These Vegan Ginger Molasses Cookies are officially the best Holiday cookie you will ever make! With chewy insides and a crisp sugar-coated exterior, they are the perfect eggless, dairy-free, & vegan spice cookie.
Last year I made the best Vegan Brown Sugar Chai Cookies and Vegan Gingerbread Cookies and you all LOVED them!
After making those the biggest request I kept getting was to make a chewy cookie, but with molasses and ginger. Hence how these delicious chewy ginger molasses cookies came to be!
Ingredients:
Ingredient notes:
- Molassess: Make sure to use fancy molasses for the right flavor and NOT blackstrap molasses. I like Brer Rabbit and Crosby Fancy Molasses for baking these eggless molasses cookies.
- Dark brown sugar: For the chewiest ginger sugar cookie, it's really important to use dark brown sugar. It is more moist and has more molassess than light brown sugar, so I don't recommend substitutiing it.
- Spices: I decided to use ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom to make these cookies. If you want a more traditional spice cookie, you can substitute the cardamom with cloves & allspice.
How to make ginger molasses cookies
Cream butter & sugar
Creaming the butter with the sugar helps to incorporate air into the molasses cookie dough to give these cookies a chewy & fluffy texture.
Add molasses, flax egg, & vanilla
Once creamed, add in the rest of the wet ingredients including the molasses, flax egg, and vanilla. Then, mix together another 30 seconds to combine.
Add in dry ingredients & mix
Add the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt to the bowl and mix until a thick dough forms. The ginger molasses cookie dough will be sticky at this point but, after chilling, it will be the perfect texture.
Chill the cookie dough
Add the vegan molasses cookie dough to the fridge for 30 minutes- 1 hour. Just this amount of time in the fridge makes these cookies so much chewier and more flavorful.
As the dough sits in the fridge, the sugar will absorb some of the moisture in the dough and lead to a sweeter flavored dough.
Roll cookie dough balls in sugar
After chilling, scoop the vegan ginger cookies out and roll them in a bowl of the remaining 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Rolling the cookies in sugar before baking gives them that perfect crinkly texture and crunchy edges.
I used a 1.5 Tablespoon cookie scoop, but for larger cookies, you can use a 3 Tablespoon cookie scoop.
Before baking the ginger molasses cookies, lightly press them with your palms so they spread more while baking.
Bake the molasses cookies
Add the vegan spice cookies to the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes for smaller cookies (14 cookies) and 13-15 minutes for larger cookies (about 8 cookies).
The cookies should be just cooked with slightly soft centers when they are removed from the oven. Cookies with soft centers out of the oven lead to the chewiest texture.
FAQ & Tips:
Definitely! Just substitute all-purpose flour for a gluten-free 1:1 baking mix. Please keep in mind, this recipe does not work for substituting flour alternatives like almond flour, coconut flour, or oat flour as it's not a 1:1 substitution.
For this recipe, you'll want to use fancy molasses aka light molasses. Just make sure NOT to use blackstrap molasses as that will give these cookies a bitter flavor.
Cookies can be stored in a closed container at room temperature for 3-4 days, in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
I highly recommend storing them in the freezer for the best texture. Just let the cookies defrost at room temperature for about 30 minutes before enjoying.
I can't wait for you to try these chewy Vegan Molasses Ginger Cookies! These spice cookies are truly the best Holiday cookie and are sure to be a hit for everyone. Enjoy!
-TSG
More vegan cookie recipes you will love:
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Vegan Ginger Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
Ginger Molasses Cookie Dough
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cane sugar
- 1 flax egg 1 Tbsp (8 grams) ground flaxseed mixed with 3 Tbsp water, left to sit 5 minutes
- 2 Tablespoons light molasses NOT blackstrap molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt use ½ teaspoon if using unsalted butter
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 3 Tablespoons cane sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- First, add the vegan butter, dark brown sugar, and cane sugar to a large mixing bowl. Then, cream together with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy.
- Next, add in the flax egg, molasses, and vanilla and whip together another 30 seconds.
- Add the all-purpose flour, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, baking soda, and salt to the mixing bowl. Make sure to add the flour first and then add the other ingredients on top. Then, use the electic mixer to mix everything together until a thick cookie dough forms. The dough will be slightly sticky, but should not be wet.
- Cover the bowl of cookie dough with plastic wrap and add the bowl of dough to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes- 1 hour.
- About 10 minutes before removing the dough from the fridge preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Then, fill a small bowl with the 3 Tablespoons of cane sugar and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon and whisk together to combine.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and use a cookie scoop to scoop out 14 evenly sized cookies (about 45-50 grams per cookie). Roll into balls between your palms and then roll in the bowl of cinnamon sugar until the cookies are coated.
- Place each cookie dough ball onto the parchment-lined baking sheet making sure to leave the cookies 2-inches apart. Then, use your palm to slightly press down each cookie dough ball. All of the cookies will not fit on one baking sheet, so I recommend baking 7 cookies at a time on one tray vs. putting two trays in the oven at the same time.
- Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes until bottoms are lightly browned and the cookies are cooked through but have slightly soft centers (If making large cookies adjust baking time to 13-15 minutes). The cookies will continue baking after they are removed from the oven so the centers should still be soft, but not glossy or raw, when they are removed from the oven.
- Remove the cookie tray from the oven and immediately tap the tray on the counter to produce a more “wrinkly” cookie. For round cookies, use a round cookie cutter that is slightly larger than the cookies and swirl the cookies around inside to form them into a round cookie. This step will only work if you do it while the cookies are still warm.
- Then, let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes. The cookies will be soft and puffy out of the oven and will naturally deflate a little while cooling. After cooling, serve & enjoy!
Notes
- Cookies can be stored in tin foil or a closed container at room temperature for 2-3 days. They can also be stored in a closed container between layers of parchment paper in the fridge for 4-7 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
- If freezing cookies, defrost by letting the cookies sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before eating.
- To make these cookies gluten-free, substitute a gluten-free baking mix like Bob's Red Mill for all-purpose flour.
- There is not a good substitute for dark brown sugar or molasses in these cookies as both are crucial for the right texture.
- For a more traditional spice cookie, cardamom can be substituted for ground cloves
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