Hello everyone! Hope you all had a good holiday with lots of yummy food. I definitely overindulged a little bit, especially with the sweets.
This year I did ALL the Christmas baking. Although heavily frosted sugar cookies will always remain my holiday favourite, these vegan gingersnaps are a close second. I love the spices from the ginger, cinnamon, and molasses – the holiday flavours taste amazing alongside a glass of vegan eggnog or a mug of warm hot chocolate.
This was also the year that I learned what molasses even was (yup, that’s right – I actually had no idea). I had always heard its name and figured it was some sort of dark, syrupy version of sugar that’s somewhat on the healthier side. Turns out that molasses is actually a by-product of sugar cane’s refining process, which mashes and boils sugar cane to create cane syrup. Boiling this syrup a second time creates molasses. The more you know!
There is also a healthier kind of molasses called Blackstrap Molasses, which is created when molasses is boiled a third time. The boiling process removes more of the sugar content which is why blackstrap molasses contains the lowest sugar content of any sugar cane product. Unlike refined sugar (which has zero nutritional value), blackstrap molasses is packed with vitamins and minerals, such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and selenium. So basically, these gingersnaps are essentially a superfood, as far as cookies go.
Unfortunately, blackstrap molasses is quite pungent, and more of an acquired taste in the world of sugar. My advice is to start with a small amount in your baking, and gradually work up to it when you begin to get used to the taste and flavour of blackstrap molasses. This recipe was adapted from ILoveVegan, and I decided that if you’re not a huge molasses fan, then just 1/4 cup is sufficient to get the flavour and colour in these cookies. Also, I prefer chewy cookies over the semi-hard and crumbly ones, so this recipe gives you about 23 perfectly soft and chewy gingersnaps that will stay that way for a few days when kept in a sealed container.
Happy (healthy) baking! 🙂
2 cups all-purpose flourVegan Ginger Molasses Cookies (Gingersnaps)
Print This
Ingredients
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup vegan butter, melted
2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup blackstrap or fancy molasses
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
small bowl of raw sugar (for rolling)Instructions
4 comments
YUM!!! Made these with my daughter tonight. They were incredible! Thanks for the healthy recipe! 🙂
Thanks Karen! So glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
These look awesome! I love that you used blackstrap molasses too. Definitely going to try this!
Hi Christina! Thank you so much for your kind words. <3 Blackstrap molasses is so interesting to bake with! You should give it a try and let me know whawt you think 🙂