Ideal for EatingEating ethically while eating great!

I am very peculiar about my gingerbread cookies. I want them sweet, but not stickily so. I want them soft, but not completely like bread. Gingerbread cookies are one of my favorite things, and yet good ones are hard to find.

I don't usually take the time to make cut-out cookies, but I was in a Christmas mood with my son today, so cut out cookies we did.

I adapted a recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. The cookies turned out absolutely delicious and just the way I like them! My daughters (ages 15 and 13) helped with the making and eating. We easily could have eaten them all in one sitting -- rather, standing. But we managed to save some for tomorrow because they turned out just so cute.

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies -- prep time: 15 minutes; chill time: 1+ hours; cutting out time: about an hour of cutting and baking; makes about 30 small to medium cookies

Ingredients

1/3 cup canola oil

3/4 cup demerara sugar

2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup plain coconut milk beverage (or any non-dairy milk)

2 cups whole wheat all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

 

Directions

Beat together oil and demerara sugar for several minutes, until sugar is well coated. Add molasses, maple syrup and coconut milk. Blend well.

Sift together remaining dry ingredients. Add half at a time to wet mixture and beat well. Mix until dough is stiff. Knead dough together, flatten and wrap in plastic. Chill in fridge for at least one hour (up to 3 days). 

Let dough sit out for 10 minutes before using.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and gently grease (or spray with non-stick spray).

Lightly flour your work surface, and roll out dough to 1/4 - 1/3 inch thick. (Cookies will puff up a bit as they bake. If you want flat thin cookies, then roll dough out even thinner. I like mine a bit thicker.) Cut out shapes in dough with cookie cutters or free-hand. Gently transfer cookies to cookie sheets.

Bake cookies for 8 minutes. If you want crispy cookies, bake for 10 minutes then check for doneness before baking longer. 

When baking is done, let cookies cool for a few minutes on baking sheet before transferring to wire rack. Personally, since I like soft cookies, I transfer cookies to a tray. When cookies are completely cool, decorate to your heart's content!

 

Icing recipe -- prep time: minutes; makes enough to decorate lightly all the baked dough in above recipe

Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar

scant 1 tablespoon plain coconut milk beverage

splash of vanilla extract (I use a big splash)

 

Directions

Put all ingredients in a bowl or 2-cup measuring cup. Whisk together or beat with a fork until smooth. If icing needs to be thinner, add a dash more milk. If it needs to be thicker, put it in the fridge a bit or add a bit more sugar. Put icing in a pastry bag and use thin tip to decorate. If you don't have a pastry bag, put icing in a sandwich baggy and cut a tiny hole out of one corner. Tiny. You can always make the hole bigger, but you can't make it smaller.