You’d think “cookies” would be a pretty agreeable subject matter… not like religion, politics, or which direction the toilet paper roll should go.
But growing up, Christmas cookies were a hotly debated holiday topic in my household, mostly because of my incredible loathing of one particular variety of Christmas cookie. A classic cookie that apparently EVERYONE else in the ENTIRE world loves. A cookie that, for 20+ years, I was forced to squirt dough on a pan and apply sprinkles, red hot candies, and those little silver tooth-breaking balls to.
Out of fear for my life, I won’t reveal the cookie’s identity.
One cookie that I did always love was gingerbread, but it wasn’t until my adulthood that I started to appreciate the flavors of molasses and warm spices combined with chocolate. Chocolate gingerbread cookies are one of my favorites. The flavors of gingerbread are deep and distinguished, and the chocolate adds an extra earthiness that I just love in these cookies. If something is “earthy,” I automatically love it. And I’m not shy when it comes to the spices- these gingerbread cookies are loaded! We’re talking a therapeutic-grade level of spices here.
A note about texture:
Gingerbread cookies can have so many faces- they can be soft and pillowy, snappy crisp or somewhere in between. These grain-free chocolate gingerbread cookies are between crunchy and crisp with almost a slight chewiness to them on the day they are made. They loose crisp-ness and become a soft and chewy cookie after the second day.
If you’re not grain-free and just like the idea of these “shingle” cookies with the painted chocolate on them- feel free to use this technique on your favorite recipe! Although I love baking with almond flour and think it’s worth trying- and it’s becoming widely available now too! Find it —> HERE!
So there you have it: chocolatey, spicy, earthy, Christmasy, healthy! These ain’t your Mama’s boring, bland Spritz cookies.
Grain-Free Double Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
½ cup honey
4 Tbs grass-fed butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups blanched almond flour
3 Tbs natural cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp fine sea salt
¼ cup chocolate chips
In a small saucepan, combine molasses, honey, and butter; heat on medium just until the butter is melted and the mixture starts to boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool for several minutes before stirring in the vanilla.
In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, spices, and sea salt. Pour the warm molasses mixture over the dry ingredients and stir everything together until well combined.
Plop the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and wrap it up, then place the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours to firm up; I prefer overnight. It is quite sticky, and the cooler it is, the easier it is to work with.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to 1/8” thick. I do this in two batches. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into about 1-inch squares. The squares from the edges of the dough will be lop-sided and not square… bake them too, if you want. But as a Type-A-Cookie-Maker, I throw these back into the dough pile and re-roll.
Bake on parchment or a silicon baking mat, as these cookies will stick to the pan. Alternately, lightly coat the pan with fat of your choice and remove the cookies from the pan immediately when they come out of the oven.
Warning: these burn easily, so watch like a hawk! Bake for 7-10 minutes per batch, until they seem set (you can test them by lifting one off the pan and looking at the bottom… it shouldn’t be darker than the rest of the cookie). Allow the cookies to completely cool before painting them with chocolate. Melt the chocolate gently (in a double boiler or microwave) and then use a pastry brush to paint a chocolate stripe on each cookie. Start at one side of the cookie and just drag the brush right on across it.
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mmmm….sounds delicious.