Vegan Gingernut Biscuits

These vegan gingernut biscuits are sweetly spiced, super crunchy and perfect for dunking into a hot cup of tea. They’re really easy to make, with just 6 ingredients, and are ready to eat in less than an hour.

It’s day 9 of my 12 days of Christmas cookies series and today I’m sharing my gingernut biscuit recipe. I have not stopped eating these since I first made them!

If you’re unfamiliar with gingernuts, they’re also known as gingersnaps, and are a popular biscuit here in the UK. They’re really crunchy, crinkly on top and are flavoured with powdered ginger.

If you buy them from the supermarkets, gingernuts are usually accidentally vegan biscuits. The cheaper ones are typically made with vegetable oils instead of dairy fat. But nothing beats a home-mader, am I right? I used to eat these a lot as a child so I thought it would be fun to have a go at making my own from scratch.

It took me a good few attempts before I finally got my desired result. The first few batches I made were too chewy in the middle, which tasted delicious but it’s not the texture you want for gingernuts!

I reduced the amount of fat and sugar I was using, increased the golden syrup slightly and added a little more flour. The end result was delicious but it took two more tests to perfect the baking time and temperature. After that, the recipe was complete! Crunchy, sweet, flavourful, dairy-free gingernuts.

These are tasty just to eat as a snack but I reckon they would also be great crushed up and mixed with some melted vegan butter to make a cheesecake base. I hope to find the time to make one soon. I’m thinking a white chocolate one would be delicious!

More vegan ginger desserts

• Ginger tray bake
• Gingerbread mug cake
• Chewy ginger cookies
• Gingerbread cupcakes

Ingredients you’ll need:

Gingernuts couldn’t be easier to make with just 6 ingredients! If you’re a keen vegan baker, it’s likely you’ll already have all of these ingredients lying around at home!

• Vegan margarine. This provides just the right amount of fat in this recipe. There’s not so much that it takes away the crunchy texture but it does prevent them from being dry and crumbly. Make sure to use margarine and not the blocky vegan ‘butter’. I like to use Vitalite.
• Golden syrup. This is the key ingredient to gingernuts. It provides sticky-sweet moisture and helps the biscuits to ‘snap’ when broken, without crumbling or falling apart.
• Caster sugar. Provides sweetness and crunchiness. I recommend using caster sugar if possible as the grains are a lot finer.
• Self-raising flour. Because this is an eggless biscuit dough, we use slightly less flour than usual. If you don’t have self-raising flour to hand, use 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda instead of 1/4 a teaspoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, to give the gingernuts the extra lift that they need.
• Baking soda. Also known as bicarbonate of soda, this provides some extra leavening for the biscuits. They’ll rise quickly then fall as they bake, which will help to give them that classic crinkly top.
• Ginger. The main ingredient for ginger biscuits, obviously! Make sure to use ground, dried ginger- the powdered type. I used 1 teaspoon but you can add an extra 1/2 teaspoon if you want a stronger flavour. I don’t recommend adding much more than this as it can cause the biscuits to taste bitter.

How to make vegan gingernut biscuits

Step 1:

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F (or 160°C/325°F if you’re using a fan or convection oven). Line a large tray with baking paper.

Step 2:

To a medium-sized bowl, add 40g of vegan margarine, 45g of golden syrup and 50g of caster sugar. Mix together until smooth.

Step 3:

Next, add in 100g of self-raising flour, 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and 1 teaspoon of ground, dried ginger.

Mix it into the wet mixture until it starts to stick. Then use your (clean!) hands to press it together until it comes together in a firm ball of dough.

Step 4:

Divide your dough up into 12 equal-sized pieces. I used a food scale to make sure they were all exactly the same size.

Roll each piece into a ball, place them onto your lined tray and use your fingers to flatten them slightly. The pieces of dough will look very small but will spread out and become larger as they bake.

Step 5:

Bake the biscuits for 12-15 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when they are golden all over.

They’ll be soft to the touch when they come out of the oven but will quickly firm up as they cool. I recommend leaving them on the tray until they’ve fully cooled to avoid breakage.

Once cool, enjoy alone or dunk them into a hot drink!

FAQ

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I hope you enjoy these tasty, dairy-free gingernut biscuits. If you make them yourself, please let me know how it goes by leaving a rating and/or comment below. Happy baking! xo