For the fifth day of 12 days of cookies, we’ve got a recipe featuring what’s quite possibly the most Christmas-y cookie of them all: gingerbread! It comes to use from Liz King of Bliss in the Kitchen, whose website and Instagram are a must-see if you love nutritious food and cooking advice. We’ll let Liz take it away…
From Liz: Growing up, the smell of cookies filled our home at this time of year. My mom would invite each one of my 5 siblings and me to bake any kind of cookie we dreamed of. I’m sure you can imagine, that’s a lot of cookies! Here is my simple gingerbread recipe: it’s kid-friendly to bake and takes just a few steps. It’s also lightweight enough for Santa to enjoy more than one!
Gingerbread Cookies
What you’ll need:
For the gingerbread:
3 cups sprouted spelt flour or all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup unsalted butter or vegan butter
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons agave syrup
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or other milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon ground vanilla bean pod
For the light icing:
1/4 cup monk fruit sugar or confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or other milk
For the dark icing:
One 2.1 oz. bar Hu Kitchen salted dark chocolate
What to do:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice.
To another bowl, add butter, molasses, agave, coconut sugar, and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer on medium speed until well-combined.
Slowly fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients, adding about a quarter of the dry mixture at a time and scraping down the sides to evenly incorporate. Transfer resulting dough to a large piece of parchment paper and top with another piece of paper. Use a rolling pin to roll dough to about 1/4″ thick. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes from the chilled dough and place on a silicon mat or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned, 8–9 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes after baking, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
While cookies cool, whisk together light icing ingredients in a bowl. Melt the chocolate for the dark icing.
Once cookies are completely cool, pipe or drizzle icings onto cookies to decorate. Icing will harden when left to dry.
P.S. Enter the 12 Days of Cookies giveaway for the chance to win a $100 FreshDirect gift card. Head to the giveaway post on the @freshdirect Instagram and tag a friend in the comments to submit your entry. See the full contest rules here.
Also, don’t forget to show us what you’re baking this holiday season! Use the hashtag #FD12DaysOfCookies on Instagram.