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 easy to make, come together in one bowl, the dough doesn't require chilling, and are refined sugar free too. They're perfect for Christmas and make an excellent (and easier) alternative to Gingerbread Cookies.

How to make the 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

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 keep for?

They do taste best when fresh, but keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.

Substitutions you can make

• 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 6 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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