Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars

These Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars are soft and chewy, fragrantly spiced and covered in a rich “cream cheese” frosting! They’re perfect for Christmas and make an excellent (and easier) alternative to Gingerbread Cookies.

Why you’ll love these Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars

• they’re undetectably vegan and gluten-free
• they’re spiced and fragrant 
• they’re soft and chewy
• they’re perfectly sweet
• they’re covered in a rich, creamy frosting
• they’re easy to make
• they’re refined sugar free
• they’re perfect for Christmas
• they’re an easier alternative to Gingerbread Cookies!

How to make these Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars

Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.

• Mix together the ingredients for the cookie dough in a glass mixing bowl.

• Transfer the cookie dough into a one-pound loaf tin.

Tip: Make sure to line the loaf tin with greased baking paper – this will make removing the cookie bars from the tin so much easier!

• Use your fingers to push the mixture all the way to the edges, then use a spatula to press down on it until the surface is completely even.

• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes – don’t worry if it’s quite soft when you take it out as it will firm up as it cools.
• Leave to cool completely before applying the frosting.

How to make the frosting

• Place the ingredients for the frosting in a food processor or blender.

• Whizz until completely smooth, adding some plant-based milk or water to thin out if necessary.
• Taste and add extra lemon juice and/or maple syrup if necessary.

• Use a knife (or palette knife for frosting) to spread the frosting over the top of the cookie bars.

How to decorate these Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars

I like to decorate these Cookie Bars with chopped dried cranberries, which add festive colour as well as a nice tart-sweet flavour, but you can use anything you want! Chopped pistachios work well too!

How long do these Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars keep for?

These Gingerbread Cookie Bars do taste best when fresh, but keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.

Substitutions you can make to this recipe:

• you can replace the date syrup with any other liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup or brown rice syrup
• you can replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground walnuts or ground sunflower seeds
• you can replace the gluten-free flour with rice flour 
• you can use plain flour if you don’t need them to be gluten-free.

More vegan Christmas recipes:

• Strawberry Trifle
• Gingerbread Cake
• Wellington
• Yule Log
• Christmas Pudding
• Gingerbread Loaf Cake
• Sugar Cookies
• Gingerbread Cookies
• Christmas Burger
• Peppermint Brownies

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.

Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars

These Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars are soft and chewy, fragrantly spiced and covered in a rich "cream cheese" frosting! They're perfect for Christmas and make an excellent (and easier) alternative to Gingerbread Cookies.

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gingerbread cookie bars, gluten-free gingerbread cookies, vegan gingerbread cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 8 cookie bars

Calories: 275kcal

Author: Rhian Williams

Ingredients

• ▢ 30 g (⅛ cup) coconut oil  (or sub coconut butter)
• ▢ 7 tablespoons date syrup  (or sub maple syrup or any other similar sweetener)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 75 g (⅔ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
• ▢ 75 g (⅔ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub rice flour, or plain flour if not gluten-free)
• ▢ 1.5 teaspoons ground ginger **
• ▢ 1 teaspoon mixed spice (or a mixture of ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon)

For the frosting:

• ▢ 100 g (⅔ cup) raw cashew nuts soaked in cold water overnight or in hot water for 15 minutes
• ▢ 6 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
• ▢ 3 tablespoons lemon juice

To decorate (optional):

• ▢ Dried cranberries , roughly chopped

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
• Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave
• Add the date syrup and vanilla and mix well
• Measure out the dry ingredients (ground almonds, gluten-free flour, ginger, mixed spice) and mix well
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well – add a splash of any type of plant-based milk if it’s too dry to combine at this stage
• Transfer the mixture into a loaf tin lined with greased baking paper – I used a one-pound loaf tin
• Use your fingers to push the mixture all the way to the edges, then use a spatula to press down on it until the surface is completely even
• Bake in oven for around 10 minutes until lightly browned at the edges – don’t worry if it’s quite soft when you take it out as it will firm up as it cools
• Leave to cool completely before applying the frosting

For the frosting:

• Drain the soaked cashews and add to a food processor or blender with the maple syrup and lemon juice
• Whizz until completely smooth, adding some plant-based milk or water to thin out if necessary

To frost and decorate:

• Use a knife (or palette knife) to spread frosting over the top of the cookie bars
• Decorate with chopped dried cranberries, if desired
• Cut into squares
• Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days

Notes

*You can alternatively use almond flour

**These gingerbread cookie bars do end up being quite gingery, so if making this for children or for people who don’t like ginger, you might want to use a little less than the amount listed in the recipe.

Nutrition Facts

Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Bars

Amount Per Serving

Calories 275 Calories from Fat 126

% Daily Value*

Fat 14g22%

Saturated Fat 5g25%

Sodium 5mg0%

Potassium 166mg5%

Carbohydrates 35g12%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 21g23%

Protein 5g10%

Vitamin C 2mg2%

Calcium 67mg7%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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