Combine ground flax seed with water and in a small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. This makes a flax egg.
While that's sitting, in a large bowl, beat together vegan butter, brown sugar and molasses until creamy, about 3 minutes.
When flax egg is ready, add that and vanilla to the bowl and beat again.
Add in flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
Stir these together with a spatula until combined.
Use hands to form 2 equal size balls.
Lay down a piece of parchment paper, then one ball, then another same size piece of parchment paper on top.
Roll out dough to ¼" thick.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cut out gingerbread men or other desired shapes. Transfer cut outs to a baking sheet.
Place in oven and cook for 9-11 minutes. Shorter time for smaller cut outs, longer time for bigger cut outs. Remove and transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing.
Repeat with remaining ball of dough.
Decorate as desired. We recommend our vegan royal icing to decorate these dairy free gingerbread cookies.