Vegan Cassava Flour Gingerbread Cut Outs Gluten Free Food

VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE GINGERBREAD COOKIES (THE BEST!)

Steps:

• PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. If you have time, chill the dough in the FREEZER for 30 minutes. This will make working with the dough a bit easier, but it is not necessary if you are pressed for time. The dough is very easy to work with.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
• To a large bowl, add the oat flour, tapioca starch, coconut sugar, spices, baking soda and salt and whisk very well making sure it's thoroughly mixed.
• Make a well at the bottom of the bowl and add the syrup, molasses and almond butter. Give the liquids a quick stir and then mix it in with the flour, stirring and pressing the mixture together until it is very thick, sticky and no more visible flour remains (see video). You will want to mix and press it for a couple of minutes so it gets really thick.
• Place a large piece of parchment paper on the counter and drop about half the dough onto it and form and pat it into a smooth ball shape (see video). If you have time to chill it, fold the paper over the dough to secure it and place in the freezer for just 30 minutes. You don't want to over-freeze it or the dough will be hard to work with. If not freezing the dough, use immediately. It is still fairly easy to work with. It is best to do half the dough at a time so you can roll it out to a consistent thickness and so the dough doesn't get too warm. Place the other half of dough in the fridge while doing the first batch.
• Place another piece of parchment paper over the dough and use a rolling pin on top of the paper to roll it out to 1/4 inch thick, NO LESS or the cookies will be too thin and get too dry.
• If using cookie cutters, place the cutter all the way down into the dough and slightly jiggle it side to side. Repeat this with as much of the dough you can use and gently peel away the edges around and in between the shapes. (see video) Gently pick up the cookies by slightly rolling it towards you starting with the head. If wanting to just make round cookies, simply take about 2 tablespoons worth of dough, roll into balls and flatten on the lined pan no less than 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle decorative sugar on top before baking if desired. With the scraps, form back into a ball and repeat the process. Fill as many as you can on the sheet with them spaced about 2 inches apart, as they will spread.
• Bake for 9-10 minutes. They should be slightly puffed up and starting to look golden brown on the edges. Please note that the size of your cookies will vary a minute or so in cooking time. Small gingerbread men can cook faster 8-9 minutes and burn quicker, so keep an eye on them. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes and transfer to cool completely on a rack before decorating. They will crisp up considerably as they cool.
• If wanting to decorate like I have in the photos, just simply melt some chocolate chips, add it to a baggie and cut off a tiny corner. Drizzle onto the cookies for eyes and decorations. Use the chocolate as "glue" for buttons. Allow to cool completely before serving.
• These are best the day of, texture-wise, but are still yummy the next day. They are very fast and easy to make, so I recommend making them the day of a party or event, if possible.

VEGAN CASSAVA FLOUR GINGERBREAD CUT-OUTS {GLUTEN-FREE}

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the cassava flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves.
• Place the shortening, coconut sugar, maple syrup and vanilla in a large bowl. With an electric mixer, mix on medium speed until fluffy. Add the flour mixture, stir with a wooden spoon until completely blended.
• Divide the dough into two portions. Place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on a flat surface; place half of dough on it and roughly press it out with fingertips. Cover with a second piece or wax/parchment paper. With a rolling pin, roll to 1/8-inch thickness.
• Cut out one shape; peel/nudge away dough outside of cutter. Keeping cutter in place, slide a metal spatula under cut-out and cutter (this keeps the dough in shape) and move to prepared cookie sheet. Remove cutter.
• Repeat with remaining dough. The dough can be re-rolled many times (it will not compromise the dough, at all). Space the cookies about 1 -inch (2.5 cm) apart on sheet.
• Bake one sheet at a time in the preheated oven for 9 to 10 minutes until set and golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 3 minutes before (carefully) transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• The cookies are somewhat delicate while warm. They will be perfectly firm once completley cooled! They are crisp-tender and about as close to perfect as a gingerbread cookie cut-out can be!

GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Combine almond flour, arrowroot, ginger, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda in a bowl. Add melted coconut oil, brown sugar, and molasses; mix well until a soft, sticky dough is formed. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 40 minutes.
• Roll out dough on a work surface dusted with arrowroot to 1/4 to 1/2-inch thickness. Dip cookie cutter in arrowroot, cut out cookies, and place on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes.

VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• First, grind almonds and rolled oats into fine meal. I find it works the best when you grind them together as the oats keep the almonds dry and you'll not have oily clumps.
• Then, in a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flours, carob and spices).
• Next, in a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients of wet mixture (applesauce, chia seeds, oat milk, xylitol, stevia, 1 teaspoons of chicory paste or instant chicory, salt and nut butters) and let sit for a few minutes until the ground chia seeds absorb the liquid.
• Now, pour the wet mixture on dry ingredients and mix carefully until a well-incorporated batter forms. I find it the easiest to use my hand.
• Put the dough ball into a sealed container and refrigerate overnight or all day or at least for 6 hours.
• Divide the dough into 2 balls and place one at a time on a floured non-stick mat or on stone surface. Keep the dough you are not working with in fridge. Flour a rolling pin, sprinkle some flour (I prefer unroasted buckwheat flour) on the dough and begin rolling it out until you have a rectangle or circle that is about 2mm thick. I like to press it down with my hands first to ease rolling. When rolling the dough ball try moving it around the surface every now and then to make sure there's flour underneath and that it wouldn't stick to the surface. Add flour if it starts to stick.
• Cut the gingerbread cookie batter into the shapes of your choice and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Bake for 10 minutes (175°C, 350°F), and then remove from oven. Rotate the pan and return to oven for 3-4 minutes longer, until golden. Let the cookies cool down.
• For egg-free royal icing grind 100 grams (3.5oz) of xylitol into powder (confectioner's sugar). Whisk in 2.5 tbsps. of coconut milk and it's ready. I divided the icing between three bowls and added some spirulina to one and some acai powder to the other to have different colours to play with. You can also use turmeric for yellow, matcha powder for green, beet juice for red/pink and blueberry juice or blended blueberries for blue/purple.
• Original recipe with tutorial video: https://www.nutriplanet.org/2016/12/vegan-gingerbread-recipe-gluten-free/.