Aloha and Merry Christmas! It’s so exciting to share some of my favorite recipes for celebrating the season without sacrificing good nutrition. And these scrumptious and festive grain-free gingerbread cookies are certainly a delightful and fun way to experience the joys of healthy gluten-free holiday baking.
This recipe was developed specifically so my kids (and yours too) could enjoy making gingerbread men (or “gingerbread boys & girls” as we call them) without the use of refined or processed ingredients. So not only are the cookies themselves wholesome, but I also have a fun tip for healthier decorating … Instead of decorating them with sugary icings and candies, we like to use dried fruits and nuts (see photos below).
We hope you and your family enjoy these special little cookie friends too – they truly are as fun to make as they are to eat!
Oops-Free Tip: Placing the cut-out dough in the freezer for a few minutes to allow the cookie cut-outs to harden a bit will help you to be able to get the gingerbread men off the parchment paper without losing their shape, or dismembering them – ouch!
You don’t need sugary icing to have fun with cookie decorating! Simply use your favorite nuts and dried fruits. My Dairy-Free Cookie Icing also makes a delicious, healthier way to decorate your favorite holiday cookies, cakes and other desserts.
Use scissors to cut the dried fruit into shapes like smiles and buttons. Here are some of our fun and wacky creations!
Isn’t he adorable!!! 🙂 But being cute won’t keep him from getting gobbled up – especially if he takes a little dip in a tall glass of cold almond milk first! YUM!
This delightful recipe is just one of more than 100 irresistible grain-free, dairy-free recipes in my new cookbook – Everyday Grain-Free Baking!
From breads, biscuits and muffins to savory snacks and decadent treats, you’ll find step-by-step instructions, beautiful color photographs and helpful tips & tidbits to make all of your GF baking adventures a delicious success!
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas! Joyfully serving HIM, Kelly
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 3 tbsp butter, melted (if DF, omit butter & increase coconut oil to 1/4 cup)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 2 tbsp organic unsulfured molasses
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the almond flour, spices, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, blend together the butter, coconut oil, molasses and maple syrup until creamy.
- Then, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until thoroughly blended. Refrigerate dough at least one hour.
- Once dough is chilled, divide in half. Place one half of the dough on a large sheet of parchment paper on your kitchen counter (be sure to form it into a tightly compressed dough ball) and keep the other half of the dough in the bowl and return to the frig to keep chilled.
- Place another sheet of parchment paper over the dough ball and pat down a bit with your hand to flatten the dough and then roll it out to 1/4 inch thick.
- Remove the top sheet of parchment and use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut shapes in the dough, but do not try to remove the gingerbread boys from the parchment paper. Instead, slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and place in freezer for a few minutes to allow cookie cut-outs to harden a bit. This will help you to be able to get the gingerbread men off the parchment paper without losing their shape or dismembering them – ouch!
- While you're waiting for the dough to harden, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Then, take out the other half of the chilled dough from the frig and place it on a large sheet of parchment paper and repeat above steps to roll out and cut shapes in the dough. By the time you do this, the cut-out dough in the freezer will be ready for the final steps listed below.
- Once the cut-out dough has hardened up a bit, remove it from the freezer and gently separate your gingerbread boys from the dough and place the little guys onto a sheet of clean parchment paper for decorating.
- Then, decorate the gingerbread boys using your favorite dried fruits and nuts, as shown in photos above.
- Finally, slide the parchment paper with the decorated gingerbread boys onto a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 7-10 minutes (see note below about bake time). Allow to cool for 3-4 minutes on the baking sheet before removing and placing on a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Place the dough scraps from your cut-outs into a bowl and place back in frig. Then, remove your second sheet of cut-out dough from the freezer and follow above steps for decorating and baking.
- Finally, form all of the remaining dough scraps into a dough ball and repeat the steps for rolling and cutting the dough as listed above. YUM!
Notes
Baking Tip: Bake time depends on the size of your gingerbread boys! If larger, they’ll take longer, if smaller they will bake more quickly. So be sure to carefully watch your first batch in the oven. (For reference, I use a 3.5” cookie cutter.)
Storage Tip: These cookies are best served within an hour or so of baking since almond flour cookies tend to soften the longer they sit at room temp. However, a simple trick to re-crisp virtually any homemade almond flour cookie is to reheat them on a parchment-lined baking sheet in a 195 degree oven for about 6-10 minutes. Then allow them to cool and enjoy! They also freeze great and there's no need to defrost - you can enjoy them frozen right from the frig. YUM!
, melted
or electric hand mixer, mix together the melted butter, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla, until smooth and creamy.
. Keep other half of dough in bowl and return to the frig to stay cold.
lined with parchment paper. Form scrap-dough into ball and place back in fridge to re-chill.
