These gluten free and vegan gingerbread cookies have a chewy exterior and soft interior that is spiced with two different kinds of ginger. These are the perfect pick-me-up on cold winter days!
When I was younger I absolutely hated fresh ginger. About as close as I got to the stuff was sickeningly sweet (and fake) ginger ale. I had a very traumatizing incident involving pickled ginger as a kid and was convinced from that point on that it tasted like soap.
At some point after I moved to East Texas I began to develop a taste for it. I can’t pinpoint a specific event that suddenly allowed me to enjoy the spicy flavor it lends. Perhaps it was just changing tastebuds. Or maybe enough years had passed since I mistakenly ate that pickled ginger. Whatever the shift, I’m glad it happened! Ginger in any form has become one of my favorite foods, especially during the fall and winter seasons.
My love of ginger led to the development of these chewy gingerbread cookies during my farmers market days. They’re packed with two kinds of ginger and get a lovely chewy texture thanks to molasses and a quick roll in sugar before being baked. The perfect thing about these cookies is that you can add as much ginger as you like. And, they can be chewy or snappy depending on how long you bake them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Packaging Ideas
I love using mason jars, scraps of fabric, and ribbon or twine to package up cookies for gifting! Here’s how to do it:
Cut a square of fabric roughly four or five inches square. Fill the jar with cookies (or whatever else you’d like to give away). Put the lid on the jar, then center the square of fabric on top. Next, screw on the ring. Tie ribbon or twine around the ring. If you’d like you can attach a gift tag with twine. And you’re all set! This recipe will make enough to fill two pint jars.
Chewy Gingerbread Cookies
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These gluten free and vegan gingerbread cookies have a chewy exterior and soft interior that is spiced with two different kinds of ginger. These are the perfect pick-me-up on cold winter days!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup melted vegan butter
- 2 tbsp un-sulphured molasses
- 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
- packed 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, grated
- scant cup of oat flour*
- 1/4 cup buckwheat flour*
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup cane sugar for rolling
Instructions
Combine the melted butter, molasses, applesauce, brown sugar, and grated ginger in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth. In a separate bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flours, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, then mix until the dough comes together. It will be a soft cookie dough. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for at least 2 hours.
When you’re ready to make your cookies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and pot the cane sugar into a shallow bowl. Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon measure, scoop up portions of the dough, roll them in your hands into a ball, then drop them into the sugar. Roll the ball of dough around until it is covered in sugar. Place the cookies on your prepared baking sheet at least one inch apart. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes. If you prefer a crisp cookie, you can bake your cookies for 18-20 minutes.
Notes
- *if you don’t need to make these cookies gluten free, you can substitute 1 cup plus 2 tbsp of regular all-purpose flour in place of the buckwheat and oat flours.
- This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled depending on how many cookies you’d like to make! I tend to bake in small batches as it’s less wasteful when testing recipes and there’s less of a mountain of cookies for me to devour 😉
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Chilling Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 15-20 minute
- Category: dessert
We’ve reached December which means it’s time for another round of cookie month! Cookie month originally began as a way for me to share holiday-inspired treats but over the years the focus has changed a bit. Instead of focusing strictly on cookies it hones in on items that you can share with others during the holidays and beyond. This year will be the first that will include some homemade non-edibles that I’m pretty stoked to share with you guys.