This holiday season enjoy the rich blend of spices and the perfect balance of sweetness, all without the gluten in these gluten free gingerbread cookies. These vegan holiday cookies are soft and chewy and topped with royal icing for all your decorating needs. They are perfect to decorate your tree with or to nibble on while wrapping gifts. These gluten free gingerbread are the perfect new classic to add to your Christmas cookie repertoire.
Why You’ll Love These Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
- Easy To Decorate. The vegan royal icing is the perfect consistency to decorate these gingerbread cookies with. Get creative or keep it basic- the choice is yours!
- Texture. The texture of the cookie itself is soft, chewy and just a little crispy. I’ve made sure these cookies don’t have that gummy gluten free texture (because no one wants that).
- New Take On A Classic. These cookies are vegan and gluten free. If you are vegan or have a gluten allergy it’s nice to know that you don’t have to miss out on all the goodies of Christmas. And the fact that these gluten free cookies actually taste good, even the people who can eat flour will love these cookies.
How To Make Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
- Prepare the flax eggs by mixing 2 tbsp of flaxseed meal with 6 tbsp of water. Let sit for roughly 5 minutes until a yolky consistency has formed.
- Once ready, use hand beaters or a stand mixer to mix the flax eggs, butter, molasses and sugar together until smooth.
- Add the almond flour and brown rice flour, starch and spices together in another bowl and whisk to combine. Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until thick and smooth.
- The batter will be sticky once everything is combined. This is ok. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 1 hour (longer is fine). After 1 hour the dough will be firmer and ready to roll. At this point, preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle a little brown rice flour on a large piece of parchment paper. Then place the dough onto that piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough. Then place another large piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and using a rolling pin roll the dough between the two pieces of parchment paper until it’s roughly 1/4″ thick. Then use cookie cutters to shape the gingerbread.
- Use a metal flipper/spatula to transfer the cookies to the baking sheet. Then gather the leftover dough, sprinkle it with flour and roll it between the parchment paper again. Cut the cookies out, transfer to the baking sheet and continue this process until there is no dough left.
- Bake in the oven for 9-12 minutes. My oven runs on the cooler side, so make sure to check your cookies at 9 minutes. Let cool completely before decorating.
Ingredients for Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
You may or may not know but I truly dislike gluten free flour blends that you buy in the store. I am just not a fan. I’ve tried different brands over and over for gluten free baking and they all have that “gummy” texture. No, thank you. So I typically use a blend of different gluten free flours and they seem to work pretty well for my baking recipes. For these gluten free gingerbread, I use a combination of almond flour, brown rice flour and arrowroot starch. And this combination sure did the trick. It resulted in soft, gingery and perfect-texture cookies. No one will guess they are gluten free. Below is the full list of ingredients you will need to make these vegan holiday cookies.�?
- Flax Eggs (flaxseed meal + water)
- Vegan Butter
- Molasses
- Sugar (brown sugar or coconut sugar)
- Almond Flour
- Brown Rice Flour
- Arrowroot Starch
- Ginger Powder
- Cinnamon + Sea Salt
- Chickpea Brine (liquid in a can of chickpeas)
- Powdered Sugar
Can I Freeze Gingerbread Cookies
The best thing about these gluten free gingerbread cookies is that you can make them ahead of time and freeze them. You can freeze them with the icing already on, or decorate them once they thaw. Simply let these vegan holiday cookies cool completely before putting them in a silicone bag to freeze.
More Vegan Desserts For Christmas
- The Best Vegan Christmas Cookies
- Vegan Caramel Pecan Cheesecake
- Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
- Gluten Free Coffee Cake
Gluten Free Gingerbread
Ingredients
Gingerbread
- 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flaxseed meal mixed with 6 tbsp water)
- 1/4 cup vegan butter (room temperature)
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup arrowroot starch
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
Icing
- 1/2 cup chickpea brine (liquid found in a can of chickpeas)
- 5 cups icing sugar (wholesome brand)
Instructions
- Prepare the flax eggs by mixing 2 tbsp of flaxseed meal with 6 tbsp of water. Let sit for roughly 5 minutes until a yolky consistency has formed.
- Once ready, use hand beaters or a stand mixer to mix the flax eggs, butter, molasses and sugar together until smooth.
- Add the flours, starch and spices together in another bowl and whisk to combine. Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until thick and smooth.
- The batter will be sticky once everything is combined. This is ok. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 1 hour (longer is better). After 1 hour the dough will be firmer and ready to roll. At this point, preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle a little brown rice flour on a large piece of parchment paper. Then place the dough onto that piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough. Then place another large piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and using a rolling pin roll the dough between the two pieces of parchment paper until it's roughly 1/4" thick. Then use cookie cutters to shape the gingerbread.
- Use a metal flipper/spatula to transfer the cookies to the baking sheet. Then gather the leftover dough, sprinkle it with flour and roll it between the parchment paper again. Cut the cookies out, transfer to the baking sheet and continue this process until there is no dough left.
- Bake in the oven for 9-12 minutes. My oven runs on the cooler side, so make sure to check the cookies at 9 minutes. Let cool completely before decorating.
Icing
- Start by adding the chickpea brine to a stand mixer (or you can use a hand-held mixer but you will need a mixer of some sort). Mix it for a few minutes until it becomes frothy.
- Gradually add in 5 cups of powdered/icing sugar and slowly with the whisk attachment mix together. The texture of the icing needs to be more like a glue consistency. Add more powdered sugar for a thicker icing and a splash of water for a thinner consistency. You'll be left with vegan royal icing that is great for decorating gingerbread.
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