Santa baby, please go vegan! I mean seriously, he could benefit from a lighter load. These cute little gingerbread snowflakes would be the perfect cookie to leave out for the big man during his trip around the world, if you manage to save some until Christmas Eve! You could use other cookie-cutter shapes and make vegan gingerbread people or Christmas trees too.
You can't bake a batch of fresh gingerbread without something to dunk 'em in! Make sure you have fresh almond milk on hand, or make some vegan nog to get the Christmas party started! Sounds to me like you'll be on the nice list for years to come.
If you're dreaming of vegan gingerbread, keep the flavor party going with my trifle, french toast sticks, or sandwich cookies!
To prove you don't have to make these into snowflakes, here's a simple version with just the white piping icing. I used my gingerbread person cookie cutter and some other shapes I have too. Look how cute they are turned into chocolate gingerbread bark too!
gingerbread snowflakes
I think Santa would appreciate these festive vegan cookies! They're easy to make and just as easy to eat.
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Servings: dozen (approx. depending on size)
Ingredients
gingerbread cookies
- 2 ¼ C all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ C vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 C packed light brown sugar
- ¼ C unsulphured blackstrap molasses
- ¼ C nondairy milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ C all-purpose flour, for rolling the dough
royal piping icing
- 2 ¼ C confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoon warm water
flood icing
- 2 ¼ C confectioners' sugar
- 4-5 tablespoon warm water
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, spices, and sea salt together and whisk to combine. Set this aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or another large mixing bowl if you're using a hand mixer, cream the vegan butter and brown sugar together for about 2 minutes until smooth, well combined, and fluffy.
- Add the molasses, nondairy milk, and vanilla extract and continue beating until well combined.
- Add the flour mixture in portions while continuing to mix on low. It will come together into a smooth, well combined, but not too sticky dough. Dump the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap. If your dough seems a bit soft to handle, just portion it out with a spoon or spatula from the bowl onto plastic wrap and fold over the edges to form a ball of dough in the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to firm up. The dough can last refrigerated for about 3 to 4 days. If you've refrigerated it longer allow it to sit on the counter for 15 to 20 minutes before rolling out.
- When you're ready to roll out the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- To roll out the cookies, flour a clean surface and a rolling pin. Portion the ball of dough in half and work with one half at a time. Keep the other piece wrapped in plastic in the fridge. Roll out the dough until it's approximately ⅛ to just under ¼-inch thick. Lightly flour the base of your cookie cutter and cut shapes.
- Gather the excess, which you can roll out again. Lift the cut-out cookies from the counter with a lightly floured spatula/lifter and place them on parchment lined baking sheets. Continue to flour your rolling surface and rolling pin, roll out the excess dough, and cut out more cookies until there is no dough left.
- Bake 2 baking sheets at a time on the middle 2 racks of the oven for about 9 to 11 minutes. You will notice the cookies rise a bit or poof and then fall. About a minute after they fall is when they're about done. Do not let the edges or bottoms get too browned. Remove the baking sheets onto wire racks for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then lift the cookies off and place on the wire racks to cool completely before icing.
- To make the piping icing, combine confectioners' sugar and water together in a mixing bowl with a whisk. It should be a stiff but still sort of a fluid consistency. It shouldn't drip or spread on the cookies, but rather hold its shape in a thin line or dot. Transfer the piping icing into a piping bag or a squeeze bottle with a fine tip at the end and decorate your cookies as desired. If you want to use blue icing as well, take about a third of this icing and add 1 to 2 drops of blue food coloring and combine well.
- You can pipe icing as the outline to your cookies and then "flood" the cookies with flood icing. For the flood icing, combine confectioners' sugar and water together in another mixing bowl using a whisk. This will be a runnier icing that will flood the surface of your cookies that have been outlined. Use a small offset spatula or knife to spread the flood icing around the surface of the cookies between the outlines.
- After flooding the cookies with this icing, allow it dry about half way through or dry to the touch, so that when you go to pipe more icing in the opposite color on top it doesn't totally melt into the flood icing.
- Allow the icing to dry and harden completely before placing in cookie tins or containers.
Notes
The serving size is dependent on the shape/size of the cookie.
Kristina Butaeva
that's amazing! thank you 😉
Kristina Butaeva
that's amazing! thank you 😉
Melinda
How long will these cookies keep for?
Bailey
I love this recipe, I make it twice a year. Sometimes I'll add in a five spice mix in place of cloves if I do not have cloves. Its a favorite with vegans and omnis alike!
Lauren Toyota
awesome to hear! I love it too 😀
Ane
I'm gonna make a ton of this for some Christmas calendars, so I want to pre make the dough if possible. How long will it keep in the fridge?
Lauren Toyota
there's really nothing in it that would go back so I would use it within a week just so it doesn't get dried out. Or you can freeze it and then completely thaw it too.
Karen
Would you make any adjustments to the recipe for high altitude baking?
Lauren Toyota
I'm sorry I don't have any experience with high altitude baking so I am not much help! Maybe a google search would help with standard conversions for this type of thing.
Faith
Hi Lauren, I have been making this recipe every year in my christmas cookies mix. Do you know how long I can freeze the dough for?
Lauren Toyota
I have had cookie dough in my freezer for 2 months ?!