Hello friends and not yet friends,
Welcome back to Mary's Test Kitchen where we're diving right into these easy vegan gingerbread
cookies.
They're so delicious with warming spices, a bit tender on the inside with crisp chewy
edges when they're fresh out the oven.
And with super simple decorator's icing for all your fun designs;
you're going to love them!
As always the printable recipe is linked in the description box with notes to make these
the most perfect cookies for you.
And for more easy vegan cookie ideas,
I've got a whole playlist linked there and in the cards.
Let's start with sifting together the dry ingredients.
As always, I'm measuring out the flour by weight.
But UNLIKE always, I won't harp on you to get a kitchen scale.
If you just use the fluff, scoop and level method and maybe get a little extra flour
in there, it'll be fine.
This recipe is pretty forgiving.
After the flour, add baking powder and this will give the gingerbread cookies just the
tiniest bit of lift so they have a nice texture on the inside.
Then come the spices.
I love ginger so I'm using a whole tablespoon.
Then cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
Confession time: these spices are a year old so if yours are fresher, you might do with
a little less than what I'm using.
I just don't use a lot of cloves and nutmeg outside of the holiday season.
What about you?
I don't know why but I find sifting flour just really fun.
But what it does is it helps get rid of any lumps that might be in your flour
or your year old spices.
That's it for the dry ingredients, now for the wet.
To bind the cookies, you'll need a vegan egg alternative.
Today, I'm using aquafaba.
That's the thick liquid from a can of chickpeas or white beans.
Or you can make it yourself by cooking your own chickpeas or white beans.
You can also use ground flax or chia with water to make flax egg or chia egg.
See the printable recipe for those measurements.
But for if you're using aquafaba like I am, measure out 6 tablespoons.
This is when I realized my mistake.
Normally, I'd beat the sugar and vegan butter together first.
It makes everything else easier to combine afterwards but I already have the aquafaba
in the big bowl and I don't really want to wash another bowl so...
Like I said, this recipe is pretty forgiving.
I'm mix this in my stand mixer but if you're feeling like a work out, you can totally do
this by hand or you can use an hand held electric mixer.
Next up, molasses.
Prep your measuring cup with your vgean butter wrapper.
A bit of grease will help that molasses come out cleaner.
You can use this tip for measuring any kinds of syrups.
I'm using fancy molasses will which give these gingerbread cookies that classic flavour.
If you're not a big fan of the flavour of molasses or you want to make something a bit
milder tasting, you can do half molasses and half corn syrup or all corn syrup.
These are your vegan gingerbread cookies and there are no rules.
But don't forget the vanilla extract.
Now add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine.
Finally, you should have a smooth soft sticky dough.
It's almost impossible to roll out like this so wrap it up in plastic wrap and let it chill
completely in the fridge.
If you're in a hurry, wrap them in two or more divisions so they can chill through quickly
in the coldest part of your fridge for a couple hours.
But if you have the time, just one ball is good and leave it in the fridge overnight.
Or, you leave this in there up to three days in advance of your baking day.
When the dough is good and chilled, it'll still be pliable.
No need to let it rest; get to work right away.
Take out anything extra that's in your oven now, move a rack to the middle position and
preheat your oven to 350°F or 175°C.
Dust your clean work surface generously with flour.
Before plopping on your dough.
I'm working with just half the dough because I don't have that much space here and it's
just easier this way.
The rest can go back in the fridge.
Dust the top of the dough with flour as well and your rolling pin.
Or in my case, my trusty beer bottle rolling pin that's been with me since the beginning
of this channel.
While I'm here feeling nostagic, I want to give a special thank you to everyone who's
been with me since that time.
I see you in the comments sometimes and it's just so nice to know we've been on this journey
all these years together.
Add flour if you need to; we'll dust off any excess later.
And get that dough down to about a quarter inch thick as even as you can get it.
I think mine's just a little thinner than that today but, like I said,
this recipe is flexible.
Now you can select your gingerbread cookie cutters.
I've got this generic one and these two with bites taken off the head already.
I love them.
So adorable.
Anyways, dust them with flour and get to cutting.
Lay out the cookie shapes on to parchment lined baking sheets.
You can bake the first sheet now if your oven's preheated already.
8 minutes for soft cookies that are nice and chewy around the edges.
Or 10 minutes for crunchier cookies.
Depending on your oven, of course.
Every one's a little different.
Just like people.
Ball up the extra dough and I'll use the same piece of plastic to wrap it up.
This can chill in the frige while we work on the second half.
These were done just as the oven timer went off.
Perfect!
Let these sit on the baking sheet for a couple minutes just to firm up slightly before gently
transferring them to a cooling rack.
Keep going until all your dough is used up.
You'll want to let these cool completely before decorating them.
We'll do a simple icing today starting with a quarter teaspoon vanilla extract and a tablespoon
of soy milk or your choice of plant-based milk.
A tablespoon of corn syrup helps make the icing really smooth and pipeable.
Stir all together.
Then you can add one and a half cups of icing sugar.
Stir until you cannot stir anymore.
We're going to need a bit more liquid so I'm going in with a teaspoon of soy milk.
It's easy to add too much so go easy.
Just one more teaspoon of soymilk and we have a perfect decorator's icing.
Transfer the icing to a piping bag with a thin tip or if you can't find your tips just
reinforce the corner with packing tape like I did.
Snip off the end and away you go.
Make sure the top of the bag is secure and apply even pressure for a steady flow.
Don't be discouraged if your first gingerbread people look a little like a toddler made it.
I find it helps to sketch out what you want to do on paper.
Then find it way too complicated and give up opting for a simpler design.
You'll have plenty of icing leftover so while you're endlessly decorating you can think
of what other cookies you want to make and decorate this season.
Let me know what your ideas are.
Maybe I need some ideas myself!
You might wonder, why the heck I made the recipe for the icing so generous and isn't
that just a waste of ingredients?
To which I say, fair enough but it is just easier to handle this amount than trying to
make smaller amounts.
Before you know it, you'll have an army of gingerbread people ready to take Santa's territory
to the South Pole.
Let them sit out for an hour so the icing can completely harden.
Though since it's super dry in Alberta and it might take longer where you are.
And eat the uglier ones first before packing the rest away for your friends, family, or
in my case, your boyfriend's co-workers because I need most of the batch out of my kitchen
immediately or I'll eat them all and I don't want to do that because I need to make room
for the cinnamon rolls I'm about to bake up next.
And that's it.
These cookies, like most homemade cookies, are best eaten in a couple days but they will
store up to two weeks pretty well.
Keep in mind, they lose some of their crispness after you seal them in a bag for a while.
After a couple of weeks, I'd say edible but you know, you could probably tell they are a couple weeks
old.
You would never let that happen on your watch would you?
Thanks so much for watching my friends.
I hope you liked this video.
Please give it a thumbs up if you did and subscribe for more easy vegan recipes.
Don't forget to go to the blog post especially if you're new to cookie making and need a
little more detail.
Special thanks to my channel members who are helping to support this channel on a monthly
basis.
You know who you are!
And I appreciates you.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
Bye for now!