Healthy Gingerbread Cookies

Happy holidays!  Christmas has always been my favorite time of year.  It was a time where I took a break from everything and had a little downtime.  My family had a lot of Christmas traditions.  Decorating our tree, caroling, watching Christmas movies, and my favorite, Christmas baking!  Since I was homeschooled, my mom would give us a three week Christmas break.  My mom, sister, and I would spend days baking cookies.  My favorite cookie to make was always gingerbread.  My sister and I would take turns stirring the dough and putting the perfect little cookies on a baking sheet.  Then on Christmas Eve, my uncle would come into town and we would all have a gingerbread decorating contest--something I've yet to win...

Nevertheless, there's just something about biting into a perfectly sweet and spicy gingerbread cookie that reminds me of Christmas and my childhood.  Since my expedition to become a healthier version of myself, I haven't had gingerbread in years... Until this cookie!


Unlike most gingerbread cookies that are in the shape of little people, these are gingerbread dollops.  No flour or sticky molasses mess.  Just plop these onto a baking sheet and you're ready to go!  Also, unlike most gingerbread cookies that are heavy and dense, these are light and almost cake-like without sacrificing the soft, chewiness of gingerbread.  It's almost unbelievable that they're healthy.  Now, you can have Christmas the way it was meant to be without the leftover yuletide guilt.


Makes about 1 & 1/2 dozen cookies
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 & 3/4 cup gluten free flour

The first thing to do is melt together the "butter" and coconut oil.  If you prefer, you can use all coconut oil or all butter.  I like the taste the butter gives the cookies, but love to include coconut oil in my recipes whenever I can because of its various health qualities!

Next, add in the coconut sugar, molasses, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla extract.  Whisk everything until it comes together and becomes smooth and rich.  I love using coconut sugar as an alternative to regular cane sugar and even brown sugar!  Like the oil options, you can use all molasses or all maple syrup.  I like to use a mixture of both.  If you use too much molasses, I find gingerbread have an almost bitter and just unpleasant aftertaste.  The maple syrup gives it a lighter, smoother taste, but still gives it a lot of flavor!  I got my molasses from my local farm and found organic maple syrup at my local grocery store.  For the vanilla extract, it is important to make sure you get a bottle of PURE and corn syrup free!  

To the same mixture, stir in the baking soda, salt, spices, and flour.  The dough should be thick, but too soft to hold its shape.  I strongly encourage you to try pink Himalayan sea salt.  Most table salt gets its white color because manufacturers bleach it.  But pink Himalayan sea salt has so many health benefits and is unbleached!  As for the gluten free flour, one of my favorite brands is King Arthur All Purpose Gluten Free Flour.  I have experimented with so many types of gluten free and this one is definitely close to the top of my list!  It has everything needed to replace typical flour blended into one box.  So you don't have to worry about adding guar gum, xanthan gum, or any of that other stuff to your flour mix.

Place your bowl of dough in the refrigerator and stir every 15 minutes until it is firm and holds its shape.  While the dough is firming up, preheat your oven to 380 F.   To prepare my baking sheet, I like to line it with aluminum foil and spray it with Pam Coconut Oil Spray.  This makes clean up so much faster!

Once the dough is ready, scoop or roll cookies into uniform dollops.  Make sure to leave plenty of room between each cookie because they will spread out as the bake.  Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top and bake for 5-8 minutes.  If you want denser, chewy cookies, bake them for closer to 5 minutes.  The middle will look slightly undone, but they will set when you take them out of oven.  If you prefer lighter, cake-like cookies, leave them in for closer to 7-8 minutes. If you want something in between, like mine, bake for 6 minutes.  Let your cool for about 5-10 minutes on the pan before you move them.

Ta-da!  Now you have amazing gingerbread cookies that no one will guess are healthy and allergen free.  Challenge of the day: try not to eat all of them at once!

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know what you think in the comments and please share what your favorite Christmas cookies are! Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

-Kelsey Lynn <3