These Vegan Gingersnaps have coconut butter in them to give them an extra dose of sweetness, flavor and buttery-ness. These are perfectly sweetened, spicy just enough and so moist! Perfect to impress guests that would never know they are made without eggs or oil!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tazo® Tea. All opinions are 100% mine.
VEGAN COCONUT BUTTER GINGERSNAPS
Are you all getting as ready for fall as I am?? It’s still so hot here in Texas, it’s never-ending. Seriously, humidity, go away. But as usual, I couldn’t care less about what the outside weather is when it comes to food cravings. These Vegan Coconut Butter Gingersnaps are good no matter the weather. I love anything that involves pumpkin or ginger-related. I absolutely LOVE ginger, the spiciness and that lingering flavor in your mouth. One of my all-time favorite cookies are gingersnaps. And these vegan gingersnaps will rock your taste buds.
These are so soft and chewy and have a slightly crispy edge. They are amazing the day they are made, but they get even BETTER the next day. So much that it shocked me. They become more soft and bit more fragile, but the flavor, oh my. The molasses and coconut butter really soak into the spelt flour, making the cookies more moist and sweeter. Just because I’m so good to y’all, I also tested a gluten-free version made with oat flour!
COCONUT BUTTER INSTEAD OF OIL IN BAKING
These gingersnaps are a bit different than the classic ones. I decided to give them a little twist and add coconut butter. Oh boy, it gives them such amazing flavor, sweetness and wonderful texture. But not to worry, it doesn’t taste like coconut, at all. Hubby hates coconut and didn’t even notice. The key is to use a really good quality and finely pureed coconut butter. Just make sure it is a total liquid when measuring. It gives a buttery flavor without using oil.
COOKIES AND TEA
Now, most people think of pairing cookies with milk. Not me, I’d rather liven myself up with a hot beverage. It honestly brings out the flavor and spices of the cookies better that way. Especially with these vegan gingersnaps. Gingersnaps make me feel like it’s the fall and the holidays. I love it when it gets cold and I can really up my intake of the warm drinks and teas. I really love the teas by Tazo® Tea. I’m sure you’ve seen them. A large amount of stores carry them…Walmart, Target, Sprouts, Whole Foods, etc.
I’ve been drinking Tazo® chai tea for the past year and currently have boxes in my pantry, so when they reached out to me to try their latest blends, I was beyond excited. I’m so super picky about the brands that reach out to me and only work with those that I already use or genuinely have an interest in.
Two of the blends they sent me to try were Awake™ English Breakfast and Zen™ . The Awake English Breakfast™ (featured above) is an exciting blend of black teas. No weird additives or preservatives. Simple and clean. This blend is a great caffeinated choice for me, because it gives me that energized feeling throughout the day. I loved the bold, rich taste and I love to add a bit of maple syrup to mine. Delish. They are great anytime of the day.
Now for the Zen, it is a blend of green tea, lemon verbena leaves, spearmint and lemongrass. It is amazing! Refreshing, bright and clean tasting. I love drinking this one with baked goods or muffins, and obviously what is more joyful and exciting than cookies? The Tazo teas are made with fine quality tea leaves, spices and botanicals. The best part? Delicious and so many different blends to chose from!
I really love to add some maple syrup and fresh lemon juice to the Zen blend. It brings out the spearmint and lemon flavor and is so refreshing! If you are more of a fruity tea drinker, then you must try their Passion® blend.
For all this delicious tea, we need to pair them with these yummy gingersnaps. I promise they are incredibly easy to make. They require just 1 bowl, 15 minutes prep and just 8 minutes in the oven! Go make some of this delicious tea and cookies!
So simple, just mix the batter all in 1 bowl, roll the dough into 18 balls, press them down into 1/4 inch thick and sprinkle some sugar on top.
These Vegan Coconut Butter Gingersnaps are some of the most delicious and easy cookies, ever. They are just 8 ingredients (+ salt) and are just divine. I really hope you all love them and let me know what you think after you make them!
Be sure to leave me feedback below after making these Vegan Coconut Butter Gingersnaps!
Vegan Coconut Butter Gingersnaps
These Vegan Gingersnaps have coconut butter in them to give them an extra dose of sweetness, flavor and buttery-ness. These are perfectly sweetened, spicy just enough and so moist! Perfect to impress guests that would never know they are made without eggs or oil!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (214g) spelt flour (see NOTE below for tested gluten-free oat flour version!)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (190g) pure maple syrup, room temp
- 3 tablespoons (54g) molasses, not blackstrap, room temp (I use Grandma's Molasses)
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (148g) liquid melted coconut butter (this is just pureed coconut, NOT COCONUT OIL! My favorite brand is Dastony which is sold at Whole Foods or Amazon)
- Optional: white sprinkling sugar
NOTE
- To make these gluten-free, you will sub with superfine oat flour. Because spelt is much more finely ground than oat flour, you will need more oat flour than you would spelt. So instead of 1 1/2 cups of spelt, you will need 1 3/4 cups + 2 Tablespoons finely ground oat flour (225 g). Use a scale for accurate results. All the other ingredients remain the same. You will bake the oat version for the same time of 8 minutes.
Instructions
- As I always recommend, use a scale for accurate results. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- To a large bowl, add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and salt. Whisk very well.
- Before adding the coconut butter, it's imperative that your coconut butter is a total liquid, an oil consistency, when measuring, so the right amount is added and the cookies turn out moist. I like to store my coconut butter into a separate glass container after purchasing from the store. This is important since the oil will separate from the coconut meat and it should be thoroughly mixed before adding to the recipe. Just slightly heat the jar in the microwave for about 15 seconds to soften it, scoop it all out into the container and if needed, heat just a few more seconds and then stire it all together until completely smooth and runny. Then measure.
- Make a well at the bottom and add the syrup, molasses and the liquid coconut butter last. Give the liquids a quick stir and then mix all the batter together for about 30 seconds until it all comes together into a sticky, thick batter. If using the oat flour version, just stir together the batter until it all comes together in a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Using a heaping 1 1/2 tablespoons each, form balls and place on the pan about 3 inches apart from each other. Don't add more than 9 balls to each pan. The batter makes 18 cookies, so 9 for each pan. Take a small piece of parchment paper and place it over each ball and flatten into rounds, no more than 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle icing sugar on top for extra sweetness and crunch, if desired. These cookies are not overly sweet, just perfect, but add the icing sugar if you like yours extra sweet, or serving to guests for presentation. I love the look of the icing sugar on top.
- Bake just 8 minutes (one pan at a time), until they have spread some and poofed up a little. Do not overbake or it can dry them out. They should be firm and golden on the bottoms. Each batch was perfect at 8 minutes. Remove and cool 10 minutes on the pan (they will be too delicate to eat right away), then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in a sealed container so they stay moist. They are even better the next day, but are a tad more fragile.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition per cookie: 144.2 calories, 5.6 g fat, 1.9 g protein, 21.2 carbs, 2.6 g fiber, 9.3 g sugar, 91.5 mg sodium
OMG these looks beyond amazing. I am so sad they are not gluten free tho. I got so excited when I saw the email come through because I love a good ginger snap cookie. It might be one of my favorite types of cookies. So I was extremely excited about this and was thinking oh yes I am definitely making these. But I totally understand not everything works gluten free. So I will certainly admire from afar. But these cookies look like the stuff dreams are made of. Wow great job girl for real.
“Note: Just because I’m so good to you all, I also tested a gluten-free version made with oat flour! Because spelt is much more finely ground than oat flour, you will need more oat flour than you would spelt. So instead of 1 1/2 cups of spelt, you will need 1 3/4 cups + 2 Tablespoons finely ground oat flour (225 g). Use a scale for accurate results. All the other ingredients remain the same. You will bake the oat version for the same time of 8 minutes.”
Gluten-free version posted above now Christina! Thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂
Thank you so much you are the best 😃😍 I can’t wait to make these in December 😄
There’s a gf option/note at the end of the recipe 😉
Oops. Nvm. She already said That lol
Do you have a gluten-free flour that would work with this recipe? I love this cookie!
Just posted my tested gluten-free version above in the recipe under Note! 🙂
These look super yummy!
I didn’t even realize how much I was craving gingersnaps until now, but omg I want them! All of them! I love gingersnaps so much <3 Heck let's just skip the pumpkin mania and go straight to ginger molasses everything lol! And soft and chewy with slightly crispy edge are like the cookie magic words–it doesn't get better than that. And they are quite simple too! You just might convince me to pick up a jar of coconut butter for this 🙂 I love your sparkly reasoning for the white sprinkling sugar haha. I've been working on a snickerdoodle recipe and using the same stuff on top. Coconut sugar is great for in recipes, but it just doesn't sparkle the same way on top. Pinning and dreaming about <3
I definitely love ginger more than pumpkin, too! Yes, I love soft cookies and these are definitely more soft than those super snappy gingersnaps, but they do have a crisp edge. They are so good I just die! Thank you Natalie!
Brandi,
Is it ok to use coconut oil instead of coconut butter do you think? I wanted to make these tonight and just checked the pantry and I have about 50ml of coconut butter left but a big tub of coconut oil. What do you think?
P
Hi Pala, use all the coconut butter you have and then use coconut oil for the remainder and I “think” that will work. As long as they roll into balls I think you should be ok. They will be less sweet without using all coconut butter, just fyi. Please let me know how they turn out.
These look great! Can the flour be subbed for a different type? Also can coconut oil or Earth Balance be used in place of coconut butter?
I want to make these but don’t have the flour or the coconut butter☹️️
Hi Linda! I have only tested it with the spelt flour and the coconut butter, which are the 2 main ingredients so I can’t say what the results would be if I haven’t tested it otherwise. But, if you have white all-purpose flour, you can try that but since it is more finely ground and tends to make things a bit drier than spelt, I would use 1 tbsp less of the flour and see if it comes together and rolls into balls fine. The coconut butter is rather important here, but you could try earth balance but you would need to melt it first, then add it. Let me know how it turns out.
Great thanks for getting back to me. I’ll let you know if I try it. I may just run out to the store and buy the spelt flour and coconut butter. Thanks again!
Hi Linda, I just tested a delicious and successful gluten-free version above under Note in the recipe as well!
This is seriously amazing for my fall vibes,Brandi! I could only imagine how good they must smell when done and out of the oven.Love the addition of ginger, so yum! Ill take a big batch, please! 🙂
I just made these cookies, as written, no subs and they are so fabulous. I mean it yells fall!! The ginger and cinnamon and molasses..oh my. They are soft and chewy and make the whole house smell wonderfully. My dogs are even going nuts. This is THE best fall cookie. You’ve outdone yourself. I posted the pics on your vegan8 FB post.
YAY!! I’m so happy to hear that Estee! Thank you so very much for making them so quickly and I’m thrilled you loved them! Loved your pic on Facebook too, they looked just perfect!
Heck yea! Coconut butter, ginger….cookies!? I’ll order a dozen, thank you!
Thank you Rebecca!
The forum is a brgeithr place thanks to your posts. Thanks!
Hi, I made these today, what a nice treat! I didn’t have spelt and didn’t feel like going to the store, so I used sorghum flour instead. I also used blackstrap molasses (I always use blackstrap when you say not to, hehe). They came out so nice, crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. Excellent amount of ginger kick. Thank you for this, Brandi.
Hi Regan! Oh wow, I bet that changed the flavor quite a bit but so happy to hear that it worked out and you really liked them! Thanks so much for the feedback! 🙂
These look so yummy and cozy! I want to whip out a mug of tea, curl up on my couch and go to town. I really could use some extra comfort right now! YUM!
Thank you!
Could coconut flakes be pureed in a coffee grinder with a bit of added coconut oil for a homemade version of coconut butter????
Hi Cleone, it won’t work in a coffee grinder, you would need a food processor. Here is how I make the homemade version. Don’t add oil, it is only coconut! https://thevegan8.com/2013/10/14/homemade-coconut-butter/
That’s a cunning answer to a chnanelgilg question
Looks amazing!!! Why do you suggest not to use blackstrap?
Thanks!!
Hi Audra, thank you! Blackstrap has a much stronger bitter and almost burnt taste to it. The flavor is too strong in my opinion for these cookies. That’s why I prefer regular molasses.
Hi Brandi! Love your blog and recipes and have been a long-time fan! This might be a question that has been answered already in some other comment section, but do you post nutrition info for your recipes? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Kristin! Yes, I actually do post the nutrition for my recipes. Sometimes I don’t always get it up on every single one due to it being so time-consuming, but I do my best! I just added the nutrition above for these cookies. Also, I just switched over to a new recipe printout plugin so it didn’t properly transfer a large amount of the nutrition stats on some recipes, so I’m having to manually check them, which is very time consuming.
Gingersnaps are in my top 5 favorite cookies – PERfect for this time of year.
Would love to make these!!! Do you think coconut manna would work? If not, off I go to get coconut butter first thing tomorrow 🙂
Hi Lana! Yes, they are the same thing so that should work, just make sure it’s a total runny melted liquid when measuring 🙂
Brandi, wow, you have outdone yourself again! I just made these and the house smells like holidays! These cookies are so buttery, chewy and amazing! I love how soft inside they are, yet crunchy on the outside. Thank you so much!
Yippee! So very happy to hear that Lana! I love, love your pics on Instagram, thank you so very much for making them!!
Oh yum!! They look delicious! Love their dark rich colour 🙂
Thank you!
I miss the nutritional info you used to list at the bottom of each recipe! It was invaluable. Is it possible for you to start it again?
Hi Carol, I just added the nutrition for these cookies above! It is very time consuming to do it for each recipe, so I’m a little behind on some of the recipes recently, but I will get them up. I’m working on several different projects, so it is hard to do it all and I know it’s very important I get the recipes posted. If there is a recipe you need the nutrition on right away, there is always myfitnesspal.com and also caloriecount.com that you can input the ingredients and it will give you a rough estimate. Hope that helps!
I LOVE ginger so these are right up my alley. Yum!
im loving these gingersnaps..so excited for all the warm spices.
Love the pairing of these gingersnaps with hot tea. What a perfect treat to have sitting by the fire! Bring on the cooler weather.
First of all, this is SO my kind of bake… Those comforting sweet flavours <3 But these photos! I love them!
Thank you so much Aimee, that is so nice of you!
I love this recipe, and love that it’s made with coconut butter! But molasses is a no-no for me. Can I sub more maple syrup? Or maybe brown sugar (would that mean adding more liquid)? Thanks for all your gluten-free and vegan recipes!
Hi Jill! No, I wouldn’t do more syrup because it’s too runny and would make the cookies too sweet. It’s going to change the flavor, but I would do brown rice syrup instead, as it is very thick and sticky like molasses, so I think it would be the best choice. It is also not very sweet, so it wouldn’t overpower the flavor. The sticky molasses is important because it helps to bind the cookies and give a chewy texture, so that is why you don’t want to just use syrup. Let me know if you try them with brown rice syrup and how they turn out!
Your articles are for when it abosultely, positively, needs to be understood overnight.
Gingersnaps remind me of my childhood. I loved those cookies so much and can remember eating an entire box. These look great, Brandi!
Wow! Looks very tempting. Live to make these cookies for winter season:)
Have me over for a cookie party will ya?!?!?!
I saw your cookies on Pinterest and just had to take a look at the recipe! Thank you for making a gluten-free version. 🙂
Gingersnap cookies are my FAVORITE this time of year! Last year i made a huge batch, looks like i’ll have to try your recipe this year! I love all the photographs and action shots Brandi! I’m more of a coffee than tea person, but it’s nice to have a warm cup of tea, and tazo is one of the brands that I love also and typically have a box or two in my pantry for those after dinner tea cravings!
Thank you so much Anjali!
Just love your recipes.
These look sooooo good! I’ve been on a cookie making bender lately! I’ll have to give these ones a go!!
These look incredible. Perfect for the holidays!
These look amazing! just wondering though, can you use fresh ginger instead of the powder?
Hi Helene! I have only used it with dried ginger so I’m not sure how much you would need of the fresh, so I guess make sure it is really minced if you use it and just add to taste preference!
I don’t need to eat gluten-free, but I do love oatmeal cookies. When you used oat flour, did you find that the cookies tasted like a cross between oatmeal cookies and ginger snaps?
Hi Susan, these don’t taste anything like an oatmeal cookie to me since the oats are ground up into a flour. They just taste like gingersnaps with a very slight oat taste maybe from the flour, but not really detectable much at all. They are just soft and delicious! Let me know if you try them. I have oatmeal cookies on the blog if you are looking for those. Here are a few:
https://thevegan8.com/2012/09/04/autumn-maple-spice-cookies/
https://thevegan8.com/2015/06/03/cinnamon-chai-oatmeal-cookies-chai-caramel-glaze/
https://thevegan8.com/2016/06/16/vegan-gluten-free-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/
Thanks, Brandi. I will try one of the cookie recipes next time I go to a potluck and will let you know. If I make them for myself, they will get eaten in one sitting, LOL.
You really ARE good to us, Brandi, for taking the time to test a gluten-free recipe as well! THANK YOU! These are 10 star worthy! Oh man, and the best part about them is you can eat them soft from the counter, chilled from the fridge, or hard right out of the freezer! (Can you tell I’ve been testing them a lot?!? 😉 The combo of spices are pure perfection and the use of coconut butter reminded my daughter of one of her favorite former treats; Irish Sweet Potato candy. But instead of butter and cream cheese coconut cinnamon balls of pure fat and sugar, these are a healthier, vegan cookie that we are scarfing up in our home. I brought some to a friend’s house for dinner and everyone begged for the recipe! You rock, Brandi!
This may not be the right forum, but I read you have been working on requests for the upcoming winter holidays, so if I may be so bold… A GF bread recipe (right now I use the King Arthur mix and sub applesauce for the oil and aquafaba for the eggs and it’s fine but would love homemade) and, what I’m sure is next to impossible, a GF cake ball recipe. If you happen to have ideas or know someone’s blog whom you’d recommend, I’d really appreciate your suggestions. But absolutely no pressure, b/c I completely understand a busy schedule! 🙂 Thanks, Brandi!
Awww, thank you so much for such a thoughtful feedback Colleen! I always look forward to hearing from you! So very happy to hear these were such a hit! Even better that your friends wanted the recipe, yay!
Thank you again for the sweet comment! I actually have a gluten-free bread recipe I’m working on…it has been a bit challenging but due to all the requests, I’m really trying to focus on finishing it up!! A cake ball, mmmm, will work on that too, I can manage that, for sure! Adding now to my TO-CREATE list! 😉
great recipe!! i was just there’s anything i can use replace coconut butter?
Hi Sofia! The only sub would be coconut oil. I do not use oil in my baking, but I believe it will still work. However, since coconut oil is much more oily and loose than coconut butter (which gets much more firm), you need to make sure to use softened coconut oil (not liquid) and probably need 1 tbsp less or so. I would start out with 1 less tbsp and only add more if the batter needs it in order to roll into balls. I have not tested this, but think it should work. Let me know if you try it!
Just made these and they are so good! My family loves them. This was my first attempt at vegan baking.
Wonderful Dana! So happy to hear your first vegan baking adventure was a success! Thank you for the feedback!
Hi there- just made these and they are delicious. My batch had a little bit of an overpowering maple flavor and I was wondering if I could cut down the maple syrup by just a tad? Let me know what you think!
Hi Sophie! So glad you liked them! I don’t notice a strong maple flavor at all, but then again, I love maple syrup, lol. Did you use regular grade A maple syrup, or B? You can always use half maple and half agave and I think that would work fine. Agave is about the same sweetness, but a neutral flavor, so then the maple would be toned down.
YUM!!! Not much more I can say about them… well, Easy! Got an itching for Gingerbread cookies and decided that I would find a recipe and make some! I remembered seeing this one in the past. I had all of the ingredients except the Coconut Butter. Ran out at 8:00pm to get that one lacking ingredient! Do ya think I had any luck, if you said yes then you are wrong!!! If you said no then, of course you are right! So, what did I do… well I bought coconut and made my own… FYI, my coconut butter did not do well in the microwave. It never would become a liquid but the cookies were still moist and delicious. Tomorrow I will sneak them in the boys lunch box and see what the response is later!
Keep up the good work! Now on to the Spicy White Bean Buffalo Hummus! LOVE Crunchmaster btw!!!!
So wonderful to hear Stuart! So glad you love these cookies! We love them too so much! If you blended up your coconut to a smooth consistency/liquid, you wouldn’t need to warm it in the microwave if it is already a liquid. You only need to warm it up if it’s thickened/hardened 🙂
These photos are gorgeous and the gingersnaps look amazing however, I should never come by your site at 7 am. lol…Now I need to make cookies for breakfast. Thanks for always providing such detailed recipes for us less than skilled bakers!
You’re so sweet Deryn, thank you so much!
I’m so glad you posted these on IG. I had forgotten how good they are. I’m off work tomorrow, and I really need these cookies! Yummy!
Awesome Jacqui! Enjoy! 🙂
Thank you for all your gluten free vegan mostly unrefined recipes! I made this by blending 2 cups of oats into the flour and subbed the allspice for pumpkin spice and they were SO delicious! I was wondering how to get it crispier for next time…
Hi Mea! So awesome to hear you enjoyed these! These I actually created to be soft gingersnaps since I’m not really a fan of the super hard ones, but you could just increase the cooking time if you want them crispier, but cooking them too long will dry them out more and they will likely not ever be as crispy as the store version kind.
Thanks so much Brandi!
I can’t have much fat at all in addition to having to go vegan with my diet (I have issues with fat and pancreatitis) so would it be possible to use applesauce instead of the coconut butter, by chance?
Thank you for all your beautiful recipes! Yummy!
Kris
Hi Kris! Unfortunately, applesauce would not be a good choice at all for these cookies. The coconut butter gives a lot of moisture to these and makes them have a delicious cookie texture. Applesauce would make them extremely DRY and muffin-like and nothing like a cookie. I do have several other cookie recipes that don’t use coconut but use almond butter instead, but all of them have some whole food fat in them for taste and texture.
These cookies are AAAAmazing!!!! I loved them, my non vegan family loved them, our guests loved them! They are mouth wateringly delicious, and went beyond my expectations. I’m hooked! I also made the Gingersnap Chocolate Mousse, minus the piecrust – due to time constraints…. it too did not disappoint! I received lots of compliments from the enthusiastic eaters!! I highly recommend both recipes.
Thank you so much Quinta for the amazing review and lovely photos on Instagram! I truly appreciate the feedback and so glad you loved both recipes!
Brandi!!!!!!!! Omg, these are better than ridiculously delicious…THEY ARE PERFECTLY OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS!!!! I altered the recipe a bit…I have some friends who just returned from a European cruise, and brought back GingerSnaps with nuts and dried fruit…so I added 1/4 C sliced almonds and 1/3 C raisins, and they are wonderful! The additions helped me stretch it to 24 cookies! Congratulations. AGAIN! Blue Ribbon Winner!
Oh Carol, you are the best! Everytime I read a review from you, I get all giddy! I’m ecstatic that you loved these so much!! The addition of raisins and almonds sound wonderful! So thrilled you loved these, and as always, thank YOU so much for always taking the time to come and leave a review! Happy holidays! xx
Would I be able to substitute your gingerbread seasoning for the individual spices in the recipe? If so would I just use the total amount of the individual spices equivalent to the gingerbread spice mix?
thanks!
Hi Pam! I wrote this recipe based on a classic spicy gingersnap cookie, so the flavor is pretty different than my gingerbread spice mix. These cookies have a lot more ginger in them, so I’m not sure exactly if you would want to change the flavor profile, but if you want to try it, I would suggest doing 1 tablespoon of the gingerbread spice mix!
If you’re after a ginger cookie that warms your soul with each and every chewy bite – give this recipe a go. Made one batch yesterday and I’m already planning to make another.
Looking for a vanilla wafer. Do you think leaving out the spice would yield a similar cookie.?
Hi Laura, I really don’t because of the molasses, I don’t think it would taste right. I would try googling vegan vanilla wafers?? There has to be some out there! 🙂