Spicing Up The Vegan Factor

I mentioned them yesterday in my Holiday Cookie Extravaganza round-up. Now here’s the recipe for the Vegan Spiced Molasses cookies.

This was my first time baking something vegan. It seemed a little strange, not to be using butter or eggs this time around, and having never baked anything vegan before, I was worried about the end results. Would they end up dry? Would they be too bland? Thankfully, my worries were quickly laid to rest not long after these came out of the oven. The outside had the familiar crunchiness from the sugar coating, while the inside was still warm and soft—just the way I love my ginger cookies!

The recipe is actually a mash-up of three different ginger cookie recipes. With a little tweaking here and experimenting there, I came up with a formula that I think I would be happy to make again. I’ll definitely keep this recipe on file, for those days when I’m craving cookies but have no eggs in the fridge, or to satisfy my vegan friends.



Vegan Spiced Molasses Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

½ cup vegetable oil
1 heaping tbsp freshly grated ginger
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp cocoa powder
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup water (or soymilk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup granulated sugar, for coating.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. If your baking sheets aren’t nonstick, line with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients except for the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the oil, brown sugar, and freshly grated ginger with an electric mixer, about 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly beat in the molasses, water (or soymilk) and vanilla extract until everything is well incorporated, about 2 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and with the mixer on low, mix everything together until just incorporated. Wrap the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. **

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and dip in the granulated sugar. Place on the baking sheet, leaving a space of 2 inches between each cookie to allow room for spreading. Flatten the balls slightly with your fingers—the thinner they are, the crispier they will be. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove and let cool on cooling racks.

** I like to refrigerate my ginger cookie dough, as it makes the dough less of a sticky mess when I go to roll them into balls. If you’re in a hurry though, you can skip this step. Just make sure you have a bowl of water next to you to keep your hands wet; this will help with the sticky factor.

Want to eat cookies too? Go to Food Blogga to find out how, and don't forget to find out what everyone else is baking (and most certainly eating!).