Healthy Spelt Gingerbread Men

Healthy Spelt Gingerbread Men

These little cookies make the perfect addition to your Christmas table or bundled together as a delicious gift! What I love about these cookies is that they taste like shortbread and the delicate hint of vanilla and spice is ever so subtle...the perfect cookie recipe for those who find traditional gingerbread a little overpowering. This is a wonderful cookie recipe, so feel free to cut your cookies into whatever shape you prefer. The recipe is slightly too delicate for a traditional gingerbread houses, as houses need a more solid and robust dough that can stand the test of time. Butter is needed for this recipe as it will give you the perfect result you need.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 30-40 cookies

250 g organic / grass fed butter
80 g unrefined muscovado sugar, rapadura or coconut sugar
1 tablespoon honey
pinch of sea salt
1 organic egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
380 g wholemeal spelt flour
100 g good quality white chocolate for decoration (optional)

METHOD

Cream the butter, sugar, honey, salt and vanilla with a whisk or the paddle attachment or your mixer.
Scrape the sides of your bowl and add the egg.
Mix in the egg until combined.
Combine the spelt flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger.
Add dry ingredients into the creamed butter and mix for a few seconds until combined.
Scrape the dough onto a piece of baking paper and flatten slightly.
Wrap up the dough with another piece of baking paper and place into the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 160°C (fan-forced) or 180°C (no fan).
Remove dough from the fridge and roll between 2 sheets of baking paper until  the dough is 1/2 cm thick. On a warm day, you may need to refrigerate the dough for another 30 minutes which will make the cookies easier to cut into shapes.
Cut the cookies into shapes…you can use gingerbread cookie cutters, squares, circles or any other shape you would love your cookie to be.
Place cookies onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until cookies are just golden.
Remove cookies from the oven and cool completely.
Decorate the cookies if needed or serve plain.

NOTES & INSPIRATION

TO DECORATE COOKIES

Melt chocolate in a small bowl over a low heat in a small pot of simmering water.

Remove chocolate from the heat when melted and pour into a small piping bag made from baking paper.

Decorate your cookies as desired and enjoy.

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