Ginger Spice Cookies

With a sweet ginger kick that bites you back just a little as you nibble on them, these spicy cookies are perfect with a cup of herbal tea.

Gluten-free / soy-free / dairy-free / egg-free / preservative-free 

I sang my first Christmas carol for this year in mid-November. I was wrapping gifts for my far-flung nieces, and the reindeer and snow-covered trees on the glossy wrapping paper inspired me to burst into song. My sweet husband found me hours later in our kitchen singing Jingle Bells with Frank Sinatra as I baked. He gave me the look—eye roll and all—he usually reserves for shopping centres that are decked out in tinsel and baubles while blasting carols months before December. My husband is a gorgeous soul, but he did not inherit the Christmas gene. Thankfully, my enthusiasm has worn him down a little over the years. We play carols the week of Christmas, and, very occasionally, he’ll even join in a sing-a-long (especially if we’re in the car).

After a laugh and a promise to wait until late December rolls around before sullying our house again with joyful carols, I returned to the creative task my carolling had inspired: adapting Christmassy flavours into a new context. These biscuits are an elegant, year-round alternative to gingerbread men—ideal for any occasion and the bah-humbuggiest of husbands. Laced with spices and three kinds of ginger, they are sharp, sweet and very satisfying. Plus, they’ll make your home smell scrumptious for hours after they’ve come out of the oven!

Ginger Spice Cookies Recipe

(Makes 45 cookies)

INGREDIENTS

• 120g crystallised ginger (includes 20g crystallised ginger for decoration)
• 60g glacé ginger
• 140g Nuttelex (just under ¾ cup)
• 4.5 tablespoons organic coconut cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• pinch of xanthan gum (literally one-sixteenth of a teaspoon)
• 140g almond meal (I cup, firmly packed)
• 55g organic coconut flour
• 75g gluten-free plain flour (½ cup)  [I used White Wings brand]
• 1¼ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, sifted
• ¼ teaspoon finely milled salt
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 120g brown sugar

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius and line two baking trays with Glad Bake.
2. Sort through your crystallised ginger, removing 20g (around 8 or 10 pieces) with one square profile. Slice these thinly into slices that look like small squares (don’t expect perfection..square-ish will do) and set aside for decorating the cookies just before baking.                                                                                    
3. For this recipe you can either use all glacé ginger or all crystallised ginger, but I find best to use both—crystallised ginger is less sweet and has more of a hot ginger kick, but glacé ginger has a lovely soft texture. Cut the remaining crystallised ginger and the glacé ginger into eights.                          
4. Melt the Nuttelex and stir in the xanthan gum, coconut cream and vanilla. Set aside to cool a little as you measure and mix the dry ingredients.                                  
5. In a medium bowl, mix the almond meal, coconut flour, gluten-free plain flour, bicarb soda, salt, ground ginger, mixed spice, ground cinnamon and brown sugar together. I sift everything except the almond meal, but at the very least, don’t forget to sift the bicarb!                                                                                                                                                                           
6. Pour the wet mix over the dry ingredients. Mix together very well, and then stir in the ginger pieces. The coconut flour will begin to absorb the moisture in the mix causing it to firm up, so it’s easier if you mix the ginger pieces in immediately.                                                                                                                                 
7. Spread a sheet of Glad Bake on a flat baking tray. Dump your cookie mix onto the Glad Bake and spread it out a little by pressing with the flat of your hands. Then place another sheet of Glad Bake on top and flatten to a thickness of ½ cm using a rolling pin.                                                                                   
8. Place the tray in the freezer for 10 minutes to allow the dough to firm up. Then remove the tray from the freezer and peel off and discard the top sheet of Glad Bake.
9. Using a 4.5-centimetre square cookie cutter, stamp out the first 30 cookies (15 per oven tray) by pressing the cutter into the dough and giving it a little tiny twist back and forth—you may need to use a little force to cut through the ginger chunks.You will need to occasionally clean the cookie cutter as you go to ensure a neat result. Once you’ve stamped 15 cookies, peel off the excess dough surrounding your cookies. 
10. Working quickly so the dough doesn’t soften, gently lift the cookies onto a lined baking tray. Make sure you leave at least 2 centimetres of space between each cookie as they spread out just a little as they bake. Squish all the dough together and roll out again to then stamp another 15 to place on a second lined tray.
11. Press a square slice of crystallised ginger gently into the centre of each cookie.                        
12. Pop the trays in the oven to bake your cookies for 10 minutes (12 if you like your cookies quite browned), rotating each tray 180 degrees and swapping shelves halfway through to ensure even baking.
13. While your first batch of cookies are baking, mush all your offcuts of dough together and re-line your cold tray with Glad Bake. Repeat the process of flattening and rolling the dough, and then pop the tray in the freezer for 10 minutes.
14. Once your first lot of cookies is finished baking, transfer the tray to a wire rack to cool. Then, after 5 minutes—once the cookies have firmed up a little—slip the sheet of Glad Bake off the hot tray and onto the wire rack to cool (or gently lift individual cookies).                                                                                                                                                                      
15. Stamp your third lot of 15 cookies and place on a tray with a fresh sheet of Glad Bake and pop them in the oven. You will have to re-mush the dough and stamp a few times.
16. Once your cookies have cooled completely (after 20 minutes or so), place them in an airtight container between layers of Glad Bake. They’ll keep for up to 1 week or for a few months in the freezer.

VARIATION: You can easily stamp this cookie dough into perfect little gingerbread men (or stars or Christmas trees) once Christmas rolls around. Decorate them with a simple piped white icing made from icing sugar and a little lemon juice.

ONE FINAL TIP: This dough is perfect for making ahead and storing in the freezer in a ziplock bag until you need it. Just let it sit at room temperature until soft enough to knead, roll, stamp and bake.

Let me know in the comments how you went making a batch of your own. And feel free to sing carols as you bake!