Gingerbread Cookies
It's that wonderful time of the year again! To me, Christmas means spending time with my loved ones, enjoying each other's company and of course cooking and eating delicious food together. Sadly, many traditional Christmas foods are made with animal products. But the good news is that there are cruelty-free alternatives for everything, that are just as delicious (and often much healthier!) than the original versions!
Being from Switzerland, it's kind of a family tradition that Mum bakes Christmas cookies with me and my sister in the time leading up to Christmas. Not only is it bounds of fun, but they also make great gifts for friends and family! This year, I veganized all of our traditional cookie recipes, and they sure went down a treat!
Gingerbread has always been one of my favourites and I admit I add gingerbread spices to pretty much everything I can. I came up with this vegan Gingerbread Cookie recipe and I can't get enough of them! Slightly soft, slightly crunchy, sweet and spicy just like I remembered them to be. And they also happen to be gluten free, oil free and refined sugar free, packed with fibre and nutrients, such as iron and calcium, and really easy to make. Doesn't get much better than that, right?
I hope you enjoy making and eating these cookies as much as I did, cut them into all your favourite shapes and go a little crazy with the icing! Happy Christmas to all of you beautiful people!
Ingredients
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp cacao powder
2/3 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup backstrap molasses
2/3 cup apple sauce
1 tsp natural vanilla extract or powder
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
zest of 1 orange, finely grated
Method
In a bowl, sift together the flour, spices, baking powder and baking soda
Blend the dates in a food processor to form a paste, then stir in the vanilla, apple cider vinegar, applesauce, molasses and orange zest
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until a soft but firm dough forms, then cover and place in the fridge to rest for at least 1-2 hours
Preheat the oven 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough so it's around 0.5 cm thick, then cut out shapes with cookie cutters of your choice!
Place on the tray and bake for about 10 minutes
Allow to cool completely on a rack before icing (optional, but not really!)
Enjoy!
Optional Icing: To ice these cookies I usually just use a simple icing of stevia blended into a very fine powder to make 'icing sugar' then mixed with a little almond milk. Other options are using tahini or coconut cream mixed with a little sweetener of your choice!
Notes
Most flours will also work great for this recipe, so feel free to change it up - although the texture may change slightly!
Store in a sealed contained and best eaten within a couple of days
