Gingerbread Cookies! Vegan | Dairy-free

Merry Christmas Y’all!! Ahh the holidays. I love this time of year. The lights, the cheer, the fireplace, the cozy sweaters, the friends & family time, the music, the bells, the stockings, the red & green everything, and, the BAKING!

Also, side-note, you can basically say “Merry Christmas” to people as a greeting / friendly exchange for essentially the whole month of December, right?! Or at least, I do!! 😀 Who’s with me?!

Christmas Baking!

There are SO MANY TYPES of Christmas cookies. Having enough is not possible. I love making lots of different kinds and having a tray assortment..like this!

My girlfriends and I get together for a White Elephant / Wine Night every Christmas season 🙂 This year, I put together this cookie dessert board for the occasion! (Shout out @bbernstein for the photo!) All of these cookies / cookie bars are VEGAN! (except the Trader Joe’s chocolate stars and the M&Ms) YUM!

I love vegan baking

Food allergies are so common, and can be super tough! I’m lactose intolerant (plus have some other wack stomach issues) so I don’t eat dairy. That’s why most (if not all) of what I make is dairy-free. And I figured, if I’m going to make things dairy-free, I’d really like to make them vegan so that the goodies are even more accessible. There aren’t enough vegan & dairy-free goodies out there!!

Sooo these are vegan!

…and you’d never know!! Seriously, there is no reason NOT to make them vegan. And I’m so excited to share the recipe with you so you can make them too!!

Have fun with it!

Icing cookies is all about the imagination. Let’s be honest, I dont really have artistic skills. I try, but for the most part my baked goods have an intentionally more-rustic-homemade-indulgent-look rather than a precise artistic look. I think it is SO COOL for those who have that artsy side. It’s incredible. But we all have to know our strengths and I know it’s not mine 😀

SO, decorating cookies, it’s all about the fun! Cole and I decorated these together..

See how much he enjoyed it?! 😀 I swear he actually had fun doing it. We used baking paint brushes to decorate, which at least made us FEEL artsy LOL.

You can use whatever cookie cutter shapes you want!! I have this variety pack of shapes and did mostly gingerbread men, trees, candy canes, stockings, and some snowflakes.

Let’s make some cookies!!!

I love to see your baking!! Share your baking pics on Instagram & tag @FetchingGoodies!

Recipe: Gingerbread Cookies with vanilla sugar glaze!

Vegan | Dairy-free
Makes 4-5 dozen cookies, depending on how big your cookie cutters are!

Ingredients:

Cookies
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoons ginger
10 Tablespoons vegan butter – I use Earth Balance baking sticks
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup molasses
1 flax egg (1 Tablespoons flaxseed meal, mixed with 3 Tablespoons of water, let sit for 15 minutes)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp light corn syrup
2-4 Tablespoons water
food coloring – I use powder food coloring

Directions:

In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Set that aside for now.
In a large bowl, with a stand mixer or hand-mixer, beat together the vegan butter and dark brown sugar. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Keep whipping them together until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Add in the molasses, flax egg, and vanilla. Whip again until everything is combined.
With the mixer on a low speed, slowly add in the flour mixture. Continue to mix until most of the flour is incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer and switch to a wooden spoon. Gently stir the dough together until everything is fully combined and you have a beautiful gingerbread dough!
Split the dough in half. Make each half into a ball, then flatten each ball so that it’s more of a disk shape (you know..a flat ball). Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge.
Refrigerate the dough for 3-4 hours, or overnight. You can even make the dough a few days ahead of time, just make sure it’s fully wrapped up air-tight.
When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Take one cookie dough disk out of the fridge. We’re going to roll out the dough, so, you’ll want a pastry board or mat, or parchment paper laid out on the counter.
Flour your dough-rolling surface– spread a thin layer of flour over the surface. Put flour on your rolling pin. Put flour on the dough-ball. You want to make sure it doesn’t stick!
Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. To be honest, I dont measure the thickness. I roll it out, flipping the dough three times and re-flouring the surface each time. If you like thick cookies, leave the dough thicker. If you want delicate thing cookies, roll it thinner! Totally up to you.
Line baking sheets with silpat mats or parchment paper. Place the cut-out cookies on the baking sheet and bake them in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until the edges JUST start to look slightly more brown.
Remove the cookies from the oven. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes. Then transfer them to a wire cooling rack or plate to cool completely.
Repeat, using all the dough! You can continue to re-roll out the dough until it feels like it’s too floury or not sticking together. I actually still bake the scraps that are left at the end– you can eat these as taste testers! 😀
Then, make the icing! Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl. Add in the rest of the icing ingredients (except the food coloring), starting with 2 Tablespoons of water. Whisk everything together. If you want the icing to be thinner, add more water. If it needs to be thicker, add a bit more powdered sugar. You can use all white icing, or, if you want to have multiple colors, put some icing into individual bowls. To each bowl, add in a few drops/pinches of food coloring.
By this time, your cookies are probably cool. You want them cooled completely. And then, ice them! You can spread icing on with a knife, or use baking paint brushes like we did, or use baking tips..whatever you prefer!!
Allow the frosting the harden for a couple hours. Then, store the cookies in an airtight container. And eat ’em! Share ’em! Enjoy them!! 🙂

I love to see your baking!! Share your pics on Instagram & tag @FetchingGoodiesBakery!

Merry Merry – Happy Holidays – Have a wonderful day to all!! <3