considered fully WFPB, but is necessary for that gingerbread flavor. These cookies are more wholesome than most and are the perfect plant-based holiday treat!
Other Holiday Recipes You'll Love
📖 Recipe
The Best Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup canned pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup molasses
- ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup whole wheat pastry flour* - OR all purpose flour (plus a bit extra for rolling out dough)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- cookie icing*, sprinkles, candy, etc! - (Optional, for decorating)
Instructions
- Prepare your wet ingredients: Add the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, molasses, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract to a large bowl or stand mixer. Use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer on low speed to mix until combined.
- Prepare your dry ingredients: In a separate medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Combine wet and dry: Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Using the electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat on a low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. The dough will be thick and somewhat sticky.
- Chill dough: Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place it on a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and create a thick disc shape. Place the dough in the fridge to chill for 30-60 minutes, or overnight.
- Preheat: Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Prepare your work space: Remove the dough from the fridge. (IF your dough chilled for significantly longer than 60 minutes, you may need to let it sit at room temp for 10-15 minutes in order for it to soften just a tad). Flour your work surface, a rolling pin, and your hands.
- Cut out your cookies: Roll out your dough so that it's about ⅛ to ¼ inch thick. Use a cookie cutter of your choice to cut into shapes. Once you've cut as much as you can out of the dough, you may combine the remaining dough into a ball, roll it out again, and repeat the process. (You may even need to do this a couple of times).
- Bake your cookies: -Place a silicone baking mat on a baking sheet. Place half of your cookies on the prepared baking sheet, at least 1 inch apart from each other. -Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until they are puffed up and baked to your liking. Keep a close eye on them, as different cookie shapes/sizes may differ a bit in baking time (larger ones may even need up to 12 minutes). -Remove from oven once baked to your liking, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet, and then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. (You may notice that as they cool they may darken a bit and become less "puffy" than they first were when coming out of the oven; this is normal!) -Repeat this whole process with the second half of the cookies.
- Decorate and serve: Once cookies are completely cool, decorate them as you wish! Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
*Nutrition facts are an estimate and are calculated for one serving.
Happy cooking! If you made this recipe don’t forget to tag me (@joyfulbalanceofficial) on facebook or instagram so I can cheer you on for your cookie-making ways.
Stay joyfully balanced!
Denisa says
I made these yesterday and they are fantastic. They are pretty much super tasty pumpkin cookies made into gingerbread. What an awesome idea! They were a bit of pain because the dough was VERY soft (even after adding some more ww pastry flour), but well worth it. We are making more tomorrow, since we almost ate the double batch we made. I have already shared the recipe with a WFPB friend, who loved the one she tasted at our house. Thank you!
Delaney Marie says
I am so glad you loved them! I'm with you and definitely think that the work is well worth it 😉 Hope you enjoy the next batch! Happy holidays!
Cheryl says
I’m wondering if I can substitute apple sauce for the pumpkin purée in this recipe?
Delaney Marie says
Hi Cheryl,
I haven’t tested this recipe with applesauce, so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out. Applesauce would likely change both the texture and flavor of the cookies, so for the best results, I recommend sticking with the pumpkin puree. Hope that helps!