These Vegan Gingerdoodle (aka ginger snickerdoodles) cookies are the perfect marriage between a classic soft and chewy snickerdoodle and spiced gingerbread cookie. Made in under 30 minutes. Our vegan gingerdoodle cookie recipe is the best of both worlds swirled into one soft chewy cookie, perfect for your next cookie exchange or the holiday season.
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Why This Recipe Works
- Super simple to make.
- No special ingredients are needed. This recipe uses regular pantry staples.
- They are a fun variation of classic snickerdoodle and ginger cookies. Perfect for the Christmas season.
Key Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make these soft and delicious cookies.
All Purpose Flour - gives the cookies structure and helps create a tender texture.
Molasses - a staple in any gingerbread recipe. Molasses helps give the cookies a deep flavor and brown color. Use regular unsulphured molasses and not blackstrap.
Cream of Tartar - gives the cookies a tangy flavor and chewy texture which sets it apart from regular sugar cookies.
Vegan Butter - for softness and flavor. Use softened butter. If it's overly warm or soft, the cookies will spread more. We like Country Crock Plant Butter and Miyoko's Plant Milk butter brands.
Granulated & Brown Sugar - we prefer light brown sugar vs using dark brown sugar but feel free to use dark brown sugar for even more rich delicious molasses taste. You'll need a few tablespoons of sugar for rolling the dough balls.
Ground Flaxseed - to make your egg replacer or you can substitute with JUST Egg.
Vanilla Extract - for flavor and it also helps balance out all of those strong spices.
Ground Ginger - it wouldn’t be a ginger cookie recipe without ginger flavor. We skip using fresh ginger to keep this recipe simple.
Ground Cinnamon and Nutmeg - for a nutty and slightly sweet flavor. With so much flavor, we skipped using ground cloves in this recipe to keep it simple.
Baking Soda & Baking Powder - to help the cookies rise while baking.
Find the complete measurements and instructions at the bottom of this post in the printable recipe card.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350°F and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or use silicone mats. Set aside.
Make Gingercookie dough.
Step 2: In a small bowl make flaxseed egg and set aside.
Step 3: In a large bowl; using a hand mixer, cream together the soften vegan butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes.
Step 4: Stir in the wet ingredients: molasses, flax egg, and vanilla until well combined.
Step 5: Stir in the dry ingredients and spices, mixing until the dough forms. The dough will be very thick, but not dry.
Step 6: Cover the dough and store in the fridge while you make the snickerdoodle dough.
Make the Snickerdoodle dough.
Step 7: Using a hand mixer, cream together the vegan butter and sugar for 2 minutes.
Step 8: Stir in the flax egg and vanilla extract until well combined.
Step 9: Stir in the dry ingredients, mixing until the dough forms.
Assemble the cookies.
Step 10: Put extra sugar for coating cookies in a small bowl and set it aside.
Step 11: Scoop out 1 heaping tablespoon of each type of dough. Gently press the dough together and then break it in half so that each color is cut in half.
Step 12: Push the halves back together gently with different colored dough touching. Gently repeat one more time to create marbled effect.
Step 13: Roll the cookies in the coarse sugar until fully coated, then place the cookies on the prepared baking tray 2 inches apart, flattening slightly with your hand.
Step 14: If you bake two cookie sheets at the same time, make sure you rotate the sheets top and bottom racks half way through. The benefit of baking one tray at a time is that you don’t have to rotate the trays.
Step 15: Bake in the preheated oven for 11-13 minutes for a good chewy texture, until slightly golden brown on the bottoms. Pulling them out of the oven they will look under baked. This will help make sure they are soft. Optionally shape the cookies for a perfect round shape (see details below). They will firm up as they cool.
Step 16: Allow to cool for about 10 minutes without moving cookies around as they will take a few minutes to harden. Enjoy.
Expert Baking Tips
- If the dough is very sticky and hard to handle, refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
- For soft snickerdoodles be careful to not overbake. To make soft and chewy snickerdoodles, remove from the oven while they are still soft. They will continue to firm up once removed from the oven.
- To get perfectly round cookies. Using a circular object (like a larger cookie cutter, mason jar lid, small bowl or glass) something large enough to completely cover your cookie with a little room to spare. Work quickly while the cookies are still hot. Place item over cookie and swirl for a few seconds to form perfect circles.
Recipe FAQ’s
If you do not have molasses on hand. Try substituting with maple syrup, date syrup, sorghum syrup, agave syrup or brown rice syrup. Please note the flavor and texture of your Gingerdoodle Cookies will change. And be sure to use regular unsulphured molasses (brands like Grandma’s). Don’t use blackstrap molasses, as it has a harsh and bitter flavor.
Cream of tartar, (aka potassium bitartrate), is a dry, powdery, acidic byproduct of fermenting grapes into wine.
If you're out of cream of tartar there are substitutes. But know they bring some extra flavors to the recipe. It's a good idea to have cream of tarter, if you're planning on making this type of cookie recipe often.
1. Lemon juice - use a 1:2 ratio in baking. Using lemon juice as a cream of tartar substitute is as easy as adding the same amount of lemon juice as the recipe calls for cream of tartar unless baking is involved. For every ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar in the recipe, use 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Adds a subtle tangy flavor, similar to cream of tarter, but with a hint of citrus.
2. White vinegar - use a 1:2 ratio in baking. Adds a subtle tangy flavor, similar to cream of tarter.
Storing And Freezing Cookies
Store - These cookies will keep for up to 4 days at room temperature in an airtight container. Gingerdoodle dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Store it in an airtight container to ensure your dough doesn’t dry out in the fridge. Let it sit at room temperature until it’s warm enough to scoop into balls.
Freezing the dough - Place shaped cookie dough balls on a small parchment-lined baking sheet that will fit into your freeze. Remove frozen dough from freezer and transfer to a freezer safe bag or container. Wrap in at least one layer of foil for extra protection. Freeze for up to 2 month.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Gingerdoodles Cookie Recipe
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Equipment
- 2 Baking Sheet
Ingredients
Gingerbread Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- ¼ cup (200g) Vegan Butter - softened to room temperature we like Miyoko’s Salted Plant Milk Butter Stick or Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks.
- ¼ cup Granulated sugar
- ¼ cup Brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoon Molasses
- 1 tablespoon Ground Flaxseed - mixed with 2 tablespoon cold water or 3 tablespoons Just Egg
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon Nutmeg
Snickerdoodle Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- ¼ cup Vegan Butter - softened to room temperature
- 1 tablespoon Ground Flaxseed - mixed with 2 tablespoon cold water
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- ¾ cup All-purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Sugar Topping
- Few tablespoons Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or use silicone mats. Set aside.
Make Gingercookie dough.
- In a small bowl make flaxseed egg and set aside.
- In a large bowl; using a hand mixer, cream together the soften vegan butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the wet ingredients: molasses, flax egg, and vanilla until well combined.
- Stir in the dry ingredients and spices, mixing until the dough forms. The dough will be very thick, but not dry.
- Cover the dough and store in the fridge while you make the snickerdoodle dough.
Make the Snickerdoodle dough.
- Using a hand mixer, cream together the vegan butter and sugar for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the flax egg and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Stir in the dry ingredients, mixing until the dough forms.
Assemble the cookies.
- Put extra sugar for coating cookies in a small bowl and set it aside.
- Scoop out 1 heaping tablespoon of each type of dough. Gently press the dough together and then break it in half so that each color is cut in half.
- Push the halves back together gently with different colored dough touching. Gently repeat one more time to create marbled effect.
- Roll the cookies in the coarse sugar until fully coated, then place the cookies on the prepared baking tray 2 inches apart, flattening slightly with your hand.
- If you bake two cookie sheets at the same time, make sure you rotate the sheets top and bottom racks half way through. The benefit of baking one tray at a time is that you don’t have to rotate the trays.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 11-13 minutes for a good chewy texture, until slightly golden brown on the bottoms. Pulling them out of the oven they will look under baked. This will help make sure they are soft. Optional shape the cookies. They will firm up as they cool.
- Allow to cool for about 10 minutes without moving cookies around as they will take a few minutes to harden. Enjoy.
Notes
- If the dough is very sticky and hard to handle, refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
- If you don’t measure your flour correctly, you will end up with dry and hard cookies.
- For soft snickerdoodles be carefully to not overbake. To make soft and chewy snickerdoodles, remove from the oven while they are still soft. They will continue to firm up once removed from the oven.
- To get perfectly round cookies. Using a circular object (like a lager cookie cutter, mason jar lid, small bowl or glass) something large enough to completely cover your cookie with a little room to spare. Work quickly while the cookies are still hot. Place item over cookie and swirl for a few seconds to form perfect circle.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Jamilia
I tried it!! It was absolutely wonderful. Something different from my normal cookie. Most definitely would try it again
Jilly Clark
Great recipe, love combining both cookies into one incredible one.