The Ultimate Healthy Gingerbread Cookies
Yields: 21 cookies
 
These cookies taste just like traditional recipes—lots of cozy spices and irresistible sweetness—but they come with none of the guilt! Leftover cookies without icing will keep for at least five days if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Leftover cookies with icing will keep for at least a week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
  • 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
  1. 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.
  2. Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
Notes: Whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour. Regular whole wheat flour may be substituted in a pinch, but the cookies will have detectable “wheat-y” taste.

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}
Recipe by Amy's Healthy Baking at https://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2016/12/04/the-ultimate-healthy-gingerbread-cookies/