Chewy vegan ginger cookies, full of holiday spices and molasses. These are everybody’s favorite cookie and they are so easy to make! 1 bowl!
You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve tested these cookies and gotten it SO wrong. I actually meant to post these last year, but I just couldn’t get it right, so I thought I’d wait. Well, I started recipe testing weeks ago for these babies, and finally, after a marathon cookie-baking couple of days last week, I nailed it!
These Vegan Ginger Cookies are incredibly chewy and irresistible. They’re full of molasses, brown sugar, and delicious holiday spices like ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. I think you are going to LOVE them.
My first several tries were just too puffy and cake-like, not what I was going for! But these are so perfect -So, so chewy, coated in sugar and rich with flavor. Swoon.
Let’s make some cookies!
How do you make Vegan Ginger Cookies in 1 bowl?
The best thing about these delicious cookies is how easy they are to make, in just 1 bowl!
First, cream together the vegan butter and brown sugar in a large bowl.
Then, add the molasses and vanilla and beat to combine.
Next, you’re going to add 2 cups of the flour. Sprinkle the baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg on top of the flour. Mix on low speed until combined, then add the rest of the flour and mix. The dough will be thick, but not dry.
Once you’ve preheated the oven to 350 and prepared your baking sheets with parchment paper, scoop out 2 tablespoons of the dough, roll into a ball and then roll in the sugar to coat completely.
*For smaller cookies, use 1 tablespoon of dough.
Place on the prepared sheets, and bake for 11-12 minutes, until you see cracks forming on top. The cookies will appear very soft, but they will firm up as they cool.
Let the cookies cool for 10-15 minutes and then enjoy!
These Vegan Ginger Cookies are so perfect for sharing with friends, neighbors or co-workers. Everybody loves them!
Substitutions:
You may be able to sub coconut oil for the vegan butter, but I haven’t tested it. You would want the coconut oil to be semi-firm, not melted. Don’t sub with canola oil; been there and it ruined the cookies!
You could sub whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose flour, or maybe a gluten free flour mix, though I haven’t made them gluten free myself.
Instead of regular granulated sugar, you could roll the cookies in turbinado sugar. Either way is fun and tastes good, but I prefer using a fine organic sugar.
Want more Vegan Christmas Cookies?
Vegan Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the softened vegan butter and brown sugar together until creamy. Add the molasses and vanilla, and beat in until smooth. Scrape the sides as needed with a spatula.
- Add 2 cups of flour to the bowl, then sprinkle the baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg on top of the flour. Mix on low speed to combine. Now add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and mix until incorporated. The dough will be quite thick, but not dry.
- Fill a small bowl with the cup of sugar for rolling.
- Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of dough for large cookies (1 tablespoon for small cookies), roll into a ball, then roll each ball in the sugar until completely coated.
- Place on the prepared baking sheets, and bake for 11-12 minutes, until they begin to crack on top. They will look very soft, but they firm up a lot as they cool. If you over bake, they will be crispy.
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes, then enjoy!
Notes
- For better cracks in the cookies: After a few minutes in the oven, sprinkle a little bit of cold water (I just flick it in the pan with my hands, about a teaspoon) on the pan. Cracks will form! (I learned this from my grandma)
- This recipe makes 36 large cookies, or about 48 small cookies. You can always cut the recipe in half if you don't want that many. They are perfect for sharing with friends, neighbors or co-workers!
- Make sure to correctly measure your flour, or the cookies may not turn out right. To do this, use a spoon to scoop the flour into a measuring cup. Don't pat the flour down or tap the cup. Use a knife to level off the top of the cup.
- If you want crispier cookies, like gingersnaps, simply bake these a bit longer, 14-15 minutes, and they will be quite crisp!
Nutrition
12/22/18- I found after further recipe testing that it was unnecessary to chill the cookie dough before baking the cookies, so I removed that step, making this recipe even easier!
These were soooooo good!!!!!!!!!! And easy! Thank you!!!!!
I want to make more!! Ate so many
Every recipe I try of yours is perfect! This was no exception. I added a small piece of candied ginger on the top before baking which was nice.
Love these.Thank you
You are welcome! I’m glad you love the cookies! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review and feedback!
Love this recipe! I needed to make them GF so I just used King Arthur all purpose GFflour and I used 3 cups. I added a pinch of ground clove too. Turned out PERFECT.
Great to know, Kate! Thank you for sharing your fabulous review and feedback!
Hi Nora,
Can i freeze cookies Dough???
Yes, you could freeze the cookie dough. I recommend shaping it into balls first just to make it easier when you want to bake them.
These cookies are soon chewy and delicious! BTW I cut out a 1/4cup brown sugar, as I don’t like my cookies to sweet and the taste was still great.
As for those who remarked that their cookies didn’t flatten out and crackle, use the spoon method for measuring the flour as I did. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup by the tablespoonfull and then level off. This ensures that you don’t have too much flour in the dough. That’s why some recipes include gram measurements so you’ll have the exact amount of ingredients for a successful bake.
I’m glad you loved the cookies! Thank you for sharing your great feedback and review! I’m thrilled you loved the cookies!
Turned out perfectly. Everyone wanted the recipe.
I’m thrilled everyone loved the cookies! Thank you for sharing your fantastic feedback, Karen!
I followed the recipe but made a couple changes. Switched baking soda to baking powder and increased the amount to 3 tablespoons (the recommended conversion). I also added almond milk because the dough was extremely dry and wouldn’t form into balls without it. They turned out perfectly.
These were amazing! I am vegan but my husband is not. He said they were the best cookies ever! I am going to try them with
Gluten free flour so that my daughter can enjoy them also.
Yes. Thank you for sharing your terrific feedback about the ginger Christmas! I am glad that you guys love them!
Hi Beth. Did they work with gf flour?
These cookies turned out amazing. They are delicious and look perfect. I refrigerated them due to not being able to bake off right away. Baked at 375 for 14 min. Thx for the recipe
You are welcome, Tammy! I’m glad the cookies turned out wonderful for you! Thanks for sharing your terrific feedback!
Followed your directions exactly but cookies didn’t flatten out or crack. Tried cooking longer as my oven runs a little cool, but didn’t help. Dough tastes great, cookies just didn’t work as expected.
This can happen when your butter is too cold, if there was too much flour added to the dough, or if your oven wasn’t hot enough (turn the temp up to 375ºF next time). Keep these in mind if you try this recipe again! Happy baking!
Dough tastes amazing but cookies are not flattened or cracked. Next time I’ll lessflour and add T of vg milk
Same thing happened to me. Tasted good but not the look I wanted. I measured my ingredients carefully and yet my dough was way too dry. I added melted butter and saved the day but next time I’ll just use less flour. I want a large flat cookies but that didn’t happen. Should I have flattened them with a fork before baking?
I plan to make these this weekend and was wondering if cookies were flattened before baking. Did not see that in the steps.
No, they will flatten in the oven. If they don’t flatten, that means the flour probably wasn’t measured correctly so the dough was too dry. So be careful with your measurements. I suggest spooning flour into a measuring cup, and leveling it with a knife. Don’t pack it down, shake it down, or just scoop it. You will end up with too much or too little flour. Hope that helps!
These are the best cookies. I measure accurately using a scale and they never fail. Thanks for the awesome recipe.
These were perfect. I only had coconut sugar and was worried it would change it, but I could eat them all, and just may!
Hi Deborah. I’m glad to hear the cookies turned out perfect for you with the coconut sugar! Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback, and enjoy those cookies!
Hi, these look wonderful! I am going to try to make some today. I just want to be sure that there is 1 Tablespoon of baking soda. Thanks, Julie
Julie. Yes that is correct 1 tablespoon of baking soda. I hope you love the cookies!
These are perfect! Love that you can make them small or big
Thank you for sharing your great feedback! I’m glad you love the ginger cookies!
Hi! Recipe looks amazing and your other recipes have always turned out great for me! Just wondering if you’ve tried freezing these with any success? Looking to make some ahead and gift later on. Thanks! 🙂
Thank you! Yes, they freeze very well.
I love these, and I saw that you did freeze them for later. Do you mean the dough or cookie? Can I make the dough and freeze for later or do u need to bake it first? If you need to bake it, how do you thaw it?
Cookies were way too sweet for me, but good tasting!
These are some of the BEST cookies ever. They have the perfect amount of kick from the ginger and are so chewy and delicious, I love them!
I am not vegan but I made these for a friend that is and has not been feeling well. These cookies are wonderful. I am so surprised. Most of the vegan dishes I have tried are so dry and well, not to my taste, but I must say this ginger snap recipe is so easy and the cookies are great. My friend loved them.
Hi Kate. How lovely of you to make cookies for your friend! I’m glad your friend, and you, loved the cookies! Thank you for your wonderful feedback!
We enjoyed these and they’re easy to make. I kind of messed up the first batch by squishing them down into discs- they ran everywhere and were a bit crisp. The second batch got to chill in the fridge for 20 min, plus I left them as rolled up balls on the tray. The presentation for these was really nice 🙂
Do you think I could roll out the dough and stamp them with cookie cutters?
Glad you enjoyed the cookies! I think it would work but I haven’t tried it.
I just rolled them out to make gingerbread men, worked totally fine! I would recommend chilling the dough first though if you’re going to roll them out, just easier to work with.
Just popping up to say I’ve made these a few times now with 3 2/3 cups oat flour as a GF sub and they’ve been awesome!
Hi there,
I haven’t made this recipe yet, but love many of the ones you’ve shared. I was wondering if you have the flour measurement in grams? This helps me so I don’t worry about the density of my flour measurement.
Thanks!
Hi Elizabeth. To the right of the ingredients list, there is a ‘metric’ tab you can click on. That should show the measurement in grams. Hope this helps!
Hi
Thanks for the recipes, I’ve tried a couple now, but I think I’d have more success if the metric conversion was working properly – on this one for example, it still stays US on the metric option for SOME of the ingredients and becomes quite confusing when trying to make less than the original recipe, e.g. 0.83 of a tbsp is a bit time consuming to figure out and concerned I’m getting it wrong when converting from cups. Thanks!
These are AH-MAZING!!! Perfect! So easy and super yummy! Your waffle recipe is also our go to. Thank you!
Hi Tammy. These cookies are one of my favorite cookies! I’m thrilled that you love them! Thanks for your wonderful feedback and review!
Every recipe of yours I’ve tried is a hit, and this is no exception. I’ve made these cookies a number of times now and everyone loves them. I find a true test is when my non vegan friends and family love a plant based recipe and can’t tell the difference.
Sometimes I play with the amount of flour to change the texture. I hold some back for extra thin chewy cookies, or add a bit more for a more dense cookie. No matter what, they turn out awesome!
I never comment on recipes out of laziness, but your website is my go to and I want you to know how much I appreciate you!
I forgot to hit the star rating! Definitely 5 stars
Hi Kimberly. I feel honored by your very kind words! Thank you! I appreciate you taking time to share your amazing feedback! I’m thrilled you are enjoying my recipes! Thanks for the love and appreciation, it is very encouraging!
My absolute favorite cookie recipe! I’ve made these way too many times to count, but they’ve always turned out perfectly.
Thank you for sharing your great feedback and review! I’m thrilled you love the cookies! They are one of my favorites!
My cookies didn’t flatten out! What did I do wrong?
This can happen when your butter is too cold, if there was too much flour added to the dough, or if your oven wasn’t hot enough (turn the temp up to 375ºF next time). Keep these in mind if you try this recipe again! Happy baking!