Cookie of the day · Thursday, November 5, 2026
Chewy Vegan Parkin Cookies
Everything you love about Yorkshire parkin, rolled into a cookie: dark, sticky black treacle, warm ground ginger and chewy oats under a crackly demerara top. They're made for passing around the bonfire.
- Total time
- 1 hr 20 mins
- Makes
- 18 cookies
- Oven
- 350°F
- Ingredients
- 15
Includes 30 min chill and two 12-min bake rounds.
About these cookies
Parkin is the dark, sticky oat-and-ginger cake that Yorkshire bakes for Bonfire Night, and these cookies keep all of that flavor. Black treacle gives them a deep, slightly bitter edge, and two teaspoons of ground ginger bring real warmth. The rolled oats make them properly chewy. A dip in demerara sugar gives each one a crackly, glittering top. Like the cake, they get stickier and better after a day in the tin.
Steps
- Tap a step to check it off.
Tips for success
- Use block or stick vegan butter rather than a soft tub spread. Tub spreads hold more water and can make the cookies spread thin.
- Lightly oil your tablespoon before measuring the black treacle and golden syrup so they slide right off. That way you add the full amount.
- Keep the heat low when melting the vegan butter, sugar and syrups, and take the pan off before it bubbles. Boiling turns the syrup into toffee and makes the cookies hard instead of chewy.
- Pull the cookies out while the centers still look underdone. The edges should be set and the tops crackled. Leaving them in until they look firm all over makes them crunchy once they cool.
- Don't skip the 30-minute chill. This dough is made with melted vegan butter and plenty of syrup, so it's too soft to roll at first and would spread flat in the oven.
Swaps
- Black treacle: use the same amount of unsulphured molasses. It tastes slightly lighter and fruitier. Blackstrap molasses is closest to treacle's bitter depth but can taste harsh, so use no more than half blackstrap.
- Golden syrup: use the same amount of maple syrup or light corn syrup. Maple adds its own flavor and is a bit thinner, so the cookies spread slightly more.
- Flax egg: use 1 tbsp ground chia seeds with 3 tbsp water, or 3 tbsp aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas). Chia works the same way. Aquafaba gives a slightly lighter, less chewy cookie.
- Rolled oats: use the same amount of quick oats for a softer, more even crumb. You'll get less of the nubbly oat chew.
Storing
Keep the cookies in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 5 days. Like parkin, they get stickier and chewier from the second day. Freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months, or freeze the dipped dough balls and bake them from frozen at 350°F (175°C), adding 1 to 2 minutes. To refresh day-old cookies, warm them in the 350°F (175°C) oven for 2 to 3 minutes.
This recipe was developed with AI and checked for vegan ingredients and sensible baking times, but it hasn’t been test-baked in our kitchen yet. How our recipes are made.
