Gingerbread from back in the day
What a difference 4 years makes. When Terry and I made these Gingerbread Punks for a lost episode of Post Punk Kitchen, we seemed to have all the time in the world to mix colors, make leopard spots and paint on fishnets. And, apparently, we didn’t know how to turn off the flash on our camera. My kitchen was so tiny we had to roll the cookies out on the coffee table and balance bowls of neon icing in precarious ways; sometimes on a stack of books, sometimes on a cat – we made do. When I was moving to Portland I actually found one of these cookies in the back of one of my cabinets.
Now we’re 3,000 miles apart, we have dishwashers and counterspace and I can barely muster up a couple of dots for my little gingerbread bread eyes. But whether you’re going all out or part of the gingerbread minimalist movement, this recipe is a surefire winner that will have you singing Christmas carols under your breath and then looking around to make sure no one heard you.
Modern minimalist gingerbread guys
Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
Makes about 16 cookies (depending on the size of your cutters)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup plain soymilk
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour (or a mix of both)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
spice blend:
1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
Directions
In a large bowl whisk together oil and sugar for about 3 minutes. Add molasses and soymilk. The molasses and soymilk won’t really blend with the oil but that’s ok.
Sift in all of the other dry ingredients, mixing about half way through. When all of the dry ingredients are added, mix until a stiff dough is formed. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or up to 3 days in advance. If you chill longer than an hour you may want to let it sit for 10 minutes to warm up a bit before proceeding.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease your cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your shapes with your cookie cutters and use a thin spatula to gently place on cookie sheets. If you are using them to decorate a tree or something, remember to punch a hole in their heads (!) before baking. Bake for 8 minutes.
Remove from oven and let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack. Wait until they are completely cool before icing.
This is such a good recipe! Yum!
this is awesome, thanks so much. we have used this recipe a thousand times and love it every time!!!
I have been eating vegan for 1 month today! I made these gingerbread cookies in week 2 and have been craving them ever since….round 2 is tonight. This site is wonderful!
Has anyone modified these to make them gluten free? any suggestions?
Made bear cut-outs, and they were delicious! I was tempted to let them cook a tad longer, but 8 minutes was perfect, still soft inside. My cutters are 3.5″ tall, and I was able to get 22 cookies. Can’t wait to let some carnivores taste these. Thanks for the lovely recipe!
I tried this recipe and the dough came out too liquid-y 🙁 not sure what went wrong, but I even tried putting extra flour but the dough was still sticky. made some gingerBREAD though and that came out ok 🙂
Thank you, so much!
I am making them for christmas eating and this is the best vegan ginger bread cookie recipe I have found! They always turn out great!
Thanks again! 🙂
Thanks for this! I had a Christmas do at the weekend and one of my friends is vegan so I did some googling and your recipe looked the most doable. They turned out great! Even my carnivore partner really liked them. Today I came back to link to this recipe, and I noticed your name, which looked familiar. And then I realised it was you guys who wrote the vegan cookies recipe book that I got my friend last Christmas! 🙂
Can these be made without the sugar? Substitute maple sugar?
We will try these thanks.
My friend just gave me a skeleton ginger cut out.
This recipe should be perfect.
Too bad you guys don’t have ppk app.
Are these suitable for making gingerbread houses?
These turned out great. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I’d like to know how you applied the icing so artistically. Did you use a brush or a tube?
I must be crazy, but I swore this recipe used applesauce–did it change?
I didn’t even think I liked gingerbread, but I had to make some to use my ‘ninja-bread men’ cookie cutters. They turned out so good I could not stop eating them!
I made these cookies last weekend and came up perfectly. Probably the best gingerbread cookies I have ever tried. This will be my Christmas go to.
Yum! Great with coffee. And… So easy even I can make them.
I made these gluten-free by adding 1 flax “egg” & just using the flours I had on hand (some almond meal, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, and tapioca flour). I added extra flour because the almond meal doesn’t absorb much liquid. They turned out great!
I love this recipe with a few minor substitutions: I use vanilla soy milk instead of plain for flavor, raw sugar instead of white, and King Arthur’s unbleached white whole wheat flour (‘cuz my family members have a malted wheat barley food allergy, lucky guys).
I also usually make the dough thicker than the suggested “less than 1/4 inch thick” dough because they become too hard and near burnt if you make them that thin. I prefer gingerbread men that are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. They’re easier to chew but not doughy/uncooked. 8 minutes baking time at 350 F is perfect.
Have you ever tried a gluten free version?
I don’t know why I had so many problems, but I found this dough far too soft to work with, even after having added about 2 tbsp extra flour. I rolled out the dough and put it in the fridge for nearly 4 hours but it had developed a sticky look to its surface so I put it in the freezer for 10 mins before trying to cut out shapes and it was still a complete nightmare. Surely using oil rather than hard vegan margarine means it will never get stiff like regular sugar cookie dough?
I made these for my coworkers and took them to the holiday party past year. One of my coworkers is gluten free and couldnt have any. I felt so bad! And a new hire is allergic to nuts. They were such a huge hit that I am trying them gluten free and nut free this year! (Nut free meaning none of my ingredients have been processed in places that also process peanuts and/or tree nuts.) I finally found the right flour blend. Can’t wait to try it!
This was delicious! Just made it, and had a little problem with the dough being too crumbly. But the cookies baked beautifully. I didn’t have a little man cookie cutter, just a squirrel actually . . . Perfect for the season.
How can I replace molasses?
I made these yesterday and they are perfect! I doubled the recipe and somehow managed to get nearly 70 cookies!! (The opposite of a problem!) just wanted to let people know that for royal icing that sets really firm (so could be used to stick gingerbread houses together etc) I used confectioners sugar and 1Tbsp egg replacer powder mixed with water until it was thick but thin enough to pipe! It was perfect and set hard very quickly! Will deffo be making a gingerbread house using this recipe for Christmas!
Hey guys, i just had a quick question. I made these wonderful cookies last night however i thought they were a tad too sweet for my liking. If i only add 1/4 cup of sugar and an extra 1/2 cup of flour will that work or will they not not stick together properly when being baked? thanks xxx
Need to make with Grandkids!
Mmmm… I just made these using a gluten-free flour blend and they are awesome! Thank you!
What is the shelf life for these cookies?
I also had trouble with these being too sticky. I used King Arthur gluten free flour in place of whole wheat. Would that make the difference? Did anyone else have tips to solve this problem? The dough made delicious drop cookies, but there was just no way to roll them out. Thanks!
Do you think I could replace the oil with applesauce with good results?
Has anyone used rice milk instead of soy milk in this recipe? We are a soy-allergic house! I will try it regardless, but thought I’d ask first just in case.
Regarding sticky dough: the first time I made the dough it came out sticky and way too soft for rolling. I decided to try it again another day and this time it came out the right consistency. It’s possible I made a mistake the first time, however I did also make one change: the first time I had added the flour and dry ingredients all at once, the second time I gradually added the flour mixture, mixing each time. I wondered whether this allowed the flour to be absorbed by the oil in a different way. Not really sure there is anything to this theory but worth trying for those who had problems.
With 1 1/2 inch cookies cutters I got 4 dozen cookies; how did you get only 16? I added a splash of vanilla extract and my dough was the perfect consistency.
I’ve just made this for the first time – I’ve got to the stage of putting the dough in the fridge. It seems really soft – is that normal? Maybe I should mix more flour in but I’ve already put in a little bit more than the recipe said – any tips anyone?