Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies #getting me through the holidays

Hey Guys,
So as you may know, this was my first holiday season without gluten...and it was supposed to be without processed sugar. Hmmmmm, don't want to hit all my goals in 2016, gotta save something for next year!

Anyways, seriously, I wouldn't have made it through the holidays without this recipe. It was just the right amount of sweet and festive to get me through the holiday parties. I adapted this recipe from Megan over at Detoxinista. As usual, I had to fiddle with it and make it my own. Feel free to do the same!

Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
Makes 12-15 small cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups almond meal I used this kind and love it! (almond flour doesn't give as good a texture but will do in a pinch)
1/4 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon clove
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons melted ghee
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon molasses

Extra arrowroot or tapioca starch, for rolling & cutting (If you want to go to all that trouble)


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl combined the almond meal, starch, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and stir to combine. Add in the ghee, maple syrup and molasses and stir again until a sticky dough is formed.

Since, I was the only one eating these, I didn't waste time making them pretty. I found you could plop them by the spoonful on the cookie sheet, pat them flat and it worked just fine.

Another option I liked was flattening out all the dough into a small parchment lined cookie sheet, scoring it into squares, and baking. Then when it was done baking and cooling for a bit, I would break them into pieces more like crackers. I cooked them the same amount of time and on the same temperature when I did this.

But in case you want to be pretty and festive and make cut out cookies:
then place the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes to help it firm up. (Or you could place it in the fridge overnight, if you want to make this a day in advance.) Place the dough in the center of a large piece of parchment paper and sprinkle it with a bit of arrowroot or tapioca starch to help prevent sticking. Using a rolling pin to roll the dough into a flat sheet, about 1/4-inch thick. Dip your cookie cutters into a bit of the starch, then press them into the dough to create each cookie. Pull away the excess dough to reveal each shape, and re-roll the dough to create more shapes.

Which ever way you choose to do it, bake on 350 for 12-14 min.

I loved these so much it was hard to keep from eating the whole batch in 24 hrs. To be fair, it only makes 12 small cookies....ok...but I guess that's a bit excessive for 24 hrs.
Did I mention I used to be addicted to sugar? (LOL!)
 This is a far cry from what I used to eat at Christmas, so I'll count myself as doing AWESOME! ha ha ha ha ha!!!