In a large bowl, cream together the vegan butter and sugar. Add the molasses and water and mix until incorporated.
Sift the dry ingredients together and stir into the wet ingredients gradually. Mix well then work with your hands to form a smooth dough.
Cover and chill for a minimum of 1 hour (preferably overnight) for easy rolling and to let the spice settle.
Rolling
Once chilled, preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a ¼ inch thickness (6 mm). Dip your cookie cutters in flour before cutting out cookies from the dough and placing them on the prepared baking sheet. Brush off any excess flour on the cookies.
Baking
Place the cookies in the preheated oven and bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until the edges are starting to darken slightly. Do not overbake.
Cool completely before decorating the cookies with royal icing, buttercream or sprinkles. Enjoy!
Notes
Vegan butter: I use Becel Plant-Based bricks for the butter but you can use any firm vegan butter in block form like Flora. This recipe does work with vegetable shortenings like Crisco or even margarine but you might have a bit more spreading. Salt: If you are using salted margarine, you can skip the additional salt in the recipe.Scoopable cookies: To make scoopable cookies, add 60g (¼ cup) of water to the wet ingredients.