These vegan Almond Flour Gingerbread Cookies are a must for the holiday season! They're sweet, nutty, filled with warming spices, and have delightfully chewy centers. You can cut the dough into festive shapes or form it into softer, round cookies. Then, decorate the baked cookies with a simple 2-ingredient icing. They're easy to whip up by hand - no mixer required - and happen to be both gluten-free and oil-free!
If you're looking for a new vegan and gluten-free Christmas cookie recipe, I've got you covered!
Since these 3-Ingredient Almond Flour Cookies get such amazing feedback, I thought it would be fun to create a holiday cookie that also uses almond flour for the base.
Aside from being a great gluten-free alternative, I love working with almond flour because it has a naturally rich and buttery flavor and moist texture, allowing it to double as a replacement for eggs and/or oil in baking recipes.
For more tasty ways to use almond flour, check out my Almond Flour Brownies, Vegan Gluten-Free Pie Crust, and Vegan Frosting Without Butter next!
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Why You'll Love These Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
- One-Bowl Cookie Dough: The gingerbread cookie dough comes together in just one bowl for easy cleanup.
- Perfect for the Holidays: Packed with classic holiday flavors like rich molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice, they're great for festive dessert trays, cookie exchanges, gifting to friends and family, and more. So, get cozy with some cookies and an Oat Milk Eggnog while you watch your favorite Christmas movie!
- Customizable: Whether you're in the mood for cut-out cookies or traditional rounds, these can be made to suit your preference. Keep them simply decorated with icing or add more toppings like sanding sugar, sprinkles, a dusting of cinnamon sugar, candied ginger, or whatever your heart desires!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Light Brown Sugar: This is the main sweetener and adds moisture to the cookie dough. Feel free to substitute regular granulated sugar or use a combination of both sugars.
- Almond Butter: Provides fat without the need for butter or oil and adds moisture and richness to the cookies. It also works with the almond flour to help the cookies hold their shape. Be sure to use unsalted and unsweetened almond butter.
- Molasses: Essential for a classic gingerbread flavor, molasses adds depth, moisture, and sweetness. Either unsulphured or dark molasses work best for this recipe. Blackstrap molasses tends to be a bit too strong.
- Vanilla Extract: Because it makes everything better! Vanilla enhances the overall flavor of the cookies and balances the spices.
- Non-Dairy Milk: Just a tiny amount helps bring the dough together and keeps it from becoming too crumbly. You can use any unsweetened plant-based milk you'd like.
- Almond Flour: This serves as the base of the cookie dough and makes these cookies naturally gluten-free, while offering a rich and nutty flavor and chewy texture. It also works with the almond butter to eliminate the need for additional fat like oil or butter.
- Warm Spices: Ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice are traditional gingerbread spices and add the perfect festive flavor to the cookies.
- Icing: All you need are powdered sugar and non-dairy milk for a smooth and sweet icing. You can also add a few drops of vanilla if you like.
See the recipe card below for amounts and step-by-step instructions.
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How to Make Almond Flour Gingerbread Cookies
To get started, preheat your oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment.
Step 1: Make the dough. Add the wet ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients and stir until mostly combined. Then, use your hands to finish mixing. You may need to add a touch of non-dairy milk to moisten up the dough. Divide the dough in half.
Step 2: Cut out shapes. Form half of the dough into a disc, place it on a piece of parchment paper, and then roll it out to about ⅓-inch thick. Press your cookie cutters into the dough to make shapes.
Step 3: Remove excess dough and roll out again. Pull away the excess dough that surrounds each shape and use it to repeat the process.
Step 4: Bake. Place the cut-out cookie dough shapes onto your prepared baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely on the pans.
Step 5: Ice the cookies. Whisk powdered sugar and non-dairy milk together in a bowl. Decorate the cookies as desired using a squeeze bottle or piping bag and tip. Allow the icing to fully set before serving or storing.
Hint :
Bake cut-out cookies for 10 minutes for softer cookies and 12 minutes for crispy edges and chewy centers. And If you made thicker, round cookies, you may want to increase the bake time by 1-2 minutes.
Equipment
To make these vegan gingerbread cookies, you'll need a rolling pin, parchment paper, silicone baking mats, baking sheets, and cookie cutters (if you're making cut out cookies).
For the icing, you'll also need a squeeze bottle or piping bag and tip.
FAQs
Almond flour is the main ingredient in this recipe and cannot be substituted. The almond flour also works with the almond butter to create a rich, moist cookie base without the need for oil or butter.
Store the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 2 months.
Helpful Tips
- The thickness of the dough and the bake time are the two main factors that affect the texture of the cookies. Thick, round cookies will be softer, while thinner, cut-out shapes have crisp edges and chewy centers.
- No silicone mats? No problem! You can use parchment paper instead. However, if you are using the parchment on dark metal baking sheets, be sure to reduce the oven temp to 335°F.
- If the dough seems too dry and crumbly, mix in just 1 teaspoon non-dairy milk to moisten it up. Avoid using too much milk as it can make the dough overly sticky.
- If the dough sticks to your rolling pin, place another piece of parchment on top.
- To make rounded cookies instead of cut-outs, roll the dough into balls and then flatten between your palms. Dip the tops in sugar and then place them on the baking sheet.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely before decorating so the icing doesn't melt.
More Vegan Christmas Cookies
Recipe
Almond Flour Gingerbread Cookies (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Equipment
- silicone baking mat - and parchment paper
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup smooth almond butter - I used raw, unsalted
- ⅓ cup molasses - unsulphured or dark
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon non-dairy milk
- 2 cups blanched almond flour, packed
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon allspice
For the icing:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats (preferred) or parchment paper. Note: If using parchment paper on dark metal baking sheets, reduce the oven temp to 335°F.
- In a large mixing bowl combined the wet ingredients (sugar, almond butter, molasses, vanilla, and milk). Stir until fully incorporated. Add the dry ingredients (almond flour, spices, and salt). Stir until mostly combined - the mixture will look very dry at first. Once mostly combined, use your hands to continue to mix the dough. If it seems too dry and crumbly, mix in just 1 teaspoon non-dairy milk (careful, as too much liquid will make the dough very sticky).
- Divide the dough in half. To make cut-out gingerbread cookies, form half of the dough into a disc and place on a piece of parchment paper. Roll out evenly until about ⅓-inch thick. If the dough sticks to your rolling pin, place another piece of parchment on top. Alternatively, instead of cut-out cookies you can simply roll the dough into balls (about 1½ tablespoon per cookie), flatten between your palms, dip the tops in sugar, and place on the baking sheet.
- Press the cookie cutters into the dough, then pull away the excess surrounding each shape. Transfer the cookies to the baking sheet, and repeat the process until you've used all of the dough.
- Bake cut-out cookies for 10-12 minutes (about 10 min. for a soft and chewy cookie or 12 min. for crispy edges and chewy centers). Note that if you made thicker, hand-formed cookies, bake time will be 11-13 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan.
- Once cool, whisk together the icing ingredients. Using a squeeze bottle or piping tip, decorate the gingerbread cookies as desired. Allow to set before serving/storing.
Notes
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used.
AJ
Can I use smooth peanut butter instead of almond butter?
Lori Rasmussen
If you don't mind the peanut flavor, yes that should work!