Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

Step 1

Remove the butter from the refrigerator and allow it to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before starting.

Step 2

In a large bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Add in the salt and mix everything together until uniform. Set aside.

Step 3

In another large bowl, add in the softened vegan butter, molasses and brown sugar. Using a hand mixer or standing mixer, cream everything together until nice and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and mix until it has combined. Alternatively you can do this by hand by whipping vigorously with a whisk. Carefully add the dry mixture to the wet and mix until uniform using a spatula or wooden spoon.

Step 4

Gather the mixture together in your hands and “knead” it together to form a large ball. Place it back into the bowl and cover it with a lid (if it has one) or with plastic wrap and allow it to rest in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Step 5

After an hour, remove the dough from the fridge. Next you will need to roll out the dough to 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick using a rolling pin, cup, etc. We broke our dough into 3 pieces to roll out. To make things easier and also to not distort the shape of the cookies, we rolled and cut our cookie dough directly on a lightly floured silicone baking mat (or parchment paper) that we will be baking them on. This way we could pick up the mat/parchment and place it directly on the baking sheet. Be sure to leave 1/2-inch between each cookie so they do not bake into each other. If you do not want to do this, just roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface, cut it out with your cookie cutters and use a spatula to transfer them to a lined baking sheet.

Step 6

Chill the cut cookie dough on the baking sheet in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. We also like to place our leftover dough in the fridge when we are not using it to keep it chilled.

Step 7

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350F. Once the cookies have chilled, place them into the oven and bake for 11-13 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. (See notes)

Step 8

Once the cookies have completely cooled, you are free to ice them as you would like! To prepare the icing all you have to do is whisk all of the ingredients for the icing together, transfer it to a piping back and have fun! Just be sure to allow the icing to rest to harden.

Step 9

Store in air tight container and enjoy 🙂