Paleo Gingerbread Men Cookies

When my husband and I were first married, we made gingerbread cookies every December, to share with our family and friends. We made a TON of them, and packaged them up into tins with homemade vanilla extract as Christmas gifts.

It was so fun baking together, and we loved the cookies, too!

But we haven’t made gingerbread cookies in a long time, since going grain-free. The recipes I tried never turned out exactly the way I wanted them to. They were always too coconut-flour-y or too crispy … my husband and I both prefer soft cookies.

This year, we finally made some that passed all of our tests. They were roll-out-able and deliciously soft, whether warm or cool. They had all of the gingerbread flavors we loved, and no gums or complicated ingredients.

The kids and I decorated the cookies with royal icing and enjoyed them before Christmas. Next year, I’m sure we’ll double or triple the recipe so that we can share with our friends too!

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Paleo Gingerbread Men Cookies

Course: Dessert

Ingredients

• 4 cups almond flour
• 3/4 cup arrowroot flour
• 1 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1 tsp grass-fed gelatin
• 1 1/2 tsp himalayan sea salt
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp chilled butter (for paleo use lard or palm shortening)
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 largeeggs

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix almond flour, arrowroot, coconut sugar, gelatin, salt, and spices in the bowl of your stand mixer with paddle attachment.
3. Add the butter and mix again.
4. Add molasses and eggs, and mix until your dough is smooth.
5. Sprinkle your parchment-covered countertop with arrowroot, and turn out your dough onto it. Sprinkle more arrowroot onto the dough, then roll out until about 1/4 inch thick.
6. Cut your cookies, peel away the scraps, then carefully move the cookies to the parchment-lined baking sheets. You can roll the scraps out to cut more cookies, but try not to over-handle the dough.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely before decorating.

For almond flour, I prefer honeyville almond flour. I buy the 25 pound box to get it cheaper-per-pound, then freeze in gallon zip-locks until we’re ready to fill the jar in our pantry.

Here are some of the other ingredients, which I order from Amazon. I get my palm shortening and himalayan sea salt from the same place I buy my coconut oil.

 

I hope these cookies become a part of your holiday traditions, the way they’re becoming a part of ours!