gingerbread cookies

I totally realize that gingerbread men are usually a treat eaten around the holidays, somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

I'm not into the whole Halloween dessert thing, like homemade candycorn or making cookies that look like bloodshot eyeballs or witches fingers.  That just doesn't work for me.

Chewy cookies tasting of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and molasses. That's what works for me.  A semi-healthy treat made with whole wheat flour that is totally vegan.  That works for me too.

Nine times out of ten I have all of the ingredients for this recipe kicking around the house, which is perfect for those times that I want crave something sweet but don't have the energy to make something more elaborate. 

Switch up the cookie cutters if you're not ready to see gingerbread men dancing around your kitchen.  You could do gingerbread circles or stars or whatever. But what fun is that?? 

Really, it's my only cookie cutter so I just roll with it.

This is a pretty basic cookie recipe.




Combine the "dry" ingredients (flour, spices, baking soda and baking powder.)
Whisk together the oil and the sugar.

 

Add molasses and milk to the sugar/oil mixture, and whisk until combined.




Roll out the dough




 

Cut out cookies and place em on an oiled sheetpan to bake.



Gingerbread men orgy!

I used this recipe from the post punk kitchen, but made a couple of changes..

Gingerbread Cookies


1/3 cup sunflower oil
3/4 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup almond milk
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
　
Directions
In a large bowl beat together oil and sugar for about 3 minutes. Add molasses and almond milk. The molasses and almond milk won't really blend with the oil but that's ok.
In a seperate bowl, sift together all the other ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches. Mix together with a firm spoon or spatula until well combined. You should have a pretty stiff dough. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or up to 3 days in advance. (If you chill longer than an hour you may want to let it sit for 10 minutes to loosen up a bit before proceeding).
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease your cookie sheets.
On a floured surface roll you dough out to a little less than 1/4 inch thick. You can do this in 2 batches if you don't have the space. Cut out your shapes with your cookie cutters and gently place on cookie sheets (if you are using them to decorate with remember to cut a hole with a straw or something before baking). Bake for 8 minutes.


Remove from oven and let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack.