My husband and kids are in love with these gingerbread cut-out cookies. Out of the oven, they have a crisp outside with a soft chewy middle (unfortunately the crispy outside goes away after a day), a perfect texture for cut-outs. They also hold together extremely well, so I think they would even work if you wanted to make a gingerbread house with them (you’d have to adjust the cooking time for bigger pieces).
These are not too sweet (my husband describes them as “sweet enough, but not super sweet”), which is perfect if you want to add some sweeter decorations and great for those of us who have been eating Paleo a while.
You could decorate with gluten-free cookie frostings, dried fruit, gluten-free candy, sugar decorations, melted and drizzled chocolate, or chocolate chips. I decorated my little gingerbread men with Enjoy Life brand mini chocolate chips (thanks to Bill and Haley from Food Lover’s Kitchen for the idea, and here’s a link to their gingerbread recipe for anyone who wants to try a different version). I simply placed the chocolate chips on the gingerbread fairly fresh out of the oven and still warm. The chocolate chips melted just enough to stick to the cookies (these didn’t stack terribly well in a cookie jar though). If you wanted to use something more like candies or sugar decorations, you can place those on the gingerbread men (or whatever shape you choose) before putting in the oven.
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Yield: 2 dozen 3” gingerbread men
Ingredients:
- ½ cups palm shortening (you could substitute unsalted butter)
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 egg whites
- 3 cups blanched almond flour
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp cloves
- Mini chocolate chips for decorating
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Place all ingredients (except decorations) in a bowl and mix until thoroughly combined (or use a standing mixer). Dough will be very stiff. Let the dough sit for 20 minutes (room temperature is okay) before rolling out.
- Pour dough onto a rolling mat or piece of parchment paper. Roll out to ¼” thick. Cut with cookie cutters and use a pastry knife or scraper to move cookies onto a cookie sheet (unless you’re lucky enough to have them stick to the inside of the cookie cutter for transferring). Repeat until all your dough is used up. If your dough is being difficult, try chilling it before rolling. If decorating with candies or dried fruit, do so before putting in the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack as soon as they are out of the oven. If decorating with chocolate chips, do so immediately. If decorating with melted chocolate or frosting wait until they have cooled.
Hypothetical Gingerbread Man Decorating Frosting: Okay, so I haven’t actually tried this. But, I mapped out a recipe based on traditional sugar cookie frosting, basically subbing out the icing sugar for a mix of powdered regular sugar and arrowroot powder. This would be something you could use to glue a gingerbread house together or do some pretty awesome cookie decoration. I normally don’t share recipes I haven’t tested out, but I thought some of you might like to try this. If you do, please comment and let me know how it works. I think if any adjustment is needed to this frosting recipe, it will be the addition of another 1 Tbsp of arrowroot powder.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup sugar (white sugar will give you the whitest frosting)
- 1 egg white
- 2 Tbsp arrowroot powder
- Generous pinch of cream of tartar
Blend sugar in a food processor or blender for 2-3 minutes until if forms a fine powder. Add sugar to rest of the ingredients. Beat with a hand mixer for 7-8 minutes until stiff. Add food coloring if desired. Use a piping bag to decorate. Store any leftovers with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the frosting.
Guest Post by Dr. Laura Davies: Bringing Paleo to Your Doctor
Do you happen to have an AI-Paleo version of this recipe?!
Thanks!
Sorry, I haven’t worked on an AIP-friendly version yet.
Not familiar with palm shortening..dairy free? Where do I find it, Trader Joes or whole foods? THX!
I buy mine from Tropical Traditions… Not sure if Whole Foods carries it.
http://secure.ttpurchase.com/2C250CEB-1E0B-90B3-0EB83071F747819A
They do. Reg flavor and butter.
Target had it!
Spectrum has some. I buy it from Fred Meyer/Kroger’s in the Nutrition Center.
These were great! I used the leftover scraps to make gingersnaps which were awesome!
Hi. I love your website. May I ask if you can recommend anything instead of the egg whites, apple sauce, chia eggs, etc?
Thanks!
Maybe flax or chia? I haven’t tried.
These turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
Im in the process of trying and my mixture is very crumbly??? adding 1 more egg white and a little more butter, but not really holding? can you help?
Warmer temperature maybe?
Just curious about why you use egg whites instead of whole eggs, which I would prefer. Would that cause a problem with the recipe?
Just for baking chemistry to get a firmer cookie…
Thanks for your quick reply. I’ll do it your way.
Any particular reason I shouldn’t attempt this without the coconut flour?
You’d have to adjust if dry ingredients… but it’s worth trying.
I’ve been experimenting with plantains as a baking substitute for the flours forbidden on AIP and I’m wondering if anyone else has tried this approach. I’ve had good success with crackers, some “cookies”, and really great success with using plantain for tamales and empanadas. I’m considering dehydrating/grinding flour – has anyone tried this? How did it work? Could it be used as a flour substitute in a recipe like this?
These are DEEEElicious! The dough was amazing in its own right, and the baked cookies are delicious too! =) Thank you!
Do you think ener-g egg replacer could be used in this recipe?
I don’t have any experience using it, so I don’t know.
Can coconut oil be used instead of the palm shortening?
I loved these! I have been noticing that coconut flour can make things a little salty– anyone else notice this? If so, also wondering if whatever salt the coconut flour has would be enough for the baking soda and so I could just omit the additional salt? Would love to hear from others who have noticed the same thing.
Thanks for all the great recipes!
-CK
http://cookingupkefi.com/2013/12/13/protein-packed-gingerbread-and-gin-laced-champagne/
I made your cookies with my boys tonight and they came out beautifully. I was able to only get 2 dozen out of them but it was enough for my parents and our family of 5. I did try your frosting recipe and it was perfect! I only had tapioca on hand so I used that and did add a tsp of vanilla. I will continue to use this recipe forever!!! Thank you 🙂
🙂 our endeavor was a bit less successful than others–we had a lot of crumbles! I think I might add a date or two next time to keep the dough a bit more together! Also, using parchment paper on the cookie sheets helped. The family loves them–we had a blast–which is what matters most! Baking Christmas Cookies continues on 🙂 Thank you!
Could I use maple syrup instead of molassas?
Yes, but it would definitely change the flavor.
Going to try these tomorrow, I’m so excited to have a Paleo version of one of my kids’ favorite Christmas cookies! Thank you so much!
Always enjoy getting your posts in my inbox…especially the recipes!!! 😉
I came across this recipe but wondering if there is another option for the molasses (something similar in flavour) as my son has a sensitivity to it.
I would really like to see more AIP weekly recipes! Otherwise, really like your newsletters, books, etc.
I’m allergic to almonds. What would work as a sub for the almond flour?
I often sub chestnut flour for almond flour. It’s a little more expensive, but less nutty. Almond flour makes my mouth hurt, but chestnut flour seems to be ok. I’ll be trying this within the next couple of days and I will report back.
I made these out of pumpkin and bat shapes for a fall version. Thank you so much for the recipe. My kids loved them!