These incredible chewy vegan ginger cookies are crisp on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle with a warming, spicy flavour.
They are easy to make and don't require any chilling. They are great all year round but would be amazing for Christmas!
These chewy ginger cookies are similar to classic gingerbread cookies or gingersnaps, but with a soft, chewy texture akin to a chocolate chip cookie, and a rich, warming, fiery flavour with a strong ginger kick.
They are really quick and easy to make and the dough doesn't require any chilling before it is baked so you can have a batch ready in around half an hour!
Ingredient Details:
Treacle: I use black treacle but molasses will also work.
Golden Syrup: If you weren't already aware then golden syrup is vegan friendly! Lyle's is the most well known brand, but supermarket own is absolutely fine and is what I use. See below for details.
Oil: Any neutral flavoured oil will work, I use olive.
Plain flour: Just regular plain (all-purpose) flour is best here. I haven't tried making these gluten-free.
Vegan butter: Please, for the love of holy baking, use a block butter/margarine to make these cookies, not the spreadable kind in a tub.
The spreadable kind contains too much water and may make your dough too soft and your cookies too cakey.
Sugar: White sugar leads to thin and crisp cookies, and brown sugar leads to tall and moist cookies; using a mix of both gives you the best of both worlds and the best texture.
Either caster or granulated sugar will work as will either light or dark brown soft sugar.
Baking powder and bicarb: Baking powder generally makes for taller, cakier cookies, and bicarbonate of soda makes for craggier, denser, browner cookies. As with the sugars I find that a mix of both provides the best texture.
Non-dairy milk: Non-dairy milk replaces the moisture that would usually come from egg. You can use any kind you like as long as it is unsweetened (except coconut milk), but I recommend using soy milk if possible. It has the highest protein content so is the closest swap for egg.
Spices: I go quite heavy on the ground ginger for a nicely spicy cookie but you can reduce it a bit if you prefer, or even add an extra teaspoon if you like them really spicy! A bit of ground cinnamon complements the ginger.
What Is A Substitute For Golden Syrup?:
Golden syrup is a very common baking ingredient in the UK; it has a buttery caramel flavour and the texture of honey (Lyle's Golden Syrup is vegan friendly). It can be tricky to get hold of elsewhere, though apparently lots of stores in the US have it in the foreign foods section or you can get in online. You can also try making your own!
There isn't really a good substitute for it as it is very unique, but if you aren't able to get hold of any and don't want to make your own then you can swap it for light molasses or corn syrup instead.
How To Make Chewy Ginger Cookies:
(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)
Step 1: Gently heat the golden syrup, treacle, butter, oil, milk, caster sugar and brown sugar in a large pan until melted.
Step 2: Whisk in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger and cinnamon, the mixture will foam up slightly.
Step 3: Add the plain flour and stir to form a soft dough.
Step 4: Roll the dough into roughly 16 balls and place them well spaced apart on a couple of lined baking sheets.
Step 5: Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how soft you want your cookies to be. They will still be very soft once baked but will firm up as they cool.
Top Tips:
All of my recipes are developed using grams, and as with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup coversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
Make sure that you weigh out the golden syrup and treacle accurately, don't be heavy handed with them. A difference of a few grams can make a big difference to the texture of the cookies.
The dough is soft but you should be able to form it into rough balls (they will flatten slightly by themselves). If it is too sticky then you can chill it in the fridge for half an hour or so before portioning it out.
Cookies may seem like a simple thing to bake but they can actually be quite temperamental and any seemingly minor changes to the recipe or exact ingredients used can have a drastic effect. For this reason you should make the recipe exactly as written.
Bake the cookies on a metal baking sheet, not in a glass dish or on a silicone sheet. These do not conduct heat in the same way as metal does so the cookies won't turn out as well.
If you prefer really soft cookies then you can reduce the baking time slightly, and if you prefer firmer, crispier ones then you can increase the bake time a bit. It may be worth baking a test cookie to judge how long to bake them for.
FAQ's:
These chewy ginger cookies are best eaten on the day they are baked as the crisp exterior will soften over time, but they will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days.
The dough will keep (covered) in the fridge for 3 days. If it becomes too firm to shape into balls, let it sit out at room temperature for about an hour before shaping.
More Vegan Christmas Cookie Recipes:
- Vegan lebkuchen
- Vegan vanillekipferl
- Vegan gevulde speculaas
- Vegan brunkager
- Vegan chocolate pistachio biscotti
- Vegan gingerbread biscotti
- Vegan biscotti with almonds and cranberries
- Vegan chocolate orange shortbread
- Vegan cranberry orange shortbread
- Vegan pecan snowball cookies
- Vegan nussecken
- Vegan linzer cookies
- Vegan shortbread fingers
- Vegan gingerbread cookies
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Chewy Ginger Cookies (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 60 g (3 Tablespoons) golden syrup
- 60 g (3 Tablespoons) black treacle (or molasses)
- 120 g (½ cup) vegan block butter
- 1 Tablespoon neutral oil (I use olive)
- 2 Tablespoons unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
- 90 g (⅓ cup + 2 Tablespoons) caster or granulated sugar
- 90 g (½ cup) light or dark brown soft sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 5 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 350 g (2 ¾ cups + 1 Tablespoon) plain (all-purpose) flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190℃/170℃ fan/375℉/gas mark 5. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
- Gently heat the golden syrup, treacle, butter, oil, milk, caster sugar and brown sugar in a large pan until melted.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger and cinnamon; the mixture will foam up slightly.
- Add the plain flour and stir to form a soft dough.
- Roll the dough into 16 balls and place them well spaced apart on the baking sheets. The dough is soft but you should be able to shape it into rough balls.
- Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Bake for the shorter amount of time if you prefer really soft cookies, and the longer time if you prefer them more crisp. They will still be very soft when baked, but will firm up a lot as they cool.
- Leave to cool on the tray for a few minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos.
- All of my recipes are developed using grams, and as with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup coversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
Pickle
Just made these and without a doubt they are the best ginger cookies I’ve ever tasted! The dough was a bit sticky so the tip about putting it into the fridge worked a treat, love, love this recipe, thank you for sharing
, thank you for sharing
Robyn Cox
Can you make thes with coconut oil instead of vegan butter?
Hannah
Hi Robyn, that should work ok but the flavour and texture will be different.
Joe Mace
Hannah, as ever these are remarkable. I’m not vegan myself but, because my daughter is, I like to make all my cakes and biscuits vegan just in case she pops round - I’m always certain they’re ok for her whatever. I am a complete convert to vegan patisserie and don’t really understand why more people don’t bake like this, at home or, more especially in coffee shops and cafes. Your recipes have helped me achieve this position of vegan-only baking and I thank you for it. This recipe certainly did benefit from a half hour in the fridge and the mixture made 17 x 50g cookies which is great because it meant I had an odd one to try and still have a uniform batch of 16. I cooked them for 14 minutes and they were perfect.
Angela
Made these with olive margarine instead of vegan butter. So simple to make. I baked one tray longer than the other to try gooey and hard biscuits. Both were so good. I froze mine and eat them straight from the freezer.
Laurence Paquet
As I live in Canada, finding golden syrup is quite difficult and I usually just avoid recipes that use it but these looked to good. I tried substituting it with maple syrup and the result was a very pleasant chewy ginger cookies.
Thank you for your wonderful recipes!
Mike
I invariably use honey in recipes that list golden syrup as it is less refined, has some goodness, is a good baking ingredient and available as runny or set, so the consistency can be adjusted. Runny works well here.