Vegan Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies

Just made these, they turned out great!

I’ve made these twice now and they’re so amazing! I’ll actually be using this recipe for ginger bread houses as the cookie is really firm but still has a great chew! I used King Arthurs gluten free pancake mix in place of your pancake mix and it turned out great.

These are the BEST!!!!! We’ve been GF over 5 years and I’ve tried many many recipes – this is by far our favorite! Could I freeze the dough after rolling it between two pieces of wax paper and thaw later for cutting and baking?

These look amazing! I am baking a batch for my child’s class. If I only need gluten-free, can I get away with using the gluten-free flour and substituting regular butter and egg in the same amounts, or would I need to adjust anything? Thanks!

Can you use a real egg instead of the flax egg, and real butter instead of vegan butter? The recipe looks yummy!

I love your recipes. They are tried and true. Theses guys were a big hit with the family!

Hi there! I’m excited to try this recipe this year. Your gluten free flour mix already contains baking soda and baking powder. Should we add more when making the dough for this cookie recipe. Thanks!

I’ve tried every highly rated gingerbread cookie recipe online in the last two weeks, and this one is the BEST. I’m mostly vegan (the only exception being tasting my own baked goods), so I might be biased, but even my omnivore boyfriend agrees. These are hands down the best out there– vegan/gf or not!

I just baked these bad boys and they were a complete SUCCESS! First time baking ginger cookies and I was so damn happy. Some came out a bit soft because they were thicker and the other others were rather crispy but not too much. I switched almond butter for pumpkin pie puree and used unrefined ap flour and a few spoons of sweet potato flour, softened coconut oil instead of vegan butter and less sugar (a mix of coconut/brown sugar. Around 1/4 cup + 2 tsp.). The ginger-y taste is strong but not overpowering and you could hardly taste the pumpkin pie in it. Will DEF’ make again! Kudos from Dominican Rep.!

We don’t realt have molasses in Sweden. How can I substitute it/make my own?

Hi!
Just popped by to look for a really good recipe for gingerbread men to giveaway this Christmas and loved this one but I have a question for you: can I substitute molasses for rice syrup?
Kisses from Portugal! :*

I can’t wait to try out this recipe, but would it be possible to use it to make gingerbread house? Just roll out with thicker width for sturdiness? Any suggestions? Thanks.

Hi I’m going to be giving these ago for xmas this year for my sis and friend who are are gluten free, I’m not sure about the last ingredient is it gluten free baking flour or pancake mix? also can i just use normal butter ad they are ok with having dairy, looking forward to making they look amazing :)

Hello I am so sorry to be “that person” but I am living overseas in a military community and wanted to make these for our homeschool community’s Christmas Party. There are several children with gluten allergies so I thought it would be nice to go gluten free for the party so not only can the kids decorate but they can eat them too. Fist I want to say that I am not familiar with gluten free baking and this recipe by far looks the easiest and most cost effective for a very large group. Not to mention yummy!! Anyways, I was wondering if I could use a regular egg instead of Flax egg? I can get the flax it’s just a bit of a drive (and kinda expensive here) and I most likely wouldn’t use it for anything else. I know, its very healthy and I can sprinkle it into my food but my family hates it and refuses to eat it. Thank you so much for creating this recipe and sharing it! It is going to make a bunch of kids really happy in a few weeks ;-)

Awesome cookies and photos! Congratulations

This is the best gingerbread cookies recipe ever! I made them for the first time this year today and I know I’ll make some more soon-they will disapear in no time :)

Hey Dana, those gingerbread men look so cute! I was wanting to keep my gingerbread house tradition going this year and was wondering if this recipe would be suitable? Thanks :)

Read your recipe but how much water do you use

Can you use maple syrup instead of molasses?

These were awesome. I used bob mill gluten free flour and soy free earth balance for the vegan butter. I thought they were maybe a little too sweet but lately everything has been too sweet for me so I think it’s just me. Also – there was a hint of an aftertaste that I notice with gluten free flours – but almost not noticeable and dipped in sugar free cashew milk who cares – it also could have been the nutmeg I used. I do prefer to use an all purpose GF flour as it’s just easier. But really good cookies I can’t stop eating them. I rolled them into balls and dipped in sugar after chilling for an hour and baked for 11 minutes. I saved some dough and just baked some now for 13 minutes – I did not freeze it at all and they were just fine. Flattened but not too much and were chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside.

Hi! These look great. Any way to modify them to use honey instead of brown sugar? I’m looking for recipes that will work with a very specific diet and processed sugars are out.

Hi! Do you think that I could sub coconut oil in for the vegan butter? I try to reduce the amount of soy in my diet.

Thanks!

Am I able to use black strap molasses instead, but just add more sugar to counteract the bitterness?

Hi! It seems when I am searching for how to make something that is gluten-free and plant-based you have a relatively easy recipe for it, so thank you! :) I’ve made these numerous times and they are great, I wanted to share that last night I used sunflower butter and chia instead of flax for “egg” and they came out great! My flour mix was a blend of mostly brown rice, and a bit of of buckwheat and tapioca.

I’ve read and re-read the post, and I guess after you roll them into balls, you don’t have to smush them out so that they are flatter? Do they flatten on their own? Thank you! I can’t wait to make these!

Yummy cookies loved by my now gluten-free husband. I used an actual egg rather than a flax egg. Also, the prep time should really be 1 hour 38 mins because the dough needs to be refrigderated at least an hour before baking. Happy 2015!

Your flour mix already has baking powder and soda. Do you add more leavener? Is that correct?
Thanks!

i omitted the ginger and these turned out to be the perfect tea biscuits!

I made these for Thanksgiving and they went over great. I want to make them again tomorrow but I have no flax & no eggs…can I sub applesauce or banana?

I just made these and am THRILLED at how well they turned out! Your instructions are clear and helpful, and made the process a breeze! I used a regular egg and subbed the homemade GF flour for Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour, and they are picture perfect! Thank you!

Thanks for the recipe, Dana! I just made them and they turned out great! I rolled the dough out between two sheets of wax paper dusted with quinoa flour and had no problem getting them off the paper with a lightly floured spatula. Unfortunately I only got about 22 cookies out of the dough, but that’s probably because a couple of them turned out a bit chubby ;-)

Thanks again and merry Christmas from Holland!

Absolutely love this recipe! I was planning to make them for my dad but he’s allergic to nuts, could I replace the almond butter for honey or avocado? Thanks!

Do you imagine it would work to substitute a regular egg for the flax egg? I am GF but not vegan. Thank you – and Happy Holidays!

Hello I was hoping to not make these gluten free. Would I just sub in all purpose flour or would another form of flour be better?

Hi Dana! My husband and I are celebrating our first Christmas in our first home together and this is my first time making Christmas cookies. I’ve chosen the chewy gingerbread cookie as one of my 5 Christmas cookies I make this year. If I’m going with the chewy version can you let me know how long they should bake? Is it the same as the thin version? Thanks for your help! I can’t wait to taste them :)

I am so excited to make these, we used the Bobs red mill gf pancake mix with only 1/4 cup water. hoping it turns out the same, texture looks pretty good. thank you I love your blog :)

These look and sound delicious. I will be making them for a class activity at my sons school, which is nut free. Can I leave the almond butter out altogether? I believe that soy is also to be avoided. So fat every recipe of yours that I have made has been amazing, so I can’t wait to try these. :-)

Love these! Love them enough that I made them twice.

i’m going to make these :) i read all the comments and i think substituting the gluten free flour for whole wheat would work out just fine except i have bleached whole wheat flour. any recommendations to make the dough darker to look like yours?

I just made these and they turned out great. Gluten isn’t an issue for me so I used a combination of spelt and whole wheat pastry flour because I do prefer whole grains over all-purpose flour. I formed the dough into a log and chilled for about 3 hours. Then I sliced and baked; no freezing, no flouring of the dough needed. I’ll be making again soon as I only got 20 cookies and they’re for my sister. She’ll want more than that :)

Looks so delicious!
I was just wondering if you could sub the GF mix with any other flour (like just buckwheat or almond flour)? And in what quantities? Because some of the GF ingredients seen impossible to find here :(

Love your recipes :D

These look amazing! I haven’t had Gingerbread cookies in forever. I will have to change that with this recipe! :)

Thanks for posting this amazing recipe Dana! I ended up making a version with all purpose flour (not gluten free) and added a little bit of green cardamom instead of ginger. Delish! Thanks again for the inspiration.

These look divine! I must make these this year!

Is there a store bought gluten free baking mix I could use to substitute? The holidays are just so busy so something convenient would be great!

Thanks!

Hi Dana

I really want to give this recipe a go as gifts for my sister this Christmas as she is Vegan and her little boy is Gluten free, I’m not Vegan but eat very little dairy and use Nuttlex brand, just wondering if I could substitute the Vegan butter for this? And with the Gluten free pancake mix, could I use GF selfraising or plain flour instead?
Thanks :-)
Michelle

Hello Dana!

Gingermen cookies look amazing! I just wanted to ask you at this point – I read the instructions 3 times but couldn’t find where about you put the ginger into it. Is it with wet ingredients?
Sorry I don’t bake very often, but want to perfect these for the Christmas so I have some sweets to indulge as a vegan in a non vegan family celebration :)

Many thanks,
Simona

I need to make gingerbread cookies for my sister and want to make them vegan. I’d like to try this recipe, based on your reviews, but am wondering if it’s blackstrap molasses you used? I hate that stuff! :)

Fantastic!!!!

Oh, also, I used Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose baking flour mix (garbanzo/potato/tapioca/sorghum) and it was the perfect substitution because I didn’t have those other fours on hand. You just have to add 1 3/4 (the maximum amount of flour) because the dough needs the extra sturdiness.

I just made these and they are absolutely delicious!! I substituted sunflower butter (sunbutter) because I’m allergic to nuts and they came out just perfectly! I also put orange juice and zest into my icing instead of milk/almond milk to give the rolled cookies a hint of citrus. I think these are the perfect holiday cookie!

These look great, wonderful pictures. Do you have a suggestion on replacing the vegan butter? I do not use any form of vegan butter, mayo or the such and I am vegan.

Thank you

Hi! Can I make these non-vegan buy using an egg in replacement of the flax egg and butter in place of the vegan butter? Will it still turn out well? i’m not much of a baker.

Made these yesterday and they were a major hit! Sent them to a dinner party and they were quickly polished off! Even my husband who isn’t GF or vegan ate the crap out of them! We didn’t even bother putting icing on…. Serious keeper of a recipe!

I used spelt flour and they turned out great. I’d like to make them gluten free, but was unsure about the mix – do I add the b.powder, soda and sugar to the mix recipe as well as the sugar and soda in this recipe? I’ve just never seen those additions in a flour mix.

Can I substitute the GF pancake mix for regular flour?

Hi there!

those look stunning! Would they work with normal wheat flour as well? Would I have to change the measurements?

Thanks so much for your help :)

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Help! I’m in a pinch – do you see any harm in using a *prepackaged gluten free flour mix* rather than following your mix recipe? (I’d use a Schar baking mix)

Thank you so much – this is already the best looking recipe I’ve found. Minimalist indeed! Just what I need!

Wow! So excited to see this recipe. Will try out with the littlies after school.

clementinebuttercup.blogspot.co.uk

These looks sooo good. I am not vegan but allergic to eggs and sugar. I want to try to make it without the brown sugar and with reg. organic flour.

I’m making these for the first time for my son who has food allergies, but I don’t see the flour combo that you used. It just says gluten free baking /pancake mix.

Do you know if this recipe can be used to make gingerbread house pieces too? Or is it not firm enough?

Those amazing! I was wondering if I could replace the diy gluten free flour with regular or whole wheat flour?

Do you think I can use coconut oil instead of the vegan butter?

Oh. My. God. These are amazing. I made these for an old people’s home I was visiting the next day but honestly, I really had to restrain myself from eating them by myself!
I altered the recipe a bit because I didn’t have almond butter in the house so I simply used 1/2 a cup soy butter and I also substituted the flax egg with cornstarch and water, but it still worked out perfectly.
I’ve been vegan for only a month so I was a bit skeptical concerning baking but this recipe blew all my doubts away.

Thank you so much for the recipe! :)

Can I use coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar?

Holy christmas balls I’m excited me and my four year old son are currently whipping these up I think we are gonna add orange juice to the icing and a bit of beet juice to half for some pinky red icing without the chemicals :) thank you!

Can I sub the vegan butter for more almond butter?

Hi,
In your article you said you used buckwheat, brown rice and oat flours but the recipe did not include that combo. Can you please tell me what proportions of these three flours you used. I prefer using these flours instead of all the starches found in the other GF flour blend. My kid has celiac disease and I’ve been trying to find a great gingerbread recipe for this holiday season.

Many thanks,
D

Would this recipe still work if I subbed coconut oil for the vegan butter?

How will the taste change if I use peanut butter instead almond butter? And agave syrup instead of sugar?

Hi!
What can I use as a replacement for the xanthan gum in the flour blend for this recipe? I have found many replacements online, but what do you suggest?

They look delicious!

– Emma

I had the same question as Renata. Can I swap whole wheat flour or even white flour instead of the GF flour? Since I don’t have a gluten allergy, it would make them simpler and easier for me to make.

Thanks for the great recipes!

Hello!
This gingerbread men look sooo amazing!

It will be my first baking as a vegan, so I’m really excited!
One question, can I use just whole wheat flour instead of the mix? Or it could ruin the cookies?

thank you :)

Can I substitute with all purpose flour or whole wheat?

These look fantastic!! I LOVE gingerbread cookies, but since I went vegan, I haven’t been able to eat my favorite sweets :( I will try these soon! Also, what does the almond butter do in the recipe?

These look amazing!! I LOVE gingerbread men, but being vegan has eliminated many sweets I used to enjoy. Can’t wait to try these! What purpose does the almond butter serve in the recipe?

I’m so glad I found your recipe, I will be trying these today and hope they are firm enough for cutter as well as embossing with cookie stamps……thank you and I will give you an update with results later ;)

This is my fourth batch. My kids love it and I swap half of butter for coconut oil and pumpkin butter instead of almond butter (more iron!) so I don’t need to leave in the fridge at all. So Yummy!

Yummm!!! These were a special treat for my gluten intolerant friends that went on vacay with us vegasaurs. I made the recipe before I even noticed your blurb at the top about you cooking and John making the jokes…that’s exactly how it works in our house and we’re Dana and John as well! Matches made in heaven. Thanks so much for the post.

These look absolutely perfect! I never would have thought to add almond butter to ginger cookies – I bet it makes them taste rich and delicious, and gives them amazing texture. Sold!

These turned out fabulous! I have a love/hate relationship for gingerbread, and these are definitely on the love side of things. For the holidays, I made gingerbread men, stars, forest creatures, etc….and they looked great and tasted delicious!

Wow. These were great! Best by far.
( Make sure to follow the flour mix though, because with GF baking if you use a different flour combo you get a totally different product! )
It trippled just fine.
I made my ginger bread men a tiny bit thicker and just punched them out on parchment paper the size of my pan, then peeled off the scraps! No tricky transferring! My kids were thrilled! Crispy and chewy, they held there own and didn’t crumble intonbits :) thanks so much.

it’s cool for eat :D

I just made these and they’re absolutely perfect!! I’ve been a vegan for almost 4 years and I haven’t had gingerbread cookies in SO long. I was so happy when I came across your recipe. I followed it exactly as you said (except I used regular whole wheat flour instead of gluten-free) and they turned out so well. Thank you!!

These gingerbread men are so cute! And they look so delicious. I usually fail miserably at frosting gingerbread men – but you made these so adorable! I love them.
pinning!

Thank you for this recipe! I’m definitely going to make these for Christmas. My daughter (4) is allergic to nuts and seeds. Substituting the flax seeds shouldn’t be a problem, but the almond butter might be difficult. Do you think I can sub the almond butter by pumpkin puree? (Would also be a nice way to get her to eat more veg ;) )

I’m so excited! I’ve been patiently waiting for this recipe since you posted the teaser on twitter a few weeks ago. I now know what I’ll be doing on Sunday and I watch Christmas movies. Thanks for sharing!

Oh goodness, this recipe = christmas perfection.

Too freaking cute!! Love these, Dana!

These look perfect for my family/friends holiday party! Gingerbread cookies always make me think about the holidays!

Mmm those look so yummy and chewy!

xo Jennifer

Oh that last photo – I can almost taste them! They look like perfection.

We will definitely have to try it with your mix of gluten free flour. <3

That first photo!! These are way too cute.

I WANT TO MAKE THESE. No, need. They may need to accompany my traditional iced Christmas sugar cookies (now vegan-style, of course) this year. And beautiful photos.. as always!

I’m so excited to make a batch of these! I think I’m all for rolling them up into balls and having that softer center. Yum!

These are too cute!!

Oscar-worthy “phood photography”….presentation & plating….images STUN. Bravo…and the recipe looks like what the taste buds “need”/crave at this special time of year…cannot wait to attempt both “riffs”!!..

If they should remain soft in the center…should I prefer the round version? If I wanted to impress my Swedish grandmother with a crisp “Pepparkakor” vegan-style…could these be rolled extremely thin and “crisped”…or would it ruin the flavor?….Thanks so much for so much culinary energy during this joyful, yet energy-sapping time of year!

These little dudes are so cute! And this looks like perfect gingerbread – gluten free, vegan or otherwise.