Delicious Ginger Bread

Gingerbread is an absolute favourite around here but most of the delicious recipes are packed full of refined flour, sugar and poor quality fats and dairy. Not to say these aren’t delicious but when you are eating the quantities we do then you need a healthier option for sure!    

These cookies taste just like traditional recipes—but they come with none of the guilt! 

Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 165g whole wheat spelt flour (or regular wheat if you cannot get hold of spelt)
• ¾ tsp corn flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp salt
• 40gm coconut oil or unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly (coconut oil will produce a firmer cookie)
• 1 vegan egg (1 tbs flaxseed meal with 3 tbs of warm water and let it sit for a couple of minutes to absorb most of the water) or 1 large egg
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup (60mL) black strap molasses or honey  
• 1tbs of coconut sugar or 1 tsp vanilla creme stevia 

Icing:

• 10 tsp confectioners style stevia
• 2 tsp rice milk

or your alternative cookie icing mixture

Instructions: 

1. To prepare the cookies, whisk together the flour, corn flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil/butter, flax egg /egg, and vanilla extract. Stir in the molasses and vanilla crème stevia. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Transfer the dough to the center of a large sheet of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1”-tall rectangle. Cover the top with another large sheet of plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour to make it easier to handle. 
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line two baking trays with baking paper. 
3. Leaving the cookie dough between the sheets of plastic wrap, roll it out until ⅛” thick. Lightly flour your cookie cutter, and press it into the dough, making sure each shape lies as close to its neighbors as possible to minimize unused dough. Peel the unused dough away from the shapes, and place them onto the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the unused dough, and repeat.
4. Bake the cut out cookie dough at 180°C for 8-10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To prepare the icing, stir together the confectioner’s style stevia and milk in a small bowl. Spoon into a zip-topped bag, and snip off the corner. Pipe onto the cooled cookies.

The cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to two days. If the cookie dough has been chilled for longer than an hour, it may need to “thaw” a little on the counter for a few minutes before rolling.

Be careful about re-rolling the scraps of cookie dough more than twice. If you re-roll the scraps too many times, the cookie dough becomes tough and the baked cookies won’t have the same soft and chewy texture.

Leftover cookies without icing will keep for at least five days if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Leftover cookies with icing will keep for at least a week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Why I give this recipe 5 stars!

1. Fibre rich and low glycaemic index (meaning lower risk of sugar highs!) ingredients: wholemeal flour and flaxseed
2. Molassess is naturally high in iron and rich in essential minerals!
3. Coconut oil and flaxseed meal provide us with healthy fats
4. This recipe is vegan option! Ripper – so dairy and egg free if you do not tolerate them well
5. Great for those with intolerances to common wheat flour. The gluten found in spelt flour is often ore easier digested than common wheat flour
6. The spices in these biscuits are ‘warming’ in quality so are great digestive aids

 

ENJOY!! and don't forget to show us your photo's!