Paleo Gingerbread Cut-Outs

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.

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

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.