These Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookies are an easy and healthy recipe made with clean, real food ingredients. They're the perfect holiday cookie that's a one-bowl recipe made in under 30 minutes with no eggs, dairy, refined sugar and are Medical Medium® Compliant.
Add these bite-sized plant-based cookies to your Holiday cookie list for a clean eating cookie everyone will enjoy!
Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Here's why this recipe works - my top 3 reasons:
- One-bowl recipe ready in under 30 minutes
- Made with clean, real food ingredients
- Healthier than traditional S.A.D. gingerbread cookies
One-Bowl Recipe Ready in Under 30 Minutes
Although you might miss out on getting to use a gingerbread man cookie cutter with these, you can still have fun in the kitchen with your little ones by making them into balls then flatten them into a cookie shape.
And, they'll have lots of fun dipping them in coconut sugar before baking them too!
Just add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and they're ready to form into a cookie shape.
About 15 minutes later, they're ready to enjoy!
Made With Clean, Real Food Ingredients
You'll love this healthier recipe because of the clean and easily accessible ingredient list, such as almond flour, almond butter, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and coconut oil.
In addition, it uses common spices like ground ginger, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, ground cloves and Himalayan pink salt (or sea salt).
Healthier Than Traditional S.A.D. Gingerbread Cookies
These cute little plant-based gingerbread cookies are a healthy replacement for traditional gingerbread cookies that are normally made with white flour, butter, eggs and decorated with food colorings and GMO sugar-filled candy toppings.
Whether you buy a boxed gingerbread mix or make a traditional version from scratch, the ingredients are not good.
Here's the ingredient list for a popular store-bought box version:
S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cookie Mix Ingredients: Ingredients: Enriched Flour Bleached (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Molasses, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil, Maltodextrin, Baking Soda, Spice, Cinnamon, Salt
That's -bleached- flour, white sugar and GMO ingredients (soybean oil and maltodextrin).
And traditional homemade gingerbread cookies aren't much better with the following typical ingredients:
S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Homemade Gingerbread Cookie Typical Ingredients: White All-Purpose Flour, White Sugar, Margarine or Butter, and Eggs.
My healthier version is made with clean, real food ingredients and is plant-based, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, paleo-friendly, contains no refined sugar and is Medical Medium® Compliant.
The spices you need to make this recipe and they're vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, paleo-friendly and contain no refined sugar.
How To Make Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookies: Step-by-Step Instructions
Here is how to make this recipe and I'll show you with step-by-step instructions below:
Before beginning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and set aside.
Step 1: Gather and Measure the Ingredients
Firstly, gather and measure all the ingredients needed to make the recipe.
Step 2: Add All Ingredients Together
Secondly, add all the ingredients to a medium-size mixing bowl.
Stir everything together until it's well combined and it has a wet/crumbly texture.
Take out a tablespoon and squeeze it in the palm of your hand to test if it is moist enough to hold together.
Depending on the consistency of your almond butter, you may need to add (1) tablespoon of non-dairy milk.
Step 3: Form the Cookies
Thirdly, once the mixture has a wet/crumbly texture, take out a tablespoon at a time and squeeze it in the palm of your hand to make it compact.
Flatten it between the palms of your hand to make a round cookie shape about 2-inches in diameter.
Step 4: Assembly
Fourthly, add the coconut sugar topping to a small bowl.
Dip the top of each cookie into the coconut sugar before placing it on the prepared cookie sheet.
Step 5: Bake the cookies
Fifthly, place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 15-17 minutes.
Since oven times vary, it's important to keep a close eye on the cookies as they can burn easily if they are overbaked.
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to completely cool before handling or removing from the cookie sheet.
Step 5: How To Store the Cookies
Lastly, store the cookies in an air-tight BPA-free container.
Karielyn's Expert Tips + Ingredient Substitutions For Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Here are some of my expert tips to make this recipe perfectly:
Almond Flour. I haven't tested the recipe using any other type of gluten-free flour. You can experiment if you'd like to try another flour, but I can't guarantee the same results.
Almond Butter. Depending on the type of almond butter you use, you may need to add a little extra liquid to the recipe. For example, if your almond butter is on the thick side, add (1) tablespoon of non-dairy milk at a time until the mixture has a wet/crumbly consistency and will hold together when squeezed into a ball shape. However, only add additional liquid as needed.
Coconut Sugar. I used coconut sugar to give them a "brown sugar" flavor, but you could try another unrefined sugar if you prefer although I don't know if they'd taste the same.
Coconut Oil. If you don't like the taste or flavor of coconut oil, you can use organic refined coconut oil which has zero coconut taste or flavor.
Vanilla Extract. This can be substituted with organic pure vanilla bean powder in the same amount.
Himalayan Pink Salt. This is my salt of preference, however, you can always substitute with sea salt.
Baking Time. Since oven times vary, you will need to keep a close eye on the cookies to make sure they don't burn. It's better to take them out a tad bit early and check them at the 15-minute mark than overbake them and have them burn on the edges. In addition, the cookies will be soft right out of the oven so you will need to let them cool completely before handling and removing from the cookie sheet.
Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 ¾ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup organic almond butter
- ¾ cup organic coconut sugar
- ¼ cup organic maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon organic coconut oil (melted/liquid)
- 1 tablespoon organic ground ginger
- 1 ¾ teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract*
- ¼ teaspoon organic ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
For the topping:
- 2 tablespoons organic coconut sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and set aside.
Prepare the cookies:
- Add all ingredients to a medium-size bowl and mix until well combined and the mixture has a slightly wet/crumbly texture. Depending on the consistency of your almond butter, you may need to add additional liquid if the mixture is too dry. Add (1) tablespoon of non-dairy milk at a time until it has a wet/crumbly texture that will hold together well. Add the non-dairy milk only as needed.
- Taste and adjust the sweetener and/or spices to your preference.
- Take out a spoonful at a time, squeeze it in the palm of your hand then make a fist shape to make it compact.
- Using the palms of your hands, flatten it into a disk shape and use your fingers to smooth the edges in a circle shape.
Assembly:
- Add the coconut sugar topping to a small bowl and dip the top of each cookie into the coconut sugar.
- Place the cookies on the prepared cookie sheet at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 15-17 minutes, taking care not to over bake because they will burn easily around the edges.
- Allow the cookies to cool before handling or removing them from the cookie sheet. They will be soft when they come out of the oven but will firm up after they cool.
- Store in an air-tight, BPA-free container.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Copyright Notice
The instructions, notes, and photographs for this recipe by Karielyn Tillman of The Healthy Family and Home™ website are copyrighted material. This copyrighted work is protected and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and cannot be legally used without my written permission.
Want More Healthy Gluten-Free Vegan Cookie Recipes?
Check out these:
- Gluten-Free Vegan Flourless Iced Cut-Out Cookies
- Chocolate Fudge Mint Cookies
- Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
- or my CLEAN DESSERTS Cookbook with 72 plant-based vegan + gluten-free no-bake dessert recipes made with clean, real food ingredients just like this one that you will love!
Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love to hear about it! Please give it a rating and leave a comment below...it would make my day! 🙂
Amanda says
I tried this recipe but had to use peanut butter because I ran out of almond butter. I tried to make shapes and unfortunate they spread across the whole pan. Tasted delicious though. So soft out of the oven at first I just might make a full pan and cut shapes as soon as I take it out, wish me luck!
Karielyn says
Hi there Amanda! I really, really wish I could have made these to roll out into cute little gingerbread man shapes, but after several attempts, a small round cookie shape was all that I could come up with lol!
Flourless, grain-free vegan AND gluten-free recipes are ~very~ tricky and will not have the same consistency as regular cookies. One reason they might have spread is if the peanut butter you used had a lot of oil in it. I find if I use store-bought (sometimes with added oils) instead of making homemade nut butters (with 100% nuts or very minimal oil) they will spread like you describe. Also, if you used a tad bit too much coconut oil, that could have made it happen too.
Even when I have failed attempts, they may not look pretty but are still edible and taste good so hopefully you were able to enjoy them even though you couldn't roll them out as a cut-out cookie.
Thanks for the feedback and for trying out the recipe 🙂