My kids absolutely love ginger bread (and I will admit I'm rather keen on it too!), making gingerbread cookies together is a Christmas tradition, my kids love using the cookie cutters to make all sorts of festive shapes. But when my son became gluten free this became an issue as most gingerbread have gluten (and lots of sugar). So I went in search of a recipe I could use to let me son enjoy his Christmas gingerbread, this recipe is adapted from one I found by Deliciously Ella, but to make it more kid friendly my version is more gently spiced and easier to roll out and cut so the kids can get involved. I hope you enjoy!
These cookies are gluten free, but if you are not avoiding gluten you can use plain flour instead. They are also dairy free.
What is also great is that they are high in healthy fats from the nuts, this helps to balance any blood sugar spikes from the maple syrup and also to keep your kids (or you!) fuller for longer.
Recipe:
Makes around 12 gingerbread shapes depending on the size of your cutters.
120g pecan nuts
120g walnuts
200g of gluten free flour (we use buckwheat)
2 tsp ginger
100ml maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp coconut oil
50ml water
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F.
Add the nuts to a food processor and blitz until a flour consitency forms. Then add the remaining ingredients and process until you have a dough.
This dough may be slightly sticky so mae sure to dust your surface or baking sheet well with flour. Roll out the dough onto a clean flour dusted surface or a baking sheet and roll out to around 1/2 cm thick.
Use cookie cutters to create your shapes. And lay on a baking tray lined with baking parchment or the baking sheet previously used. Bake for 12-15 minutes until gloden brown.
Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Enjoy!