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!
1 1/2cups (214g)spelt flour (see NOTES below for tested gluten-free oat flour version!)
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
2teaspoonsground cinnamon
1 1/2teaspoonsground allspice
1 1/2tablespoonsground ginger
1/2teaspoonfine sea salt
1/2cup + 2 tablespoons (190g)pure maple syrup, room temp
3tablespoons (54g)molasses, not blackstrap, room temp (I use Grandma's Molasses)
1/2cup + 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
I recommend highly to use a scale to prevent room for error. You don't need cups or to compare the weights to cups, just simply follow the weights listed, as this is exactly how the recipes are tested and made. Make sure to zero out before adding each ingredient.
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 stir 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.
Notes
To make these gluten-free, you will sub with superfine oat flour. Because spelt is more finely ground than oat flour, you will need more oat flour than you would spelt. So instead of 214g spelt, you will need 225g of superfine oat flour). 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.
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