One December during my middle school years, my aunt flew out from Arizona to visit us for the holidays. On her first full day at our house, she suggested that we made gingerbread cookies as an afternoon project, and since Mom usually lacked the patience for baking anything besides boxed mix brownies, my brother and I immediately agreed.
We found a recipe in one of our faded old cookbooks and quickly set to work measuring and mixing together the ingredients. After rolling out the dough and slicing it into fun shapes with our eclectic collection of cookie cutters, everything from candy canes and Santa’s sleigh to Mickey Mouse and the Pillsbury Dough Boy, we popped the trays into the oven to bake.
A couple of hours later, we sat down at the kitchen table to decorate our treats. Instead of mixing up traditional royal icing, we just stirred together milk and powdered sugar in a handful of small bowls, then squirted in a few drops of food coloring to dye them pastel shades of pink, green, yellow, and blue.
When we finished icing the cookies, we arranged them on large dinner plates and safely tucked those away on top of the refrigerator. Our golden retriever could easily jump up on the counters and eat anything in sight!
That evening, I slipped into the kitchen to sneak a cookie before dinner when Mom wasn’t looking. After grabbing a small star, I hastily slid the plate back on top of the fridge and brushed the crumbs off my fingertips, but when Mom opened the refrigerator door a few minutes later to pull out some vegetables…
That plate tumbled down and shattered on the kitchen floor, sending broken pieces of stoneware and cookies into every nook and cranny. Whoops!
Ever since then, I’ve thought of my aunt and that little refrigerator incident whenever I’ve eaten gingerbread cookies… But since she passed away six years ago, I haven’t actually baked any homemade ones. However, I decided to change that this year, so I set out to create this recipe for the Ultimate Healthy Gingerbread Cookies. They’re full of the same cozy flavors as traditional recipes, but without any butter, refined flour or sugar, they come with none of the guilt. And I know my aunt would’ve loved these!
(And I stashed the leftover cookies on a shelf in the pantry this time, not the top of the fridge!)
To make these healthier gingerbread cookies, you’ll start with white whole wheat flour. That sounds a little contradictory, doesn’t it? Normally white flour and whole wheat flour are two totally different things! However, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to all-purpose flour, but it still has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour (like extra fiber!).
The gingerbread flavor comes from two main sources: ground ginger and molasses. I’m sure you guessed the first of those ingredients! The molasses provides the deep, rich, cozy undertones, and it’s absolutely crucial when making gingerbread cookies. Don’t skip it! Molasses is inexpensive, shelf-stable, and keeps for ages. This is the kind that I buy, and you can find it at most grocery stores near the honey or maple syrup.
In addition to the molasses, you’ll sweeten these cookies with one of my favorite ingredients: vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly, and it’s very concentrated. A little goes a long way—you just need 1 teaspoon for this entire batch of cookies! This is the kind that I buy because I love its warm vanilla flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertastes like with some other stevia products. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, but I always buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
I have a special trick to share with you about how to easily roll out cookie dough with absolutely NO mess… You’ll roll it out between two large sheets of plastic wrap! With this trick, you don’t need to flour your work surface OR the cookie dough OR the rolling pin. It works like a charm for pie crusts and my sugar cookies, too! (Bonus: Your rolling pin won’t get dirty, so you don’t have to wash it!)
Here’s another pro tip for how to create perfectly shaped cut-out cookies… After pressing down the cookie cutters into the dough, peel the extra dough away from those shapes. (If you pull the cut-out cookie dough away from the extra dough, it usually stretches and turns misshapen!) Then slide a knife underneath the cut-out cookie dough to loosen it from the plastic wrap, and transfer it to your baking sheet. Ta da! Perfectly shaped cookies!
Then after a quick trip to the oven…
Time to pour a glass of milk and enjoy your cookies! Although with how much my family loved these, you may need to bake a second batch to make sure you have enough for Santa on Christmas Eve… ??⛄️?
And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your gingerbread cookies and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| The Ultimate Healthy Gingerbread Cookies | | Print |
- for the cookies
- 1 cup + 6 tbsp (165g) white whole wheat flour (measured like this)
- ¾ tsp cornstarch
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla crème stevia
- for the icing (optional)
- 10 tsp confectioners’ style stevia
- 2 tsp nonfat milk
- To prepare the cookies, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Stir in the molasses and vanilla crème stevia. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Transfer the dough to the center of a large sheet of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1”-tall rectangle. Cover the top with another large sheet of plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Leaving the cookie dough between the sheets of plastic wrap, roll it out until ⅛” thick. Lightly flour your cookie cutter, and press it into the dough, making sure each shape lies as close to its neighbors as possible to minimize unused dough. Peel the unused dough away from the shapes, and place them onto the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the unused dough, and repeat.
- Bake the cut out cookie dough at 325°F for 8-10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To prepare the icing, stir together the confectioner’s style stevia and milk in a small bowl. Spoon into a zip-topped bag, and snip off the corner. Pipe onto the cooled cookies.
Many store-bought gluten-free flour blends will work as a substitute for the white whole wheat flour, if measured like this.
The molasses is essential to create the gingerbread flavor. It’s inexpensive, shelf-stable, and keeps for ages. I do not recommend substituting for it! In a pinch, you can substitute pure maple syrup, honey, or agave, but the cookies will no longer have that classic gingerbread taste.
I highly recommend using the vanilla crème stevia! It's one of my favorite ingredients, and you'll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too. You cannot substitute additional molasses, pure maple syrup, honey, or agave for the vanilla crème stevia because cookies require a precise balance of wet and dry ingredients. However, you may substitute ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) coconut sugar (or granulated sugar, if you aren’t concerned about keeping these cookies clean eating friendly) for both the molasses and stevia, but the cookies will appear “speckled” if using coconut sugar because it doesn’t dissolve as well.
This was the exact cookie cutter that I used.
The cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to two days. If the cookie dough has been chilled for longer than an hour, it may need to “thaw” a little on the counter for a few minutes before rolling.
I recommend re-rolling the scraps of cookie dough no more than twice. If you re-roll the scraps too many times, the cookie dough becomes tough and the baked cookies won’t have the same soft and chewy texture.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk, and regular powdered sugar may be substituted for the confectioners' style stevia.
As written, the icing recipe only yields enough for a “minimalist” decorated appearance. If you like more icing, feel free to make more!
{clean eating, low fat, low calorie, lower sugar, gluten-free option}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also enjoy Amy’s other recipes…
♥ Soft-Baked Ginger Cookies
♥ Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
♥ Classic Gingerbread with Maple Glaze
♥ Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Mini Muffins
♥ Gingerbread Protein Overnight Oats
♥ Single-Serving Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Mug Cake
♥ Baked Gingerbread Donuts with Maple Glaze
Note: The recipe video was sponsored by SweetLeaf®. As always, all thoughts, text, photos, videos, and recipes are my own.
Hi Amy,
Thanks for the recipe! Since each batch was kind of small, I made three batches of it for a Christmas board game night yesterday, and they turned out really delicious. My guests loved them and took a bunch home! Oh, and I found that leaving them in for 7 minutes was the perfect timing; so they’d be cooked but still moist. That could just be particular to my oven though. Thanks again, it’s wonderful to be able to eat gingerbread with my coffee this morning without fretting over the added sugar! Your recipe is much appreciated!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these gingerbread cookies Melody!! That means SO much to me that you’d make them to share for your Christmas board game night and that your guests even took them home. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! 🙂 Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!
There is no way this makes 21 Gingerbread men – with only one cup flour !! It made about 7 for me. I looked up other recipes and they many more cups. Did someone mistype this recipe?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Steve! There aren’t any typos in this recipe. I’m guessing that you either used larger cookie cutters than I did or didn’t roll out the dough to be quite as thin. If you watch the recipe video located directly above the recipe, you can see the relative size and thickness of the cookies within the first 15 seconds of the video. 🙂
Great recipe with the perfect blend of warm spices without being overly sweet or overpowering. Beautiful color, texture and balance of soft/chewy/crispness. I made ours with whole wheat pastry flour, as that’s what I had on-hand. I also substituted the cornstarch for an equal amount of white pastry flour, as I didn’t have any cornstarch. The dough was a bit dry, so I added a touch more melted butter and some drops of prune juice till the dough felt nice and elastic when kneading. I got 18 star shaped cookies over three roll-outs, so think I could have gotten 12-15 gingerbread men.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies Niblet! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know! 🙂 That’s strange that the cookie dough was dry though… Whenever I make it, the cookie dough is actually on the wetter side, so I really want to solve this mystery! How did you measure the whole wheat pastry flour? Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups? If the latter, can you describe how you used them?
I used cups, which I don’t normally because it’s not as accurate as a scale for me. I probably backed the flour down too densely, so will use my scales in future. Plus, I think the added white flour instead of cornstarch may have changed the balance too. It really wasn’t much; I literally used only a small “slice” of butter and a tsp or two of the prune juice and then it felt perfect. The kids and our neighbors loved them, and being virtually sugar free meant the baby got some too!
Thanks for sharing Niblet! I prefer using a scale for the same reasons; it’s much more accurate! (And that usually results in fewer measuring cups to wash too! 😉 ) That really means so much to me that your kids and neighbors all loved these cookies. Thanks again for taking the time to let me know!!
Hi Amy, can I use granulated molasses instead? Will it make a difference to the final taste and texture?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Yanhui! I actually don’t have any experience with granulated molasses. What’s the name of the brand and exact product that you’d like to use? Once I know that info, I’ll try to do some research and get back to you! 🙂
Hi! Just wondering if you think it would be possible to just leave the stevia out and not substitute? My daughter has only really had banana sweetened baking so I don’t think the lack of sweetness would both her too much, but I’d really like to try it with the molasses for color/flavor? Anyways, thanks so much for your recipes! We’ve really liked all that we’ve tried so far 🙂
I’m so honored that you’ve been enjoying my recipes, Brandi! That really means a lot to me. Thank you for taking the time to let me know! 🙂 If you just omit the stevia, it won’t affect the texture of your cookies. However, your gingerbread cookies will have about the same sweetness level as traditional scones — somewhat less sweet than muffins but sweeter than sandwich bread. Does that sweetness comparison make sense?
I’d love to hear what you (and your daughter!) think of these gingerbread cookies if you try making them!
Hello Amy,
I made these cookies yesterday and really enjoyed making and eating them fresh out of the oven! I wanted to leave a review because I am just so happy and want to encourage others to make and enjoy them. I made several modifications in this recipe and I was shocked how well these cookies tasted in the end. I will definitely be making these cookies again in October for spooky season!
Although the ingredients in this recipe are very good, I was unsure about a few so I switched a few ingredients. The recipe calls for white whole wheat flour but I have recently become gluten free so I used fresh oat flour instead. Although using whole wheat would make the dough more glued together and moldable you can definitely swap for oat flour if needed.
Cornstarch is used for making gingerbread cookies but I didn’t have any. I have never used cornstarch and wasn’t sure what it was used for so I continued making the dough without it. I am still not sure what purpose cornstarch serves but would like others to know that you can go without it.
Molasses is common for gingerbread. I didn’t have any molasses and didn’t know if it was still a healthy or somewhat healthy ingredient. I used maple syrup instead of molasses. I have to say that my cookies taste exactly the same as normal gingerbread cookies. The only difference in leaving molasses out is the color difference in dough. Using molasses you get a rich orange color but when using maple syrup it is more like a light brown.
Stevia, I am not a big fan of stevia so left that out and was happy with that decision. I didn’t think I needed more sweet flavoring for these cookies so I left the sweetness to the maple syrup and vanilla extract.
I was planning on using coconut oil for this recipe and set it aside to cool. I thought I put it into the mix but realized that when my dough was chilling I saw the melted coconut oil on the counter. So. I debated stopping the dough from chilling and adding in the oil but decided to let it be. I was shocked when I found out that I didn’t need the oil in this recipe.
I do want to say that making all these modifications did make the dough way less moldable. When my dough was done chilling for about 40 minutes I took it out and noticed my dough was slightly firm and held a nice shape while rolling it out but when it came to cutting the dough and placing it onto a tray it made the transition very difficult. I gave up on using cookie cutters and instead cut the dough into squares and placed on the cooking tray. When the cookies were baked they came out of the oven in shapes, I promise one looked like a baby chicken. The rolling dough trick that Amy mentioned is truly a life savor.
In conclusion I can not stop raving about this recipe!! For those of you looking for a fun fall taste in the form of a cookie, look no further because this is the recipe for you!! I think this recipe can stand a lot of modifications so if you want to try something different give it a try. I definitely thought my cookies would taste different but was so excited when I took my first bite and tasted the original taste of gingerbread. If you would like to see how my cookies turned out you can look at my instagram @simplyclean2020 to find the result photo.
Thank you Amy for sharing this delicious recipe with us all!
Oh my goodness, Millie!! You are SO incredibly sweet to leave such a lengthy and detailed review! I’m truly honored, especially after you shared such glowing comments on your Instagram account. You’re such a gem!! ♡ I’m absolutely thrilled that you loved these cookies, and it means so much that you already think that you’ll make them again. Thank you for taking the time to let me know! 🙂
The cornstarch helps keep these cookies soft and chewy! It traps moisture (just like it does to thicken soups or sauces!), which helps with that soft and chewy texture.
Molasses is a healthy ingredient (at least in my eyes! 😉 ). It’s an unrefined sweetener, just like maple syrup and honey are unrefined sweeteners, and it’s typically a standard ingredient in gingerbread-flavored recipes, as well as bran muffins. In gingerbread recipes, it’s what provides that subtle yet deep earthiness to their taste, whereas the ginger provides that much more prominent bright burst of zingy spice flavor. Does that make sense?
Finally, the oat flour! I’m so glad it worked out. It tends to be more absorbent than wheat-based flours, so I think that’s why your dough was drier than mine. Did you use measuring cups or a kitchen scale to measure it? If the former, can you describe how you used them to measure? (I have a hunch that we should be able to make oat flour work just as perfectly as wheat-based flour in this recipe so that your cookie dough is easier to roll and shape, which is why I’m asking how you measured it! 😉 )
Hello!
I measured my oat flour and used the same amount the recipe needed. Also my cookies turned out very moist. Glad my review was helpful. 🙂
Beyond helpful, Millie! Thank you again! 🙂