Hey hi hello and HAPPY HOLIDAYS my friends! It’s been quite a year for me (AKA busy AF) so with work starting to temporarily slow down a little now that we are nearing the end of the year I am trying to make time to do some things I haven’t had time to do, one of which is baking!

I used to bake quite a bit when I had more time on my hands but these days I have been in hustle + creator mode which has left little time for fun things like baking (which is so therapeutic and meditative honestly!)

I actually wasn’t planning to bake but I was cruising Amazon last week and came across gingerbread cookie cutters that are doing YOGA so I had to snag them and try my hand at some holiday cookies! Soooooo to get me in the holiday spirit I decided to finally try creating a gingerbread cookie recipe but in true Shayla fashion I had to be extra AF about it so I made it not only vegan, but also gluten-free and packed with PLANT-BASED PROTEIN! YASSSS! Balance baby!

These healthy-ish cookies are soooooo yummy – I am so proud of how this recipe turned out! Super clean ingredients and no refined sugar (unless you top it with vegan icing, but ya know, YOLO!)

I filmed the whole recipe creation for my YouTube channel which you can watch by clicking below! I nearly had an epic fail trying to make the gingerbread men (you’ll see when you watch the video, it was very stressful there for a minute lol) but I figured it out + made 2 styles of cookies to show you how to make each one: circular fluffy gingerbread cookies + yogi gingerbread men .

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Vegan + GF gingerbread protein cookies ingredient list:

• GF + vegan all purpose baking flour: heaping 1/2 cup (roughly 112g)
• Vanilla plant-based protein powder: heaping 1/4 cup (roughly 60g)
• Oat Flour: heaping 1/4 cup (roughly 60g)
• Cinnamon: 2 TSP.
• Ground ginger: 2 TSP.
• Ground cloves: 1/4 TSP.
• Allspice: 1/4 TSP.
• Baking soda: 1 TSP.
• Pink salt: 1/4 TSP.
• Unsweetened almond milk: 1/2 cup (roughly 4 ounces)
• Water: 1/2 cup (roughly 4 ounces)
• Unsweetened apple sauce: heaping 1/3 cup (roughly 122g)
• Ground flax meal: just ender 1/4 cup (roughly 22g)
• Unsulphured molasses: 2 TBSP.
• Vanilla extract: 1/2 TSP.
• Vanilla stevia sweet drops: 10-20 drops

Vegan + GF gingerbread protein cookies baking instructions:

First mix the GF + V all purpose baking flour, vanilla plant-based protein powder, oat flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, salt, cloves and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl then set aside.

Then in a separate smaller bowl mix the almond milk, water, apple sauce, vanilla extract, stevia, molasses and flax meal together.

Combine all ingredients in your large mixing bowl and mix until completely combined!

Place gooey mixture in a sheet of parchment paper that is lightly covered in flour and wrap into a ball then place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour THIS IS A MAJOR STEP! The dough needs to chill or else it will be too gooey to work with! If you are doing circular cookies an hour in the fridge is good, but you will need to chill the dough longer if you are going to use cookie cutters! The longer the better, I’d say up to 24 hours!

When you’re ready to bake your cookies preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place your cookies on the sheet // bake for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven!

Allow your cookies to cool completely before decorating – these cookies have a fluffier softer texture to them and are DIVINE plain or with vegan icing on top!

If you make these amazing cookies let me know!!! I want to know what you think! I hope you enjoy this recipe… happy holidays my loves !!!! .