These Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookies are crispy yet chewy, fragrantly spiced and have a rich, molasses-like flavour whilst being refined sugar free! They're super easy to make as they come together in one bowl and there's no need to chill the dough beforehand. The perfect sweet treat for Christmas and they make excellent edible gifts.
The ground almonds help to bind the dough together without the need for any eggs, and create a light and crispy yet slightly chewy texture reminiscent of real butter- and sugar-laden gingerbread cookies. The almonds also add extra protein and fibre.
Instead of sweetening them with sugar, I went for date syrup - if you’ve never tried date syrup, it’s thick, dark and nectar-like and looks and tastes a little like molasses. It adds an amazingly rich flavour, whilst keeping these gingerbread cookies refined sugar free.
They're seriously easy to make as there’s no need to bother with all the clean-up required because of a floured surface: you can use a sheet of greaseproof baking paper instead, which is much easier to work with.
How to make this recipe
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.
- Lay out a sheet of greaseproof baking paper on a counter. Sprinkle the surface of the paper and a rolling pin with a generous amount of flour and roll out the remaining pastry dough until about 5mm/1/4 inch thick.
- Use a medium-sized cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the dough - you will probably have to roll the dough a few times until you use it all up.
- Transfer the cookies onto two rectangular baking tray.
Tip: Line the baking trays with greased baking paper to make sure the cookies don't stick.
- Bake in oven for around 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
- If you're not absolutely set on keeping these cookies completely refined sugar free, you can also have fun decorating them with icing!
How long do these Gingerbread Cookies keep for?
These Gingerbread Cookies can be kept in an airtight container 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 use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, cashew milk, oat milk, soy milk, rice milk etc.
- You can replace the gluten-free flour with rice flour.
- You can use plain flour instead of gluten-free flour if you don't need them to be gluten-free.
More delicious vegan festive treats
- Pecan Pie
- Apple Cake
- Chocolate Cherry Trifle
- Pumpkin Cake
- Apple Pie
- Matcha Shortbread
- Pumpkin Pie
- Gingerbread Cookie Bars
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.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 30 g (⅛ cup) coconut oil (or sub coconut butter)
- 12 tablespoons date syrup (or sub maple syrup or any other similar sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend plus more for rolling (or sub rice flour, or plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 3 teaspoons ground ginger **
- 1.5 teaspoons mixed spice (or a mixture of ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon)
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.
- Lay out a sheet of greaseproof baking paper on a counter. Sprinkle the surface of the paper and a rolling pin with a generous amount of flour and roll out the remaining pastry dough until about 5mm/1/4 inch thick.
- Use a medium-sized cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the dough - you will probably have to roll the dough a few times until you use it all up.
- Transfer the cookies onto two baking trays/baking sheets lined with greased baking paper.
- Bake in oven for around 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
- They will be slightly soft when you remove them from the oven - leave to cool completely to let them harden.
- If you're not absolutely set on keeping these cookies completely refined sugar free, you can also have fun decorating them with icing!
- Keep in an airtight container for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
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Ellen
I had the same problem as a previous commenter. The batter turned out very sticky, more like a pourable cake than a rollable cookie. I added more and more flour until my daughter was able to roll and cut them, but I will be looking for a different recipe. This one didn't turn out well.
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you so much for your feedback. I'm so sorry you had a problem with the dough - I'll test it out again and see if the recipe needs to be amended. Thank you so much for letting me know!
Anonymous
Great recipe, got the perfect dough texture. We used mixed nuts ground up instead of just almond and was also good. We used argace syrup too as there was no date syrup in the cupboard . Thanks Will defo try some of your other recipes, was so easy to follow and really love your substitution suggestions .
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Alene
What can I substitute date syrup with in this recipe? I don't want to use maple syrup because it's so costly. I am not vegan but I have to be gluten free. Thanks!
Rhian Williams
You can use any other type of sweetener or normal sugar!