Nothing says Christmas for me so much as cookies. And with all of the holiday cookie posts flooding the Internet lately, I started getting nostalgic for my Grandma’s molasses cookies. This posed a bit of an obstacle, given my son’s cinnamon, milk and egg allergies, but I played around with the recipe and think I got it right, so am excited to share my recipe for vegan molasses cookies with you here.
I based this recipe on my grandma’s recipe (which I now suspect was actually a Betty Crocker recipe), making a few changes to make the recipe work for us. What is the secret to keeping these cookies soft? I used coconut oil as my butter substitute which gives the cookies a soft chewy texture, especially if you store them in the fridge like I do.
For the egg substitute I decided to go with a baking powder, oil and water combo which produces a beautiful reaction as you mix it together that is worth calling your kids to come and watch. The result is a frothy, goopy mess that is a perfect “egg” for this type of recipe.
As for the cinnamon, this is an extremely annoying allergy since there isn’t really a perfect substitute for cinnamon. In the end I replaced the called for 1 tsp of cinnamon with 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and it did the trick without being overpowering.
To prep the cookies, mix the sugar, oil, “egg” and molasses together in a bowl. Folding in your dry ingredients you’ll end up with a thick dough that you can easily form into 1 inch balls. Before placing on your lined baking sheet, dip the cookie ball into the sugar you have kept to the side, which will give your cookies a sparkly finish.
You’ll want to give a good 2 inches of space between each cookie to allow enough space for the cookies to spread out without hitting each other. Bake the cookies at 180 C for 10-12 minutes (you can stretch it to 14 min if you want them really crunchy) and let cool before storing.
Or you can just eat all of them. They are great with a cup of tea. (Though, this recipe makes 24 cookies, so you may want to invite some friends to help.)
Here’s the recipe so you can try them yourself.
- 2 tbsp baking powder (for egg substitute)
- 1 tbsp oil (for egg substitute)
- 2 tbsp water (for egg substitute)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup coconut oil (room temperature)
- ⅓ cup molasses
- 2¼ cup flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp ginger
- ½ tsp cloves
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 tsp sugar (for dipping)
- Preheat your oven to 180 C and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Prepare your egg substitute by mixing the baking powder, oil and water in a small bowl and letting sit for a couple of minutes.
- In a large bowl combine the sugar, coconut oil, molasses, and your vegan egg, stirring until well combined.
- Mix your dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt).
- Fold your dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you have a firm, uniform dough.
- Roll the dough into 1 inch balls, dip in sugar and place 2 inches apart on your baking sheet.
- Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes for soft cookies, 14 minutes for crunchy cookies.
- Let cool before storing.
Welcome!
NIce! I love, love, love me some gingerbread cookies. Make em every year after I make house pieces for my kids’ gingerbread houses. Have you ever made any large cookies or panels for gingerbread houses with this recipe? Wondering if they would hold up under the weight of all the frosting and candy…
I definitely plan on testing it out for a gingerbread house. I have two cookies left in the freezer (we OD-ed on ginger), so will take them out and see how they hold up with icing on them, but the ones I cooked with a longer cook time definitely seemed good for decorating.
I love ginger bread cookies and I love those large cracks on them – Will def try.
Thanks for stopping by Veena! Hope you’ll let us know how they turn out 🙂
These look so good. I love molasses cookies.
They rank high on my list of favourites too 😉
Must be so nice to be able to make decent cookies for your son, so he’s not missing out. Cookies afterall are important! They do sound moreish and perfect for the holiday season. Fab.
YES! I totally agree 🙂 Not that we have cookies all the time or anything, but baking cookies together are one of those warm, fuzzy memories of childhood (at least mine, lol) so am really happy to have found my way and be able to give those same memories to him!
These are my all time favorite cookie– and yours look perfect!
Thanks! They are one of mine too! Cookies with memories are the best 😀
These are such pretty cookies – I especially like the effect with the sugar on top – it just reminds me of cookies from my childhood. Also love that you incorporate coconut oil -it’s one of my favorite oils to bake with.
I love using coconut oil in my cookies also! I keep them in the fridge and it gives them this deliciously chewy consistency! 🙂
I like coconut oil better than butter in cookies. I agree better texture and tastes better too!
Completely agree. I can’t even remember the last time I baked with butter, but I definitely don’t miss it. The results with coconut oil are fantastic!
These look amazing, and even more so since they’re vegan!
Thanks Claire! 😉
I made almost exactly the same recipe for a cookie exchange last week (mine had cinnamon and egg, but the rest was the same) and they were voted best cookie out of a dozen varieties!
Love this recipe. ❤️
Yay for winning! That is awesome! I do miss cinnamon – yum!
Yowsa these cookies look great. Thanks for sharing!
🙂 Thanks Patrick!