This grain-free and gluten-free version of one of the most popular Christmas cookies is a perfect holiday treat. Made with coconut flour, these gingerbread cookies feature a soft center, crispy edges, and a balanced combination of spicy and sweet.
Coconut flour gingerbread: a healthier cookie recipe for the holiday season
This simple gingerbread cookie recipe is perfect for a sweet holiday treat, for an afternoon of baking with the kids, and can even be a base for a gingerbread house. You can eat these adorable little cookies just as they are, or have fun decorating them with your favorite icing. Decorated and packed in a nice bag, these gingerbread cookies also make a sweet homemade gift for your family and friends.
For this grain-free and gluten-free cookie dough, I choose to use coconut flour, as it is one of my favorite alternatives for baking. If you want to find out the benefits of a grain-free diet read here.
Baking with coconut flour
The benefits of coconut flour include a low carbohydrate content, and a high content of fibres, potassium and manganese. Coconut flour also contains medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which makes it healthier than other nut flours.
In addition, coconut flour is highly absorbent, which means you need to use a limited amount of flour in a recipe. Usually, coconut flour recipes also call for more eggs, which makes them higher in protein.
Baking with coconut flour is very different than baking with all-purpose flour and, if you never tried it before, it takes some getting used to it. Especially when making coconut flour cookies, you’ll find the dough to have a very peculiar texture, which is hard to stick together and to cut into shapes. The secret is to roll the dough and then let it harden in the freezer for a few minutes before cutting out the cookies. The other important step for the best final results is to let the cookies cool off in the oven before handling them so that they don’t break.
This recipe is also lower in sugar than most gingerbread cookie recipes, and it’s sweetened with coconut sugar and molasses or honey. Coconut sugar is one of my favorite natural sweeteners, it tastes kinda like brown sugar, but with a hint of caramel, and has a lower glycemic index. I personally find that I can use little coconut sugar in my recipes but still achieve a balanced sweet taste, which makes the final product lower in carbs.
Ingredients for these Coconut Flour Gingerbread Cookies
- 1 cup (100 grams) of coconut flour
- 1/4 cup (100 grams) of molasses or honey
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) of coconut sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (130 grams) of butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1 or 2 teaspoons of dried or fresh grated ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 teaspoon of orange zest (optional)
How to make these Coconut Flour Gingerbread Cookies
- Before starting to make the dough, remove the butter and eggs from the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature. The butter needs to be soft and spreadable. You can cut it into small pieces to speed up this process
- Combine all the ingredients using a food processor or a hand mixer. Process at medium to high speed for a few minutes, until all the ingredients are well incorporated and you have a soft dough
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
- Place the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper, also sprinkling a little coconut flour on top to avoid the dough sticking to the paper
- Press down the dough with your hands and then roll it into 1/4-inch thick discs using a rolling pin. Place the rolled dough still in between parchment paper on a tray and let the dough harden in the freezer for about 5 minutes
- Remove the rolled dough from the freezer, gently take off the parchment paper on the top, and cut it into shapes using your favorite cookie cutters. Lift each cookie cutter and gently press the dough out with your fingers onto the baking sheet
- Repeat this passage until you have formed all your cookies. As you re-roll the dough scraps, place the discs back into the freezer to harden again before you cut them into shapes
- Once all your cookies are placed on the parchment-lined cookies sheet, bake them in the preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes, or until the edges start to get darker. Turn off the oven and leave the cookies inside until cool before serving or decorating them
Notes
If the dough sticks to your hands as you form the cookies, wet your hands lightly with cold water.
If you find the dough to break apart as you are cutting it into shapes, place the discs back into the freezer for a few minutes until the dough is hard enough to be shaped.
These gingerbread cookies can be decorated with icing and this dough recipe can also be used to make your own gingerbread house.
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Coconut Flour Gingerbread Cookies (Grain-free, Gluten-free)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (100 grams) coconut flour
- 1/4 cup (100 grams) molasses or honey
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) coconut sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (130 grams) of butter softened
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 or 2 teaspoons of dried or fresh grated ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon orange zest optional
Instructions
- Before starting to make the dough, remove the butter and eggs from the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature. The butter needs to be soft and spreadable. You can cut it into small pieces to speed up this process
- Combine all the ingredients using a food processor or a hand mixer. Process at medium to high speed for a few minutes, until all the ingredients are well incorporated and you have a soft dough
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
- Place the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper, also sprinkling a little coconut flour on top to avoid the dough sticking to the paper
- Press down the dough with your hands and then roll it into 1/4-inch thick discs using a rolling pin. Place the rolled dough still in between parchment paper on a tray and let the dough harden in the freezer for about 5 minutes
- Remove the rolled dough from the freezer, gently take off the parchment paper on the top, and cut it into shapes using your favorite cookie cutters. Lift each cookie cutter and gently press the dough out with your fingers onto the baking sheet
- Repeat this passage until you have formed all your cookies. As you re-roll the dough scraps, place the discs back into the freezer to harden again before you cut them into shapes
- Once all your cookies are placed on the parchment-lined cookies sheet, bake them in the preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes, or until the edges start to get darker. Turn off the oven and leave the cookies inside until cool before serving or decorating them
