· soy-free ·

Gingerbread cookies! The ultimate Christmas treat; nothing says “it’s Christmas” quite like gingerbread. Can you believe it’s been made for Christmas since the 17th century?! We had to make gingerbread for the holidays this year, so we saved the most Christmassy recipe for the last day of our 12 Days of Vegan Christmas Recipes!

Usually, gingerbread cookies are made with eggs, butter, milk, and brown sugar, but today we’re sharing a fantastic vegan take on this classic. We’re using spelt flour instead of refined all-purpose flour and coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. And of course, no eggs, butter, or milk in sight!

We also used chocolate icing on our gingerbread men this year, just because we wanted something different (and I’m sure you’ve realized we’re big chocolate lovers by now). Of course you can make regular white icing if you prefer, but we’re sharing our simple melted chocolate in the recipe below.

These are so simple to make and they’re just the best thing to do with kids and family. This year especially, since a lot of us are at home it would be the perfect activity to get everyone together and do something that doesn’t involve any screens for once!

Scroll down for the recipe and video ↓

 

Shapes

We like to make festive shapes with our gingerbread cookies, but of course you can do whatever shapes you want! At this time of year, there are so many cute cookie cutters out there, you can really go wild.

Remember to get creative. Even if you just have simple shapes to work with, have fun with the icing! We even took our gingerbread men and made them into characters this year, including Eduardo and I! Can you guess who’s who…?

Most importantly: have fun with it!

Scroll down for the recipe ↓

 

Chocolate Icing

Instead of the regular white icing for our gingerbread cookies, we made chocolate icing instead for a different look. Our chocolate is icing is super simple to make as it’s just melted chocolate and you can make it with whatever dark chocolate you have on hand.

We use 85% dark chocolate because we like the taste and dark chocolate is also great for your brain (all the more reason to eat it!). Feel free to use whatever chocolate you prefer.

You can melt the chocolate in a pot on the stove on low heat or you can put the chopped chocolate in a small heat-proof bowl in the microwave and heat it up in 10-second increments, Every 10 seconds, take it out and give it a stir. This ensures that the chocolate doesn’t burn on one side and is melted evenly.

 

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

Makes 10 large cookies

2 cups | 240g spelt flour

1/2 tsp | 2.4g baking powder

1/4 tsp | 1.6g baking soda

1/2 tsp | 2.6g sea salt

2 tsp | 4g ground ginger

2 tsp | 3.2g ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp | 1.2g ground cloves

1/2 cup | 76g coconut sugar

1/2 cup | 124g unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup | 50ml coconut oil

Chocolate Icing

1/2 cup | 100g chopped dark chocolate (85% or higher)

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

2. In a small bowl, add apple sauce and coconut oil and stir to combine. Add to the dry ingredients. Use your hands or a rubber spatula to mix everything together.

3. Lay out a large sheet or parchment paper on a flat surface. Take the dough out of the bowl and place in the center of the paper. Roll it out with a rolling pin to about 1/4”-thick. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Remove dough from the fridge and use cookie cutters to cut the dough into desired shapes. Place cookies on a lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until medium brown.

CHOCOLATE ICING

1. Melt the chopped chocolate either in a pot on the stove or in the microwave in 10-second increments. Use a spatula to stir it around to distribute the heat evenly. Use a thermometer (you can use a sugar thermometer or a laser thermometer like we do) to check when the chocolate reaches 32ºF.

2. Put the melted chocolate in a paper cone or a plastic piping bag to decorate.

 

Did you make this recipe? tag us on Instagram @eatogether.co so that we can see it!

 

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