Vegan Gingerbread

This vegan gingerbread loaf is thick, satisfying, and full of amazing spice flavor! This is the perfect breakfast or snack treat for the holiday season. Healthy, gluten free and naturally sweetened.

With Christmas fast approaching, I find myself constantly wanting to bake alllll the things. But an important part of Christmas sweets, aside from the cookies and desserts, is breakfast!

Breakfast on Christmas morning was never a huge, special tradition in my family. We were slightly distracted by the presents, and often didn’t eat until like, noon. Now that Joe and I are starting Christmas traditions of our own, and breakfast-obsessed as we are, we knew breakfast would be an important part of our most wonderful day of the year.

When I was brainstorming a cozy, comforting, special Christmas breakfast, banana bread immediately came to mind. Surprise surprise, right? I do love bananas in any and all baked goods. But with my most favorite Christmas flavor being gingerbread, I figured this would be the perfect time to finally make an actual gingerbread loaf!

I feel like gingerbread is the quintessential Christmas flavor, but is much more often baked into cute little people, or soft cookies, than actual bread. I’m SO happy I finally experimented with a vegan gingerbread, and I may or may not be already looking forward to Christmas, just for breakfast.

Ingredients for vegan gingerbread

• Rolled oats: you’ll blend the oats to flour consistency, which will hold the pumpkin bread together. Because it’s the only grain in the recipe, the oat flour will give the bread quite a dense, rich texture – it’s not light like a cake, but hearty and satisfying.
• Pumpkin pie spice + ground ginger: these warming spices help bring out the gingerbread flavors.
• Medjool dates: you’ll blend the dates with hot water to make a paste, which gives the gingerbread natural sweetness.
• Molasses: molasses gives deep, rich flavor, which is a must for anything gingerbread.
• Ground flaxseed: you’ll make flax eggs, which add nutrition and help to thicken the batter.

Tips for making vegan gingerbread

• Measure the rolled oats before blending into flour. I always list the amount of oats used BEFORE they’re blended for flour. So in this case, you’ll measure out 2 cups of whole, rolled oats, then put those 2 cups into your blender to make flour.
• Make sure to use a nonstick or parchment-lined pan. Use a nonstick or parchment-lined pan so that the bread doesn’t stick after baking.
• Let it cool completely. Let the gingerbread cool for at least 20 minutes before flipping it out of the pan, then let it sit and cool completely before slicing. It is pretty soft and gooey as is, but will firm up during the cooling process. If you slice too early, you’ll have a mess.
• Fancy it up with some toppings. This vegan gingerbread is so good on its own, but even better with whatever toppings you love! My favorites are almond butter or a drizzle of unsweetened vegan yogurt.

The texture of this vegan gingerbread is one of my favorite parts, aside from the flavor, of course! It’s super thick, dense, and rich, not light like a cake. It’s seriously satisfying and perfect when paired with coffee or a tall glass of almond milk.

Gingerbread cookies will forever epitomize Christmas for me, but I’ll admit this vegan gingerbread may now be number one on my list of beloved gingerbread goodies. What do you guys have for breakfast on Christmas morning? I love hearing your traditions.

This vegan gingerbread is going to be our Christmas breakfast for our first year in our new home, and I have a feeling it’ll become a treasured yearly tradition.

Xo,

Sara