Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

½ cup non-dairy butter, at room temperature or coconut oil, softened
1 cup maple syrup or liquid sweetener of your choice
3 tablespoon black strap molasses
2 cup gluten-free flour blend
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
Dash of salt

Preheat oven to 180° C or 350° F

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Prepare a rolling area with two additional sheets of parchment paper for that.

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and whip it with a mixer until creamy. Add sweetener, molasses, vanilla, spices and salt and mix once again to combine.

Add in flour and use a wooden spoon to mix. Then get in there with your hands and mix everything together by working the dough until you can shape it into a ball. Depending on the flour mix you use there may be a slight variance, know that the consistency of the dough should not be sticky but should press together when pinched. Be sure to knead it really well first for some time. If it’s a little sticky, add a little more flour (try 1-2 tbsp); if it’s a little dry add a little more sweetener (try 1 tbsp).

Shape the dough into 2 balls and then flatten each into a disk.

Roll out one of the dough balls between two sheets of parchment paper to ¼” thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Carefully transfer to a prepared cookie sheets, spacing them ½” apart. They won’t spread as they bake. Gather up any dough scraps and repeat until all dough is used up. Repeat the process with the second dough ball.

Bake in pre-heated oven for approximately 11-12 minutes, until the edges just begin to darken.

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Cookies will harden a little within minutes of cooling, so don’t over bake.

Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes and enjoy.