- 6 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 pinches ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 3/4 cup applesauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup liquid egg substitute (such as Egg Beaters®)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease several baking sheets. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger in a bowl; set aside.
- Beat together 1 cup white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, butter, canola oil, applesauce, water, egg substitute, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until evenly combined. Stir in the flour mixture to make a soft, thick, not-very-sticky dough. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Stir 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon together with 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
- Roll the dough on a heavily floured surface to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets, and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden, and the bottoms are slightly darker than the tops, 9 to 11 minutes. Remove the cookies from the baking sheets immediately, and place on a wire rack to cool. After 10 minutes of cooling, they should be hard, like typical gingerbread cookies, but still slightly bendable, and soft on the inside.