Vegan Gingerbread & Molasses Crackle Cookies

Yes, it’s that time of year again when you’re about to be flooded with treacle, gingerbread and spiced apple recipes. There’s something about these flavour combinations that just seem so perfect at this time of year.

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The nights are getting shorter, the days are darker and the cold is all consuming. All you want to do is wrap up in blankets and comfy clothes by a roaring fire, eating comfort food to warm your soul.

These healthy vegan ginger cookies could be just what you’ve been looking for. Filled with enough molasses and warming spices to brighten even the darkest of days. You simply can’t beat chewy cookies to lift your mood.

For the full recipe and instructions on how to make these Gingerbread Crackle Cookies, scroll down to the recipe card below…

These soft gingerbread crinkle cookies would be perfect to make for a Christmas party, or even as a homemade gift idea this festive season.

Why Use Molasses

Molasses is naturally rich in antioxidants, iron, selenium, copper, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamin B6.

It is also known to help relieve constipation, treat anaemia, and also help promote bone and hair health.

One tablespoon of molasses contains 20% of the RDV of iron you need. So it really is a great ingredient to include in to your bakes where possible.

The molasses in this recipe helps to bring out the classic gingerbread flavor in these vegan cookies.

However, if you don’t want your baked cookies to be quite so rich in flavour, you could swap out the molasses for treacle, or golden syrup instead – but this will also remove a lot of the flavour.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Vegan Unsalted Butter (56g)
• Coconut Sugar (or dark brown sugar) (100g)
• Blackstrap Molasses (30ml)
• Vanilla Extract
• All Purpose Flour (250g)
• Bicarb of Soda
• Salt
• Ground Ginger
• Ground Cinnamon
• Ground Cloves
• Non-Dairy Milk
• Granulated Sugar (or other white sugar)

How To Make These Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set to one side.

Start by creaming together the vegan butter and coconut sugar in a large mixing bowl. You can either do this by hand or with an electric mixer. Once combined, add in the vanilla extract and the molasses and mix until well combined.

In another large bowl, sift in your flour, bicarb of soda, salt and spices and mix together.

Add in the dry ingredients (flour mixture) to the wet ingredients and stir until you get a crumble-like consistency.

Then add in your non-dairy milk and mix until you get a thick dough. At this point, if your mixture is still crumbly, add in another tablespoon of milk until it comes together as a thick dough.

Roll into balls and place them onto your prepared baking sheets with space between each one to expand.

Press down on each ball to flatten them (you could use a fork to do this). This recipe should make around 18-20 cookies (roughly 50g each).

Then sprinkle each flattened cookie with your white sugar.

Depending on how you like your cookies will determine the cooking time. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes if you like them with a slightly crispier edge, 10 minutes to make them chewier, or 15 minutes to make them more biscuit-like.

Once baked, leave them to cool to room temperature on a cooling rack. This will allow the cookies to firm up slightly.

How To Store These Holiday Cookies

Once cooled to room temperature, you can store them for up to 4 days in an airtight container. Or, you can simply cover them with plastic wrap.

They are best left out of the fridge as putting them in the fridge makes them go harder.

These chewy gingerbread cookies are ideal with a glass of milk, for dunking in a hot mug of tea, coffee or even in your favourite hot chocolate.

We would love to know if you give this recipe a try this festive season by leaving a comment below or tagging us on social media.