I know it's way past Christmas, but winter is not over here in New England. My daughter really wanted to make gingerbreads, and we had not make them yet this year. I had to think about what I would do for a recipe - I knew I wanted no dairy, refined sugar, or wheat - so that we could eat them together as a family and they would be semi-healthy. I used the oatmeal cookie recipe as a guide in the "Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook," which is excellent by the way and you will have to get the book or borrow it from the library to try it. However, here is my version for gingerbread cookies.
1/2 c. vegetable shortening (make sure it doesn't have soy...try Spectrum's brand)
1/4 c. molasses
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla
Cream the above 4 ingredients with an electric mixer.
1/2 c. rye flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1 c. oat flour
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
Stir into creamed mixture. I used a little of the dough at a time to roll out on a generously floured (I used oat) surface, then cut out my little gingerbread people. We decorated the cookies with raisins and unsweetened coconut. Bake about 7-8 minutes on 350 degrees.
6 comments:
These sound wonderful. I swear I am really going to use a lot of your tips/blog when I have a family!!! My chief problem is de-roaching my kitchen these days. BUT I did make a KILLER red lentil soup with seasoned with home-make garam masala two nights ago. Turned out amazing!
I enjoyed reading your "about me". Found you through "Health Treks". Great you found out about your husbands and daughter's allergies! You look great.
Oh I'm excited, I've been looking for a gingerbread cookie recipe since last year! Do these turn out soft or crunchy?
They are a little crunchy, but mostly soft I would say; you can experiment with different flours (if you use GF flours, try adding about 1/2 t. xanthan gum). The flours you use and how thin you are able to roll the cookies will depend on the consistency. I've found that if you use GF flours (buckwheat/brown rice) and add the xanthan gum, they are chewey; if you use like quinoa flour or oat flour (higher protein) they can be rolled thinner and are a little more crunchy. Also; if you use honey for the sweetener, they are more chewy.
Thank you very much. Now I have another question (sorry).I've heard before that honey makes things chewy, do you know if agave nectar does the same? My daughter sensitive to honey but we love a good chewy texture. Thank you again for your time :)
Agave Nectar or Brown Rice Syrup will work too in place of honey. Again, I've found sort of the secret to "chewyness" is to add a little xanthan gum or also I've noticed "Better Than Milk Rice Milk Powder" works good too, and make the cookies sweet and very chewy (they sort of tend to "puff" in the oven). I think it is due to xanthan gum already in the Rice Milk Powder. I just add about 2 T. - 1/4 c. when you add the flour (when cooking with GF flours, and not with the liquid, otherwise the liquid sweetner seems to turn all goey). If you're using wheat flour or a gluten flour, you might not need much, but a little might make them more "chewy." Have fun experimenting.
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