Gingerbread from back in the day
What a difference 4 years makes. When Terry and I made these Gingerbread Punks for a lost episode of Post Punk Kitchen, we seemed to have all the time in the world to mix colors, make leopard spots and paint on fishnets. And, apparently, we didn’t know how to turn off the flash on our camera. My kitchen was so tiny we had to roll the cookies out on the coffee table and balance bowls of neon icing in precarious ways; sometimes on a stack of books, sometimes on a cat – we made do. When I was moving to Portland I actually found one of these cookies in the back of one of my cabinets.
Now we’re 3,000 miles apart, we have dishwashers and counterspace and I can barely muster up a couple of dots for my little gingerbread bread eyes. But whether you’re going all out or part of the gingerbread minimalist movement, this recipe is a surefire winner that will have you singing Christmas carols under your breath and then looking around to make sure no one heard you.
Modern minimalist gingerbread guys
Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
Makes about 16 cookies (depending on the size of your cutters)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup plain soymilk
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour (or a mix of both)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
spice blend:
1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
Directions
In a large bowl whisk together oil and sugar for about 3 minutes. Add molasses and soymilk. The molasses and soymilk won’t really blend with the oil but that’s ok.
Sift in all of the other dry ingredients, mixing about half way through. When all of the dry ingredients are added, mix until a stiff dough is formed. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or up to 3 days in advance. If you chill longer than an hour you may want to let it sit for 10 minutes to warm up a bit before proceeding.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease your cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your shapes with your cookie cutters and use a thin spatula to gently place on cookie sheets. If you are using them to decorate a tree or something, remember to punch a hole in their heads (!) before baking. Bake for 8 minutes.
Remove from oven and let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack. Wait until they are completely cool before icing.
Oh this is perfect. I needed a good gingerbread cut out recipe and I was worried I didn’t have time to sift through my books to find one (I have one day to do everything I’m going to do for the holidays, I need to find another job). Thanks for that!
I love the punk g-bread. I need to make these for our new buds at the vegan cafe. They will totally appreciate. You have saved me again.
omgz how cute are the old ones and how faaaaancy the new ones are…
okay i might just attempt to bake these!
thanks hun!
Just look at their bougie little smiles! Post-punk, indeed.
Sell out! (I mean that with love.)
Vegan gingerbread or modern art commentary?
Aw, this brings back fond memories for me too! I used this recipe to make gingerbread b-girls, with neon legwarmers and headbands and everything. And I too have moved away from the friends I did that with/for.
Ha! Found my gingerbread breakers in the forum!
http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=17217
I like the minimalist ones as well as the punk! Different times in your life you’ll want different things. All that matters is that you are happy where you’re at and you seem to be. 🙂
Ha! I am in love with the punks! too cool.
Minimalist or punk gingerbread, these are super 😀
I just keep staring at those fishnets. . . too cool!
This is my first year making vegan gingerbread and I literally just looked this recipe up this morning and baked them a few hours ago. I sneaked (ok, no one was around, not really sneaking) a bite of both the unbaked and baked dough from a broken cookie and oh goodness, it’s delicious – not too crispy, not too chewy, brilliant level of spiciness. Thank you!
These look like so much fun to make (I haven’t gingerbread peeps since I was a little kid). Now I just need to figure out the icing: I’m guessing icing sugar and vanilla soy milk?
I love the punks!! Balancing bowls of neon icing on a cat sounds tricky! 😛
oh geez, do I ever know that whole humming carols and looking ’round for spectators thing… I love some of them, don’t tell!
these are also my favourite cookie recipe on the whole ppk! I’ve made them so much, it’s the spice and the chew and how easy they are. especially when you don’t decorate.
(I decorated them drunk once, though, which was pretty easy. :D)
Gee, Isa — do you live in Portland now? Do you ever teach classes there? I’d make a trip up to take one of your classes!
I do love gingerbread! While both are cute, I think I actually prefer the minimalist approach!
Ha I love that you posted this – I randomly found the original post the other day and made them that night! But, because of the exact same countertop space issues due to living in NYC (meaning: none at all) I couldn’t really roll out the dough. Instead, I just flattened them into circles with my fingers. They turned out great! My hub and I ate them as each batch came out of the oven. Shameful. But so worth it.
Woo Hoo! I’ve been looking for a good gingerbread recipe to make with the kids in a few days for the holidays (I believe I am crazy). This post has saved me from my frantic searching, yum!
these are awesome. i’ve made them the last three years. actually they’re the reason i found the ppk to begin with. loves these cookies!
Wow, those first guys are a bit in ya face scary but I likes em…wonderful creations!
Oh jeez, thee look flawless, and rather adoreable,I must add.
Looks like I’m not done with Christmas baking after all.
Do you have a good recipe for cutout sugar cookies? My son is allergic to egg and we rely on many of your recipes for egg-free versions of family favorites. I’ve tried a couple other cutout cookie vegan recipes, but they were terrible. Yours have a much better track record!
This is the only time of the year I really get into the Martha Stewart thing- these cookies are TOO cute!
i love this recipe.
I just happened to make these yesterday from the previous post and they turned out perfect. My icing was more of a glaze, and that is my minimalist contribution.
Dude, I made this with my friend a week ago for a cabaret we were helping out in, but because we’re college students without kitchens, we also had no rolling pins or cookie cutters, so we just made them into disks. I ate like 3 fresh out of the oven. Someone else obviously liked them too because they were all gone when we went to pick up or leftovers.
How well should this dough freeze? I bet with some added soymilk it’ll stay well but I don’t want to ruin a batch!
Isa! I made these and I didn’t even have to add any extra flour! They are yummy.
Isa! This is my first post here, so I must first thank you for all the amazing recipes that you brought into our lives through your books and blog.
Question: Could you post a recipe for the icing?
Thank you!!!
Thanks for the recipe – damn I need to get me a Gingerbread Cookie cutter!!
Those punks are just awesome!!
Somewhere Isa has a pic of our own personal gingerbread avatars that were part of this gingerpunk crew. Good times for sure.
Where did we get all the decorating energy from? Like seriously I can barely tear off a piece of parchment paper to slap on a cookie sheet these days.
Cute punks! I wish the episode wasn’t lost. (I wish for new episodes all the time.)
Re: the icing question – If you just want to get enough to make eyes and mouths and maybe a few buttons, then use 1/2 a cup of confectioners sugar and mix in 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk. Don’t even both with vanilla because it’s such a scant amount it won’t matter. Mix really well with a fork until it’s pasty, then add 1/2 a teaspoon milk at a time until it’s a bit thicker than toothpaste, usually I need maybe 1 1/2 more teaspoons, but since confectioner sugars vary it’s best to start small.
This will always be my go-to gingerbread cookie recipe, it even works gluten-freeeee!
oh my I had to try this as soon as I saw it here. It was super easy and sooooo delicious! My negihbour got one and he said it was one of the best he had ever tried!
I never really post here (or anywhere else for that matter) but wanted to let you know how much I love these cookies. I’ve made them several Christmases in a row and always get raves. For those who are allergic to soy milk, I use regular and it works just fine. (Obviously, it’s no longer vegan.)
These tasted brilliant but the crunch was too much for my family! So in other words, these were a little too hard, any idea where I went wrong/can improve?
Oh man! Both of those are so so so cute. Thanks for the recipe – I am making cookies for my fiancee’s family and I think these will be perfect!
I’m another one that just made these today. I tried rolling them out but it was impossible to transfer from the silpat to the parchment-lined baking sheet – they either got squished or fell apart no matter what spatula I tried using. So I just made rounds and pressed them flat – no biggie. I think next time they have to chill a bit longer than the hour I gave them.
I popped 2 pans in the oven at the same time. The first pan got brown around the edges after about 10 minutes so I removed them, but the others didn’t start to brown until almost 16 minutes. The first pan cooled to a soft cookie, just the way I love them, and the second pan cooled to a crispy cookie, the way my son loves them.
These are definitely our new favorite cookie! Thanks, Isa!
Whoops, just noticed the blog post says “we” made them, so thanks go to Terry, too. Sorry about that.
Natazria, it’s possible your oven was running hot and they were baked for a bit too long. I would suggest getting an oven thermometer if you don’t already have one, or just baking them for a minute or two less.
I brought in a batch of these to work today and 3 people asked for the recipe. Hoping this will trigger some new ppk readers and bakers!
sooooo cute!!
Ha funny you should mention that! I baked them for 7 minutes at 350…oh well, second time’s the charm
I am so impressed by your punk cookies!
I just wanted to let you know I got Veganomicon for Christmas—it was the best present! I want to make EVERYTHING in there! It’s like the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook for vegans—meaning it has so many recipes that should be considered classics!
These look so cute! What’s a good vegan royal icing recipe?
I made these cookies right after I read your blog post. It wasn’t until I rolled out the dough that I realized I didn’t have a ginger bread cookie cutter. Instead I used a xmas tree and a star. They turned out great. Thanks for sharing.
Daneen
Aww, those cookies were how I first found the ppk. The original post shows up pretty high when you’re searching the Internets for vegan gingerbread.