I’m back with another recipe – just in time for Christmas, if you still have some festive baking to do 😉

Gingerbread cookies are probably my favorite festive bake, as they’re just so much fun to make and decorate (especially while singing along to Christmas songs)! Last year I was too busy trying to keep up with the demand for mince pies to make any other bakes. This year, however, I went straight in for my first ever plant-based gingerbread men. I made a batch yesterday and another today – slightly sweeter in taste and thinner and crispier in texture – which I am very happy with (as highlighted by the undisclosed amount I have already eaten).

As I didn’t want to make a traditional icing with powdered sugar, I experimented with a tahini-based one (sweetened with maple syrup and lucuma) which I absolutely love.

I hope you enjoy these cookies too if you give them a go!

Gingerbread Cookies

Makes: ca. 12-16 cookies (medium sized gingerbread men/similar shapes)

Ingredients: Cookie dough

• 130g wholemeal spelt flour (ca. 1 cup)
• 80g buckwheat flour (ca. 1/2 cup)
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch of cloves
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 4 tbsp maple syrup
• 130g soft dates (I used these Sukari dates from Palmyra – ca. 9 – but medjool would be perfect as well)
• 2 tbsp rice milk

Ingredients: Icing

• 6 tsp tahini*
• 6 tsp maple syrup
• 3 tsp lucuma**
• liquid food coloring
• rice milk, to make it more liquid if needed

* If you don’t have tahini or simply prefer a more neutral icing, cashew or white almond butter will probably work just as well.

**The lucuma adds some sweetness but also acts to thicken the icing. If you don’t have any, cornflour may be a possible alternative or otherwise skip the rice milk (I haven’t tried this variation though, so just experiment until you get the desired consistency).

Method

1. Combine the dry ingredients (flours, ground flaxseeds and spices) in a mixing bowl, before adding the molasses and melted coconut oil.
2. Blend together the dates and the maple syrup to form a sweet paste, before adding to the mixing bowl. Combine the ingredients with your hands, adding 2 tbsp of rice milk so that it all comes together nicely. Form the dough into a disk, cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere cool (the fridge – or outside if it’s also cold where you are!) for around 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make the tahini icing by combining the tahini, maple syrup, lucuma and food coloring in a cup or small container. You can easily make more or less by adjusting the ingredients accordingly. If by the time you are ready to ice your cookies you find the icing too thick, add a dash of rice milk. (Rather add too little than too much, as it’s easier to add more liquid than to thicken the icing up again).
4. Roll out the dough and cut out the desired shapes. The amount you get will depend on the shapes you use as well as the thickness of the dough. I like the dough rolled out quite thin so the cookies become nice and crisp in the oven – a thicker dough will make doughier cookies.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 175 °C for ca. 8-12 minutes (depending on the thickness).
6. Leave to cool completely (on the tray for a few minutes, then on a cooling rack/ or outside) before icing your lovely cookies. (Note: the icing does harden a bit, but do be gentle with your iced cookies/ i.e. I wouldn’t recommend stacking them on top of each other).

Enjoy!

Feel free to tag @blueberrysmiles22 if you share your creations on Instagram, so I can share in the joy 🙂