Gluten free vegan molasses cookies are perfectly chewy and crisp…just right for enjoying with a cup of tea! These spiced cookies are a must make recipe for the holiday season.
There’s nothing nicer than some Christmas carols on the radio, a cup of hot chocolate, and a batch of molasses cookies in the oven. The scent of cinnamon and ginger just says Christmas to me.
If you’re new to gluten free vegan holiday baking, you might wonder if these vegan molasses cookies will taste as good as the original.
Yes, these cookies are delicious, chewy, and just as wonderful as the classic recipe.
Some simple substitutions make this recipe easy to make. Almond meal gives these cookies a nice chewy texture. If you can’t do nuts, you could try ground pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. Even oat flour would add a nice contrast to the gluten free flour blend. Now that we have a nut allergy in our family, I do use oat flour in place of the almond meal.
Do you need more gluten free Christmas cookie ideas? Take a look at this list of 50 gluten free cookie recipes!
Ingredient Notes
- Gluten Free Flour Blend – I like to use Namaste Perfect Flour Blend for baking cookies, because the texture is always just right. You can find this blend at Costco, on Amazon, or in many health food stores.
- Ground Flax Seed – Flax seed is used to make a simple egg replacer. If you can’t have flax seed, you can use 2 Tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce in its place.
- Vegan Buttery Spread – Earth Balance Soy Free Vegan Buttery Spread works well in this recipe. If you have a different vegan butter that you prefer, you can probably use that instead.
Substitutions
- If you can’t eat almond meal, you may want to make seed flour. It’s easy to do – just take the seeds of your choice (make sure they are free of nut cross contamination), and grind them into a fairly fine flour using a mini food processor. If you are grinding a ton of seed flour, you can use a regular food processor, but I find if I’m just making a cup or so, the mini processor works best.
- If you are not gluten free, feel free to use regular all-purpose flour.
- If you are not dairy free, go ahead and use regular butter.
Storage
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container. They should stay fresh for about one week.
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Recipe
Gluten Free Vegan Molasses Cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond meal or oat flour
- ½ cup gluten free flour blend
- ½ cup vegan buttery spread
- ½ cup organic cane sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground flax seed
- 3 Tablespoons water
- ¼ cup molasses
- ½ Tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅓ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ Tablespoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- organic cane sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Mix your ground flax seed and water in a small bowl or cup and let sit for about five minutes until it turns to a gel like consistency.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, almond meal, spices, and baking soda and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the buttery spread and sugar. Add the flax egg, vanilla, and molasses and stir.
- Add the dry ingredients a little at a time and stir until combined.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least a half an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Take a small amount of dough and roll into a ball – it should be about ¾ of an inch in diameter. Roll in the granulated sugar and place on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Leave space in between the balls, these cookies will spread quite a bit. You should be able to bake a dozen at a time.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Ten minutes was prefect for my oven – the cookies were thin, but still soft and very chewy. Just a couple minutes more produced crispy cookies. So it’s a fine line between chewy and crispy with these.
- Let cool for five minutes and then transfer to a plate to continue cooling. A wire rack isn’t recommended because these are fragile when they are hot.
Sarah Anderson
I just made these for my kids and they are an absolute hit! We’ll be making more to share for the holidays.
Kelly Roenicke
So glad you enjoyed these!
Jennifer
Thank you for coming up with such a delicious recipe for our vegan, gluten-free family. It’s not often we bake something that tastes exactly like the original, and not just “good for being..” gluten free or vegan. This hits the mark! Why make them any other way? :)
Kelly Roenicke
I’m so happy these were a hit! Thank you for letting me know!
Renee
Thank you so much for the recipe. I was craving molasses. I made these and they are so good!!!!!
I did not roll in sugar, and used slightly less sugar in the batter. I will freeze most of them because they are too tempting 😊
Yum, Yum, Yum!!!!
Maggie
I’ve been a little sad this year that I can no longer indulge in my uncle-in-law’s famous molasses cookies…These are BETTER!! I never write comments, but I lurk for people who actually make the recipe, so for anyone debating whether or not to make these, DO IT. Thank you for this recipe! I will use it forever :)
Kelly Roenicke
Yay! Thanks for letting me know! So glad you loved them.
Elie
I belive you preheat the oven only once the dough is in the fridge and not at the beginning of the preparation…otherwise its a precious waste of energy (oven).
:)
Kelly
True! I will adjust that!
Sarah
These are SO good! I can’t stop eating them!
Kelly
Oh good, so glad you like them!
bedstuyfoodie
These look great! Thanks for sharing!
Ginny
Uppercase T is tablespoon and lowercase is teaspoon?
Produce on Parade
Oh my, these look wonderful! I can taste them right now! :)
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely
Another great cookie! Bet the molasses gives these great flavors. And you just reminded me it’s Friday the 13th! Haven’t had any bad luck yet, fingers crossed : )
Have fun making earrings today!