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Soft, chewy, and bursting with warming spices, these festive gingerbread cookies are the perfect way celebrate the season!
Here’s why you’re going to L❤️VE these cookies:
- They’re made with wholesome, clean eating ingredients.
- The dough is incredibly easy to make.
- Start to finish, this recipe can be made in under 30 minutes!
- This recipe hits a lot of “sweet” spots in that it’s:
- ✔️ gluten-free
- ✔️ egg-free
- ✔️ dairy-free
- ✔️ vegetarian-friendly
- ✔️ paleo-friendly
- It’s made using raw honey and coconut sugar, both of which are natural sweeteners.
- The combination of spices makes these cookies burst with warming flavors.
- Since this recipe is egg-free, you can sample the dough before baking to get an idea of the flavor and adjust the sweetness and spices to suit your personal preference.
- It’s healthy enough to enjoy as a breakfast option as well as a snack or dessert!
- These cookies make a fantastic seasonal gift or take-home treat for friends and family 🎁
To make our cookies we’ll need the following ingredients:
- Almond Flour: You can use blanched or unblanched almond flour. today I’m using unblanched which is also known as almond meal.
- Raw Honey: This is our main sweetener. The viscosity of honey acts as both a binder and helps our cookies to have their chewy texture.
- Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is our main fat in our cookie that adds both moisture and helps our cookie to be soft.
- Coconut Sugar: the caramel undertones of coconut sugar gives great flavor to our cookies.
- Salt: I’m using a pink Himalayan salt but you can also use a sea salt.
- Baking Powder: This touch of rising agent helps to add texture and softness to our cookies.
- Vanilla Extract: The flavor of vanilla adds a wonderful depth to our cookies that you shouldn’t omit.
- Spices: We’re using 4 ground (powdered) spices to flavor our cookies, they include:
- ground nutmeg.
- ground ginger.
- ground cinnamon.
- ground clove.
No Molasses? What if I’m Vegan?
While these cookies are amazingly delicious without molasses, molasses is a common/traditional ingredient that pairs well with the spices of gingerbread. With that being said, you absolutely can substitute the honey for molasses. In doing so, it makes this recipe vegan-friendly and you get the added benefit of having the depth of flavor of the sweet and bitter notes within molasses. If you do opt to substitute, I recommend using unsulphured molasses over the blackstrap variety.
Here’s how to make these wonderfully spiced cookies:
Into a bowl we’ll combine our dry ingredients (almond flour, coconut sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices) together. To it, add in the coconut oil, honey, and vanilla extract and work it into a dough.
Your dough will be soft and slightly crumbly – more so if you opted to use unblanched almond flour.
To make your dough easier to work with, roll it into a log that’s about 2″ – 2.5″ thick and wrap it into parchment paper and place it into the fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes.
Once chilled, your dough will be easier to cut and work with. Slice the log into 36 rounds using a clean, sharp knife, and place them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, being sure to leave spaces between each cookie to account for spread while baking.
Tip: Try to cut your slices as evenly as possible to ensure even cooking as thinner ones will cook much faster (and may even burn) compared to ones that are thicker.
Pop the tray into the oven for about 10 minutes or until your cookies are browned and the tops are a little crackled.
It really is as simple as that! Straight out of the oven your cookies will be soft, but as they cool they will firm up and set into a chewy cookie.
Chewy Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched almond flour or unblanched
- 2 tbsp organic coconut sugar
- ¼ tsp Himalayan salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground clove
- ⅓ cup honey (or unsulphured molasses)
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl (almond flour, coconut sugar, salt, baking soda, spices).
- Add the coconut oil, vanilla extract and honey to the dry ingredients and combine until a soft dough forms.
- Shape the dough into a log that is about 2" - 2.5" thick, wrap it in parchment paper and chill it for 10 minutes (or more if needed until it's set and firmed up).
- Once the dough is chilled enough to be handled, cut into 36 even slices and place each round onto a parchment lined baking tray, leaving about 1" between each cookie on all sides to compensate for spread.
- Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10-12 minutes, or until you see the edges leading to the bottom beginning to brown slightly.
- Remove the tray from the oven, your cookies will be soft, leave them on the tray to cool and set.
- Store your cookies in an airtight container or cookie tin at room temperature or in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze your uncooked cookie dough log for up to two months before use.
Notes
- Substitute the honey for unsulphured molasses to make this recipe vegan-friendly or for a more traditional gingerbread flavor. Note that the molasses will alter the color of the dough so keep an eye on your cookies while baking since the darker dough makes it difficult to tell when they're done.
- Using whole almond flour (aka unblanched or almond meal) makes the dough softer. Blanched almond flour is preferred for this recipe to yield the best results but cookies made using whole almond flour will still come out tasting great.
- At first the cookies will be soft as they come out the oven but they do firm up as they cool and set into a chewy texture.
- The nutritional information is calculated for a serving of 2 cookies out of a batch of 36 rounds.
