Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookie Recipe

Or shall I call them Gingerbread Hazelnut Cookies since they are made primarily with hazelnut flour? Our children have so much fun cutting out and decorating these lovely gluten-free Christmas cookies! Just look at that photo, what is not to love? I am sharing this recipe as part of a wonderful blogging event called Home for the Holidays....Gluten-Free Style hosted by Shirley from gluten-free easily! Twenty-four bloggers were asked to create and share recipes that meant both home and holidays to them. In addition to the recipes, we’ll also be hosting giveaways of the resources you value the most....cookbooks, resource books, apps, and the grand prize, a Vita-Mix!

You can view yesterday's post from Heidi at Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom. She shared her Gluten-Free Fritter recipe. Tomorrow Sunny from And Love it Too will be sharing a holiday recipe. So be sure to go check their sites as well.

For me, Home for the Holidays takes me back to baking gingerbread and sugar cookies with my mother. My brothers and I would decorate dozens of cookies with beautiful colored sprinkles and bright white icing. I wanted to share that experience with my own children, only with a healthier, gluten-free version, and thus this recipe was born (actually the recipe came to me in a flash one night). It uses coconut sugar as the main sweetener, along with a powdered coconut sugar icing. Although coconut sugar is definitely a low-glycemic sweetener, it is still sugar, and these cookies are to be considered a sweet treat.

Gingerbread Hazelnut Cut-Out Cookies

I use Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut Meal Flour. It works beautifully in baking. You can check your local health food store for it or buy it on Amazon.com. If you don't want to use coconut sugar or don't have access to it, Sucanat (whole cane sugar) is a good substitute. It still has all of its nutrients intact like coconut sugar, but has a higher glycemic index. For a dairy-free option, use Earth Balance or Coconut Oil in place of the butter (note that I have not tested the recipe this way though). Use currents, raisins, sliced almonds, natural sprinkles (from Let's Do Organic!), or anything else you can imagine to decorate them. I find the dough is best if it is refrigerated overnight. You can make the dough after your children are in bed and then bake the cookies with them in the morning.

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups hazelnut meal flour

1 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup softened organic butter

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1 large organic egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl beat with an electric mixer (or vigorously whisk) together the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix together. Form into a ball, cover, and place into the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight. 

When the dough is firm and chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place a large piece of parchment or waxed paper down onto a clean, flat work surface. Lightly flour the paper with sweet rice flour. Take part of the dough and roll it out to a little less than 1/4 inch of thickness. Put the remaining dough back in the fridge to keep it chilled. Cut the dough out using your favorite holiday cookie cutters. Carefully peel away the dough around the cut-outs. Then take a thin spatula and lift the cookies onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes depending on how crisp you like them. A few more minutes of baking makes them crispy. Just watch them so they don't overcook. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Then repeat with remaining dough. Let cook completely before frosting.

Coconut Sugar Icing

You can refer to my last blog post on How to Make Powdered Coconut Sugar in order to make this icing. 

1/2 cup Powdered Coconut Sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons milk (I use almond milk)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place powdered coconut sugar in a small bowl, whisk in the milk and vanilla. Use to ice cooled cookies. You might need to make more depending on how much icing you like on your cookies. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

More Holiday Treats:

Maple Sunbutter Candy

Maple Caramel Corn

Candied Walnuts

And Now The Giveaways!!

To enter to win one of these fabulous books, please leave a comment below. You can leave up to three comments by sharing this post on Facebook and Twitter. Come back and leave a comment saying you did, so we can count it. All of the comments you leave on this post and any other posts by other bloggers (see the full line-up here) will be entered into the Grand Prize Giveaways. The grand prize winners will be announced on Christmas. Note that you will have 48 hours only to leave a comment here and then I will announce the winners. You will need to have a Blogger account with an email attached to it so we can contact you or leave your email address in the comment like this: jane @ yahoo(dot)com. It only takes a second to set up a Blogger account (you do not need to use gmail to set one up). This is a good way if you feel uncomfortable leaving your email address in the comments. You can view my profile to see how I have my email as a link in my profile if you don't totally understand what I am saying. :)

Grand Prize: A 5200 Vita-Mix which includes the dry container

Second Prize: A $150 shopping spree from freefromgluten.com

Third Prize: $89 dollar value package of Caveman Cookies

Today's Giveaways: 

The Pure Kitchen

This book is an awesome addition to any gluten-free, whole foods kitchen. It is filled with nutritious recipes that you will want to make over and over again! When I first opened it I literally wanted to bookmark every recipe. It is written by Hallie Klecker who blogs at Daily Bites. Her recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free.....and amazing.  

Healthier Without Wheat

This is a resource book you will want to have if you are dealing with gluten intolerances or Celiac disease. It covers all the myriad of diseases and symptoms associated with gluten as well as the difference between Celiac Disease and a gluten intolerance. This book was written by Seattle doctor, Stephan Wangen. You can check out his clinic, The IBS Treatment Center for more information.

The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen

I don't own this book (though it looks fabulous) so here is the description from Amazon: The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen makes cooking healthily both easy and delicious. This veritable volume is chock-full of more than 250 recipes, plenty of color illustrations, and advice on which foods are (or aren’t) okay when powdered, canned, or frozen. Lévana promises your new superfood diet will taste so good, you won’t ever go back. 

Gluten-Free Baking for Dummies

This baking book is newly released! It was coauthored by my good friend and local Naturopathic doctor, Jean Layton. Not only is this a recipe book with over 150 recipes, but also a resource book on baking gluten-free. You'll find tips for stocking your kitchen, certain gluten-free baking methods for cakes, cookies, and breads, plus much more!

Please leave a comment to win one of these great books and to be entered into the Grand Prize Giveaway. Remember to include your email address or use your blogger account (with an email address linked in the account). Use your name or initials to distinguish yourself. Your comment will NOT be counted unless we have a way to contact you. Thanks for reading and for your support! :)

This giveaway ends on Saturday morning (12/3) at 7:00am PST. 
This giveaway is now CLOSED. Thanks everyone for participating. The winners will be sent an email notifying them. :)

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