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    Home » Cookies

    The Best Vegan Gingerbread Cookies - German Style (gluten free, wfpb)

    Published: Nov 5, 2020 · Modified: Feb 16, 2021 by Jasmin Hackmann · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads

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    Gingerbread like from the Christmas market, only in vegan. These vegan Elisenlebkuchen are delicious and should not be missing during the Christmas Season.

    These gluten-free vegan gingerbread recipes are prepared Nuremberg style, but do not contain any eggs or sugar.

    You can give out these dairy free gingerbread cookies as an edible gift.

    They are not only quick and easy to prepare, thanks to the typical gingerbread spices they also taste like the traditional Elisen Lebkuchen from Nuremberg.

    Holding a half vegan gingerbread cookie stacked on other german gingerbreads on a wire wrack.

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links. Read More

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Substitutions
    • Instruction
    • Serving Options
    • 📖 Recipe

    Gingerbread comes in a wide variety of shapes and names. In addition to gingerbread, depending on the region, these great Christmas cookies are also known under the names Magenbrot, Pfefferkuchen, Aachener Printer.

    But when we look for gingerbread in shops or at Christmas markets, we quickly find that most gingerbread cookies are not vegan and animal products are contained in the form of eggs.

    In addition to Christmas cookies such as cinnamon waffles, Linzer cookies and vanilla crescents, we also bake these vegan gingerbread cookies.

    With us, Nuremberger Lebkuchen (gingerbread) simply cannot be missing at Christmas time. How do you see it?

    Here I would like to show you how we prepare gingerbread and what options there are to replace certain foods.

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    Ingredients

    First of all, let's take a look at what's in the gingerbread. You can find the exact quantities below in the recipe card.

    Dates

    Lemon Zest

    Orange Zest

    Orange Juice

    Ground Hazelnuts

    Ground Almonds

    Gingerbread Spice

    Baking Powder

    Aquafaba

    Wafers

    Dark Chocolate

    Ingredients shot of the vegan gingerbreads. Almond flour, hazelnut flour, dates, lemon and orange zest, baking powder, orange juice, aquafaba, gingerbread seasoning.

    Substitutions

    Now we know what's in these great Christmas gingerbread cookies. Now let's take a look at how we can replace certain ingredients.

    Dates

    The dates serve as a substitute for candied orange and candied lemon. The dates also serve as a sweetener. I try to bake with whole foods, and lemon peel and orange peel are products that contain sugar.

    But if you want to use these foods now, you can use 50 g of both and then 50 g of other sweeteners, e.g. Coconut Sugar or Date Syrup.

    Lemon Zest & Orange Zest

    We use this to integrate the orange and lemon notes that we lack due to the lack of lemon peel and orange peel. If you use these now as mentioned above, you can omit the zests.

    Orange Juice

    You can also use rum instead of orange juice. I use orange juice because my children also eat the gingerbread.

    Hazelnuts

    If you are allergic to hazelnuts or do not have hazelnuts on hand, you can also use almonds or other nuts.

    If you can't tolerate nuts at all, you can also try tigernut flour. The gingerbread cookies take longer to bake. Here I recommend baking the gingerbread for about 30-35 minutes. Tigernuts are a tuber.

    Almonds

    You can also replace the almonds with hazelnuts or other nuts. You can also try to use tiger nut flour here.

    Aquafaba

    Aquafaba is the drained water from canned chickpeas.

    If you don't have aquafaba and you don't want to open a can of chickpeas, you can also use flaxseed by mixing 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed with about 80 ml of water.

    Wafers / Oblaten

    You can omit the wafers and bake them on baking paper, you don't necessarily need wafers. Here in the US I usually bake without Oblaten because they are difficult to find or I have to order them online.

    4 vegan gingerbread cookies on a wire rack.

    Variations

    Now let's take a look at how we can adapt these vegan gingerbread cookies to other forms of diets.

    Gluten free

    If you omit the wafers, you have gluten-free gingerbread. The gingerbread dough is already gluten-free.

    Nut free

    Instead of nuts, you can use tiger nuts here. You can grind the tiger nuts yourself or you can use ready-made tiger nut flour.

    Keto

    Instead of dates, use your favorite sweetener and you have great keto gingerbread cookies. Instead of the aquafaba, use the flaxseed as described above.

    Paleo

    The gingerbread is already Paleo gingerbread. Just leave out the chocolate or use a paleo-friendly chocolate.

    Low Carb

    This is also a Low Carb recipe for gingerbread.

    Instruction

    Soak the dates first.

    If you use whole nuts, first grind them into a fine flour in a high speed blender.

    Now put the ground nuts, dates, lemon and orange zest in a food processor and chop until the dates are small.

    Now add the gingerbread spices and baking powder and blend again briefly.

    If you use aquafaba, beat it until stiff like egg whites with a stand mixer. And carefully fold in the nut mixture.

    Now give the gingerbread dough on Oblaten and flatten it a bit. Leave a small margin on the wafers. The dough should be about 0.6 inch (1.5 cm) high. Or spread them directly on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

    Now shape smooth gingerbread cookies. To do this, dip your fingers in some water and smooth them out. Let the gingerbread sit for about 1 hour.

    Preheat the oven to 285°F (140°C) and bake the gingerbread for about 15-20 minutes. Let the gingerbread cookies cool. In the meantime, you can melt the chocolate in a water bath.

    Brush the gingerbread cookies with the melted chocolate and decorate with almonds or hazelnuts.

    vegan-lebkuchen-gingerbread-glutenfrei-ölfrei

    Serving Options

    Serve the delicious vegan gingerbread with other Christmas cookies with a cup of coffee or tea.

    These are also ideal as dessert or as a snack if you're in the mood for Christmas.

    Storage

    Keep the gingerbread cookies in a cookie jar. Here the gingerbread keeps for about 3 weeks. I have to say that our gingerbread usually doesn't last that long. They just taste too good for that.

    Bird view of the vegan gingerbreads on a wire rack.

    Tips

    Use a spoon to pour the gingerbread batter onto the wafers or baking sheet.

    If you don't just want gingerbread with chocolate, you can also cover them with sugar icing.

    If you want to use sugar instead of dates, then use organic sugar. At least here in the US, animal products will be used to make sugar. If you want healthy gingerbread cookies, use dates. 😉

    More vegan Christmas Cookies

    • Vegan Cinnamon Waffle Cookies
    • Vegan Vanille Kipferl (Vanilla Cresents)
    • Homemade Mulled Wine (Gluehwein)
    • Snickerdoodle Cookies

    Have you tried the recipe?

    If you tried the vegan Recipe, be so nice ♥ and let me know by rating the recipe and writing what you think about it in the comments.  I would love to see your photo on Instagram or Facebook. To do this tag me with @veeatcookbake and my hashtag is #veeatcookbake. So that I can see your creation. Did you know you can add photos on Pinterest under the recipe Pin? I can’t wait to see a photo of your creation there. You find me with @veeatcookbake.

    Enjoy your Meal, Jasmin

    Pin for Later!

    Two photos of vegan gluten free gingerbreads with text.
    Continue to Content

    📖 Recipe

    vegan-lebkuchen-gingerbread-glutenfrei-ölfrei

    Vegan Gingerbread Cookies (oil free, refined sugar free, gf)

    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Additional Time: 1 hour
    Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

    During the Christmas season vegan german gingerbread cookies should not be missed. Here you will find the juiciest, vegan german gingerbreads. These gingerbreads are baked without flour and are a healthier version of the traditionals, which makes a great Christmas present or simply as a gift to a party. They are gluten free, refined sugar free and oil free.

    Ingredients

    • ¼ cup (50 g) chopped dates + ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
    • ¼ cup (50 g) chopped dates + ¼ teaspoon orange zest
    • 3 tablespoon orange juice or rum
    • 1 cup (100 g) hazelnut flour
    • 2 cups (200 g) almond flour
    • 3 teaspoon gingerbread spice
    • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
    • 6 tablespoon Aquafaba
    • Oblates
    • 150 g dark chocolate

    Gingerbread Spice

    • 4.5 tablespoon (35 g) cinnamon powder
    • 4 teaspoon (9 g) clove powder
    • 1 teaspoon (2 g) allspice powder
    • ½ teaspoon (1 g) nutmeg powder
    • ½ teaspoon (2 g) of coriander powder
    • 1 teaspoon (2 g) of cardamom powder
    • 1 teaspoon (2 g) ginger powder
    • ⅔ teaspoon (1 g) mace powder

    Instructions

    Grind hazelnuts and almonds in the Food Processor or blender if you use whole nuts.

    Add dates with orange and lemon zest with orange juice or rum and blend.

    Now add gingerbread spice and baking powder and mix again.

    Beat Aquafaba and the sweetener with a kitchen machine like the KitchenAid and fold in the nut mass.

    Now spread the mixture on wafers or directly on a baking sheet with baking paper. For the wafers leave a small margin.

    The dough should be about 0.6inch (1.5 cm) high. Now make smooth gingerbread, preferably dip your fingers in some water and smooth. Let rest for 1 hour

    Preheat the oven to 285 Fahrenheit or 140 °C and bake for 15-20 minutes until you get a light color. Allow cooling and melt the chocolate in a water bath. Now coat the gingerbread. Decorative the gingerbread with almonds

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    Did you make this recipe?

    Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

    © Jasmin
    Cuisine: German / Category: Cookies
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    « Vegan Mac and Cheese Powder (Cheese Sauce Powder)
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Angela says

      November 16, 2020 at 4:44 pm

      These look amazing Jasmin - I love anything spicy (as in cinnamon etc). Must be channeling my inner German. I'm English so I suppose we come from the same stock way back : )
      Thanks for this beautiful recipe, I can't wait to try it.
      Love from Australia X It's not very Christmassy in the sun : (

      Reply
      • Jasmin says

        November 18, 2020 at 3:37 am

        Hi Angela, thank you for much for your comment. I hope you get some christmassy vibes with this recipe 🙂 Have a wonderful day.

        Reply

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