My favorite Christmas cookie? Gingerbread. Chewy ones! In truth, I made this gluten free, reduced fat, dairy free, naturally sweetened Rotten Recipe Revamp below to save myself from gaining self-indulgent holiday chub, as much as my friends, family and clients!
Spend five minutes with Byron or I, and you’ll learn we’re obsessed with our dogs, Mojo + Loki! FYI: This is an old recipe pre-dating Loki, so please don’t think us the horrible parents who only celebrate the first baby!
The most striking features of our Vizsla Ridgeback rescue is his gorgeous satiny ruby coat…so we frequently call him GINGER BEAST. When I thought of creating a healthier version of my favorite cookie, my obsession clearly peaked…I made a few stars and a few trees to celebrate Christmas, but kept maniacally cutting more and more doughy Mojos. And, besides reindeer antlers, what could possibly be more festive fun to paint on your Ginger Beast cookies than ugly Christmas sweaters?
INGREDIENTS
As always, please choose organic, sustainable ingredients for YOUR health!
1/3 cup butter (or other fat solid at room temperature)*
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1 cup monk fruit sweetener
1 egg + 3 egg whites (liquid whites from carton 100% work too!)
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup vanilla plant-based protein powder – Try ** ORGAIN SIMPLE!
1 1/2 cup gluten free flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ Tbsp ginger
1 ½ Tbsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp allspice
3/4 tsp cloves
LIKE IT SPICY? 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne [Omit if making cookies for kiddos ].
SUGAR FREE ICING http://www.fitnessandfuel-la.com/2014/12/sugar-free-icing/
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, coconut sugar, monkfruit sweetener + molasses for 1 minute on medium until smooth and creamy. Beat in egg, eggwhites + vanilla on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
In separate bowl, whisk together protein powder, gluten free flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves + optional cayenne together until combined. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until combined. Divide dough in three place 1/3 onto large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap each tightly and flatten down to create a disc shape. Chill discs for 3 hours minimum so they roll out easily. Warm dough is a sticky mess!
Preheat oven to 350°F, ideally on Convect setting if available. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Set aside.
Remove 1 disc of chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator. Next, we’re gonna roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness. You can do the typically flour surface method, or, the Whitney Method: Roll dough out in the plastic wrap!
Use cookie cutters of choice*** + cut out shapes. Place cookies 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Re-roll scraps until all the dough is shaped. Bake cookies 6-8 minutes.
While first batch is baking roll out next dough disc + place on baking sheet. Repeat with 3rd. Once cooled, decorate cookies as desired. Store in cookie tin for 1 week at room temperature or 2 weeks in fridge.
Decorate as desired with Sugar Free Icing.
*I know! When have you ever seen ME cook with butter?! However, when baking cookies that need to be rolled out + cut into shapes, we must use a fat that’s able to maintain solid form at room temperature. Clearly, I make a million upgrades to traditional recipes in order to make them healthier…lower fat, higher protein, lower to no sugar added…all ratios must be considered so that we can still maintain integrity of the original recipe. In this case, we’ve already reduced fat by about 50% of traditional gingerbread cookies. Added a few egg whites as a high protein effort to compensate for lost moisture, but I’ve restrained myself as we want cookies vs a fluffy angel food cake! Roll out cookies are labor-intensive + temperamental to begin with. Speaking from experience, using a fat like coconut oil that melts at room temperature renders dough so soft it’s next to impossible to work with. Literally everything + stretches out + tears when you try to place cookies on baking sheet. Only way to potentially make coconut oil work is by increasing flour substantially, which as you know, unfortunately undoes our efforts to reduce carbs.
** Use code: FFLA for 30% off discount on 1st purchase at ORGAIN.COM
*** I used a really basic dog shape found at Surfas in Culver City, likely a Labrador, and pulled the legs a bit to make them longer and make the Ginger Beasts leaping. Funny enough, there’s a number of dog breeds whose likeness has been captured in these cookie cutters. Unfortunately, Mojo’s Rhodesian Ridgeback roots cannot be found, and he was insulted by the Vizsla shape which looked bloated and judging by the small head, had a pituitary problem!
