• In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the dairy-free butter, coconut sugar, and maple syrup for 1 minute on high speed until smooth and creamy.
• Next, beat in the almond milk, flaxseed meal, and vanilla and keep beating a few seconds until the mixture splits.
• Fold in the remaining dry ingredients: white whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, and all these gingerbread spices: ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and allspice.
• Beat again at low speed until the cookie dough forms. If too dry, add a little more milk to bring the ingredients together. It should be soft, sticky, and easy to shape into a ball.
• Divide the dough into two balls of the same size. Wrap each ball into plastic wrap tightly and slightly flatten them into a disc.
• Refrigerate the dough for 1-2 hours or overnight. Chilling is compulsory, or the dough would be fragile and gingerbread flavors not developed.

After Chilling

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line parchment paper onto two or three cookie sheets and lightly oil each with oil spray. Set aside.
• Remove one disc of chilled gingerbread cookie dough from the fridge. Flour your kitchen work surface, place the dough in front of you, sprinkle extra flour on the top, and roll into a thin disc of 1/4 inch thickness.
• Cut into shapes using a gingerbread man cookie cutter.
• Place each gingerbread man in the prepared cookie sheet leaving half a thumb of space between them. They won't expand much in the oven.
• Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) until golden brown on the edges. If your cookie cutters are smaller, they cook faster, in around 6-8 minutes. For crunchier cookies, bake for longer. For softer gingerbread cookies, cook less time.
• Let the cookies cool down for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then cool completely on a cooling rack at room temperature.

Decoration

• Use one batch of my vegan royal icing and use a pipping bag to decorate.