Make some Vegan Molasses Cookies and fill your home with delicious, festive baking smells! We're talking crunchy and crackly on the outside and soft and perfectly chewy on the inside, with a lovely buttery, spiced, ginger molasses flavour.
These chewy vegan ginger molasses cookies are a vegan holiday cookie you don't want to miss. They are festive, classic, perfectly spiced and dressed up for the season with a sparkly coating of granulated sugar! They also happen to be really quick and easy to make so are great for last-minute holiday cookie exchanges or parties.
Recipe video
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Ingredients & equipment
(For detailed measurements and instructions, see the printable recipe card).
Here's what you will be needing to make my eggless molasses cookies:
- Molasses - Molasses is one of those ingredients that doesn’t get used a whole lot, but when it does, the flavours just pop! I love to use it in rich desserts around the holidays, like Vegan Christmas Pudding, Vegan Gingerbread Cake and Gingerbread Pancakes. For this recipe use an unsulphured or dark (sometimes labelled "robust") molasses. I use Wholesome Sweeteners molasses. Don’t lessen the amount, as it’s necessary for both chewiness and flavour. If you are in the UK and you can't get molasses, use black treacle instead.
- Winter spices - Like ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. They work so well with the molasses and smell and taste so festive!
- Sugar - You’ll need both white or cane sugar and dark brown sugar. The balance of the two is important for perfect flavour, spread and texture.
- Vegan butter - Use your favourite storebought brand or make your own vegan butter. Despite the molasses, the buttery flavour really comes through in these cookies. Don't reduce the amount of butter. The balance of flour to butter is crucial for proper cookie spread, texture and flavour.
- All-purpose flour - The best to use for the perfect texture and flavour. If you are in the UK use plain flour. The correct balance of flour to butter is essential to getting great cookies. Too much flour and they won't spread properly. That's why I always recommend using a digital kitchen scale.
- Ground flaxseed - Because these are eggless molasses cookies, the ground flax is needed for binding. It also gives them a great texture. These cookies don't turn out so well with any other egg replacement so I don't recommend switching it for something else.
- Baking soda, salt, and vanilla - To pump up the flavour and give the cookies a great texture. Salt is as important in sweet recipes as it is savoury and the baking soda reacts with the acidic molasses to lighten them up.
Accurately measuring the ingredients in this recipe using a digital scale will give you the best results every time. The only other pieces of equipment you need are baking sheets and parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
How to make vegan molasses cookies
Get out your baking gear together and let’s make some perfectly spiced and chewy dairy-free molasses cookies! Here's how it's done:
- Add all of the dry ingredients (except the sugars) to a mixing bowl and stir them together.
- Beat the vegan butter, sugars, molasses and vanilla together until fluffy.
- Mix them bother together to form a dough.
- Roll into balls and coat in granulated sugar then bake.
Success Tips
For the very best results when making this recipe follow these tips:
- For perfect vegan molasses cookies, I recommend using a digital scale. Cups are not accurate enough to get the best and consistent results when baking and with these cookies you risk them not spreading properly if things aren't measured properly. You can find digital kitchen scales at most large grocery stores or department stores for around $10. It’s an inexpensive investment that is SO worth having!
- Don’t squish the cookies down before baking. They do that all on their own while baking, creating the perfect thickness and cracked, crinkly, gorgeous tops!
- For perfectly chewy ginger molasses cookies you can't use anything other than molasses. I know people like to sub ingredients buy you will not get the same effect with anything else (except that is black treacle for the UK peeps).
- Good eggless molasses cookies need a dry egg replacer. We don't want to introduce any more moisture to the mix or the texture will suffer. That's why ground flax is the very best choice.
- As always, don’t over-mix the dough. This will make your cookies dense.
- If you want softer cookies, take them out of the oven after 11 or 12 minutes. They’ll be slightly underdone but will harden a bit on the outside and stay soft on the inside as they cool.
- If you like them on the crunchy side, leave the cookies in the oven for up to 15 minutes.
- Don't try removing these cookies from the tray while hot. They are incredibly soft when they come out of the oven and will fall apart. Leave them on the tray and they will firm up as they cool.
Variations
I don't recommend altering the base cookie recipe, but you can switch these vegan ginger molasses cookies up by:
- make them vegan ginger molasses cookies by adding some chopped or stem/candied ginger to the cookie dough.
- adding some vegan cream cheese frosting on the top along with some festive red and green sprinkles.
- make vegan molasses cookie sandwich cookies using the vegan cream cheese frosting to sandwich them together.
- mix some powdered sugar with a little orange or lemon juice. Just enough to make a very thick glaze to drizzle over them. Citrus flavors work really well with ginger molasses cookies.
- dip the baked and cooled cookies in melted dark chocolate or add some chocolate chips to the cookie dough.
Storing & freezing
Chewy molasses cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 to 10 days. Their flavour actually intensifies and gets better over time.
To freeze baked cookies - Allow to cool completely then place in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
To freeze the cookie dough - Make the dough as instructed, roll out the cookie balls, then place them on a lined baking sheet. Place the whole tray in the freezer uncovered, and leave until hard, then transfer the balls to a sealed bag/container and freeze for up to 3 months. When you want them, bake them straight from the freezer but add an extra 2 or 3 minutes to the bake time.
Recipe FAQS
Unsulphured or dark molasses is best to use in these cookies. Blackstrap molasses is fine too if you like a really nice, strong molasses flavour. The sweetness and butteriness really balance it all out so it's not overpowering at all.
Most molasses labels won’t have a vegan symbol on the packaging, so it will be safest to either contact the producer and ask if they use sugar processed with bone char, or just buy organic molasses. Then you don't need to worry because organic sugar isn't ever processed with bone char.
I always use Wholesome Sweeteners molasses which is certified organic and also labelled vegan friendly. It's easily found in most big grocery stores across Canada and the US.
Use black treacle. It is very similar and will work just fine.
Hungry for more?
Love cookies? You might enjoy these seasonal favourites too:
- Vegan Christmas Shortbread
- Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cranberries & Rosemary
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
📖 Recipe
Vegan Molasses Cookies
Author:
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour , (plain flour in the UK)
- 6 tablespoons (34 grams) ground flaxseed , (it must be ground and is essential so don't sub for anything else)
- 1½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1¼ teaspoons baking soda , (bicarbonate of soda in the UK)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup ( 216 grams) vegan butter
- ½ packed cup (100 grams) dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup / 50 grams white or cane sugar , plus about ¼ cup more to roll the cookie dough balls in
- ¼ cup (60 mls) unsulphured or dark molasses , sometimes labelled "robust", blackstrap molasses is also ok. Use black treacle in the UK.
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (175°C) with 2 shelves placed near the middle of the oven. Then line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- To a medium bowl add the flour, ground flax, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cloves. Mix them together.
- To a large mixing bowl or stand mixer add the vegan butter and both sugars. Beat them together until fluffy.
- Add the molasses and vanilla and mix again until combined.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing between each addition until it's combined well and a slightly sticky, rich, dark, cookie dough is formed.
- Roll into balls of about 3 tablespoons in size. Roll each ball in a small bowl of granulated white or cane sugar so it sticks all around the outside, then place them on the trays with at least 3 inches of space around each one. Leave them as they are in balls. Don't squash them down.
- Place near the centre shelf of the oven and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, depnding on how well done you like your cookies. I cook mine for 14 minutes. Once done they will have flattened but will look quite puffy with some cracks on top. They will also be extremely soft if you poke them.
- Remove from the oven and leave them on the baking tray to cool. Don't try to move them as they will be too fragile. They firm up as they cool and will also deflate a bit and crack more.
NOTES
- For perfect vegan molasses cookies, I recommend using a digital scale to help get the most accurate ratios of flour, sugar, and vegan butter. If they are off even slightly, your cookies won't melt down and spread properly in the oven, or they could spread too much. You can find digital kitchen scales at most large grocery stores or department stores for around $10. It’s an inexpensive investment that is SO worth having!
- Don’t squish the cookies down before baking. They do that all on their own while baking, creating the perfect thickness and cracked, crinkly, gorgeous tops!
- These cookies need a dry egg replacer. We don't want to introduce any more moisture to the mix or the texture will suffer. That's why ground flax is the very best choice.
- As always, don’t overmix the dough. This will make your cookies dense.
- If you want softer cookies, take them out of the oven after 11 or 12 minutes. They’ll be slightly underdone but will harden a bit on the outside and stay soft on the inside as they cool.
- If you like them on the crunchy side, leave the cookies in the oven for up to 15 minutes.
- Don't try removing these cookies from the tray while hot. They are incredibly soft when they come out of the oven and will fall apart. Leave them on the tray and they will firm up as they cool.
To store - These ginger molasses cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days. Their flavour actually intensifies and gets better over time. To freeze baked cookies - Allow to cool completely then place in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. To freeze the cookie dough - Make the dough as instructed, roll out the cookie balls, then place them on a lined baking sheet. Place the whole tray in the freezer uncovered, and leave until hard, then transfer the balls to a sealed bag/container and freeze for up to 3 months. When you want them, bake them straight from the freezer but add an extra 2 or 3 minutes to the bake time.
NUTRITION
Nutritional information is provided for convenience & as a courtesy. The data is a computer generated estimate so should be used as a guide only.
Jason N says
These cookies are wonderful. I've made them twice now and they're such a great wintery cookie.
I use a couple tablespoons of molasses and unrefined sugar to make my brown sugar. In case you didn't know, white sugar has been refined using bone-char (charred cattle bones) so a vegan may want to avoid white sugar. Store bought brown sugar is nothing more than refined white sugar and molasses. There are companies that make bone-char free sugar.
As far as this recipe goes though, it's a definite winner!
Melanie McDonald says
Glad you enjoyed the cookies!
Not all white sugar is refined using bone char. It depends where you live in the world (many countries don't use bone char at all), and it depends on the brands you use. Many are vegan-friendly (contact the company to ask if you're not sure). All organic sugar is vegan though whatever the brand and wherever you live.
May says
A little too sweet for my taste, but came out perfectly! A lovely cookie for the holiday season.
May says
Actually it is less sweet the next day for some reason so I take back that comment haha
Karen says
Can you use a gf flour? If so which one is best?
Melanie McDonald says
The recipe hasn't been tested with GF flour. Knowing how fussy cookies are though, and how the balance of ingredients is so crucial to get the proper spread and texture, I doubt that you'd great results with this recipe. Yo'd be much better off using a well-tested already GF recipe.
Cheryl says
What a great to make your home smell like spice - so nice! The cookies are delicious! I added about 1/8 cup water as my dough seemed a bit dry & I made my cookies a bit smaller (2 tablespoons not 3 tablespoons). I was tempted to flatten the cookies, but held back and they turned out just as the recipe indicated. They were a big hit at my place the minute they hit the cooling rack - Thank you for this super recipe Melanie - it's going to be a 'keeper' for my household!