Vegan ginger cookies are super soft and chewy with the perfect amount of spice. Another holiday cookie favorite, these vegan ginger molasses cookies are always a crowd pleaser. When you're feeling fancy, swirl the tops with vegan cream cheese frosting - a deliciously classic pairing!
Have you heard that vegan baking is boring, bland, and gummy? Me too, but this delicious vegan ginger cookie recipe puts that rumor straight to bed. Each bite is super soft and chewy, perfectly spiced; and a thick swirl of cream cheese frosting takes these vegan cookies right over the top. 10/10 flavor and texture!
Just like my vegan snickerdoodles, these spicy ginger cookies are the perfect holiday cookie for sharing with friends, coworkers, as gifts for teachers, and they make a big splash at the annual holiday cookie exchange.
Ingredients for Vegan Ginger Cookies
These ultra flavorful vegan ginger cookies are so simple to make from scratch. Only a handful of basic pantry ingredients (mostly holiday spices!) mixed together in one bowl - no eggs and no dairy needed! Here's what you'll need:
- Vegan butter: Plant based butter or margarine at room temperature. Use the stick kind not the soft spreadable kind.
- Sugar: Both white and brown sugar to add sweetness, softness, and structure.
- Vanilla: I like pure vanilla extract for warm depth of flavor.
- Molasses: Choose unsulphured or dark molasses, not blackstrap molasses.
- Plant milk: This takes the place of eggs in the recipe - I use soy milk.
- All purpose flour: I highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking - it's definitely the most accurate way to measure the ingredients. If you don't have one, use the spoon and level method for measuring your flour (see recipe notes for details).
- Baking soda: Leavening agent to help the cookies rise and get puffy.
- Classic ginger cookie spices: Ground ginger, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice or cloves.
- Optional: 5 Minute Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
How to Make Vegan Ginger Cookies
These spicy ginger molasses cookies are a top family favorite! They're a great holiday cookie recipe for beginners - no complicated techniques and the recipe is foolproof! Plus these ginger cookies stay soft and chewy for days - they are sooo good!
Here's a quick overview of the steps (full instructions in the recipe card below):
- Mix wet ingredients: Beat the butter and sugars together using a stand mixer or hand beaters. Then add the molasses, vanilla, and plant milk and beat together.
- Add dry ingredients: Weigh the dry ingredients (using a kitchen scale) into a deli container or a bowl. Add half the dry ingredients at a time to the wet ingredients beating on medium speed between additions. The cookie batter will be a bit sticky.
- Chill: Cover and chill the cookie dough for an hour (up to several days).
- Scoop & Roll: This recipe makes 16 big ginger cookies (~40 grams each). Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into balls then roll them in granulated sugar. I like to leave 2" between each ball on the cookie sheet so there's enough room to spread.
- Bake vegan ginger cookies in 350º F oven for 11-13 minutes. When ready, the cookies will have crackly tops and the edges will be set, but the cookies will still be very soft. If you want a crispier cookie like a traditional gingersnap cookie, bake the cookies for 1-2 minutes longer. *See tips below if your cookies are wonky shapes.
- Let the cookies cool completely before storing or frosting.
- Frosting option: These cookies are soft and incredible as is, but if you're feeling fancy, nothing goes better with ginger molasses cookies than vegan cream cheese frosting - highly recommend!
Tips & Observations
A few helpful tips for making ginger cookies that turn out perfectly soft and chewy every single time:
- Measure the ingredients in grams: A kitchen scale gives the most accurate results. The recipe card includes volume measurements as well; but I always bake using weight rather than volume.
- MILLION DOLLAR TIP: Don't measure the ingredients over the mixing bowl! When measuring dry and wet ingredients, don't do it over the mixing bowl as it's easy to over pour and ruin the cookie batter. Trust me I know from experience!
- Room temperature ingredients matter: Room temperature wet ingredients bond together better and become light and fluffy while beating.
- For soft gingerbread cookies: Don't over bake the cookies. The cookies will be set on the edges but still soft in the middle when ready. Leave the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack.
- Perfectly round cookies: If your cookies come out kind of wonky, place a slightly larger round cookie cutter over the hot cookie and spin it around a couple times. Presto!
- Frosting ginger molasses cookies: Top your ginger cookies with a swirl of vegan cream cheese frosting. IMO, a buttery, tangy, cream cheese frosting is the perfect flavor complement to spicy-sweet ginger molasses cookies.
How to Store
Can I make these vegan ginger cookies ahead?: Yes! The cookies can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the fridge then rolled and baked.
Can I freeze ginger cookies?: Yes! Make the cookie dough balls and freeze them in an airtight bag or container for up to 3 months. When you're craving some cookies, take out as many dough balls as you want. Let them come to room temperature on a baking sheet while the oven is preheating. Then roll them in sugar and bake as directed.
Baked ginger cookies freeze beautifully too in an airtight container for up to several months. They come out soft and chewy!
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
If you and your family like cookies, here's some of our favorite vegan holiday cookies that absolutely everyone loves - vegan or not!:
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with Marshmallows
- One Bowl Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Millionaire Shortbread Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cups (not a cookie per se, but an epic holiday sweet)
- Praline Biscotti Cookies
Did you make this Vegan Ginger Molasses Cookie recipe or any other recipe on the blog? I'd love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment below to let me know!
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Easy Vegan Ginger Cookies (soft & chewy)
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INGREDIENTS
For the Cookies
- 170 grams vegan butter or plant based margarine (¾ cup)
- 100 grams brown sugar (½ cup)
- 50 grams granulated white sugar (¼ cup)
- 80 grams dark or unsulphured molasses (do not use blackstrap molasses) (~¼ cup)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons plant based milk (like soy or almond)
- 280 grams all purpose flour (2 ¼ cups )
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice (or cloves)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For Rolling
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
- Beat the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the room temperature non-dairy butter (or margarine) and both sugars on high speed until light and creamy (1-2 minutes).
- Add the molasses, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons dairy-free milk and beat again until incorporated stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
- Measure the dry ingredients (using a kitchen scale) into a deli container or bowl - stir together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients half at a time beating between additions until the flour is incorporated. The dough will be a bit sticky - if too sticky add another 1-2 tablespoon flour. Cover and chill for an hour in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll the cookie dough into 16-17 (40 gram) balls. Then roll each dough ball in a bowl of granulated sugar and arrange 2" apart on a baking sheet. For soft and chewy cookies, bake for 11–13 minutes* or until edges appear set and cracks appear on the cookies. Let the cookies cool and set for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
- If you are going to top the cookies with vegan cream cheese frosting, make it now and place in the fridge to chill. When the cookies are completely cool, add a swirl of frosting to the top of each cookie or make a ginger cream sandwich!
- Store unfrosted ginger cookies at room temperature for up to a week. Store the the frosting in the refrigerator covered. Then frost when ready to serve.
NOTES
This recipe is from simplyceecee.co food blog. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images or republish this recipe without prior permission. Thank you.
Scott
These are SO GOOD! Super soft and spiced and perfectly sweet with the icing.
Tracy Halasz
Scott, thank you for the review. I'm so happy you love these ginger cookies with the vegan cream cheese frosting (my favorite combination too)!