Too soon for gingerbread cookies? I hear everyone who put up their Christmas tree this weekend shouting, “No!” These are for you, my cinnamon candle-burning, Nat King Cole-playing friends. I appreciate your enthusiasm.
I usually get all bah-humbug Christmas baby this time of year, since the holiday completely overshadows my December 25th birthday if I’m not careful. I’m already planning my 30th birthday celebrations (with help, thankfully!) and have resolved to embrace the holiday cheer this time around. I might even put up a Christmas tree. A tiny one, with white Christmas lights. That sounds lovely.
I’ll probably make more batches of gingerbread cookies to share with friends this year, too, now that I’ve perfected the recipe. They’re so fun to make! I made a few simple substitutions to turn classic gingerbread cookies into healthier gingerbread cookies, without sacrificing flavor.
The result is a dough that is remarkably easy to make (no mixer required) and manage (it might as well be Play-Doh!).
How to Make Healthier Gingerbread Cookies
My substitutions include swapping coconut oil for butter, coconut sugar for brown sugar and whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose. All of those ingredients are becoming more mainstream now as their health benefits become more apparent.
Whole wheat pastry flour is one of my favorite subtle nutrition upgrades. It possesses all of the health benefits of whole wheat flour, but it’s more finely ground, lighter in taste and produces marvelously tender whole grain goodies.
It’s a great substitute for all-purpose flour in cookies, pie crusts and in many recipes that call for baking powder and/or baking soda for leavening. (You don’t want to use whole wheat pastry flour in yeasted recipes, like pizza dough. It just won’t work.)
These cookies turned out perfectly with 100 percent whole wheat pastry flour. I don’t think anyone would be able to tell that these cookies are made with whole grain flour! They’re crisp, spiced and delicious.
Molasses & Spice Notes
You can control the level of spice and flavor intensity by carefully choosing your molasses. I tried a lighter molasses and blackstrap molasses. The light molasses produces cookies with lighter color and flavor, naturally. If you’re making these cookies for kids with sensitive palates, you might want to choose light molasses and maybe even use half of the spices specified below.
If you want dark, intense cookies with an almost dark chocolate-level of richness, use blackstrap molasses and the full amount of spices. Blackstrap molasses offers greater nutritional value as well, since both the flavors and minerals present in molasses are more concentrated. Who would have guessed that a by-product in sugar production could be so high in potassium, iron, Vitamin B6, calcium and magnesium?
How to Decorate Your Cookies
You also have a few options when it comes to decorating your cookies. You could enjoy them plain, of course. They are not overtly sweet, though, and they look more festive with some decoration.
Options include sprinkling the cookie dough shapes with sparkling turbinado (raw) sugar or dusting them with additional coconut sugar before baking. You can ice them with the lemony icing offered below, which requires some powdered sugar (here’s how to make your own with less refined sugar) and/or sprinkle them with powdered sugar, which looks like snow. You could use a traditional royal icing, which calls for raw egg yolks and completely hardens on the cookie. Or, you could melt chocolate chips and drizzle chocolate on top. It’s up to you!
PrintHealthier Gingerbread Cookies
- Author:
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 32 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookie
- Method: By hand
- Cuisine: American
Here’s a healthy version of your favorite classic gingerbread cookies! This gingerbread cookie recipe is healthier because of a few simple substitutions—I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose flour, coconut oil for butter and coconut sugar for brown sugar. See notes provided in the paragraphs above for tips and suggestions on choosing your molasses and decorations. Recipe yields around 32 cookies, depending on their size.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 cups (310 grams) whole wheat pastry flour*, plus more for work surface
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup unsulphured molasses (use regular molasses for lighter, somewhat spicy cookies or blackstrap molasses for very spicy, intensely flavored cookies—or a mixture of both)
- ½ cup packed coconut sugar
- 1 large egg
- Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Lemon icing (optional)
- ½ cup powdered sugar (here’s how to make your own)
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest (optional, for intense lemon flavor)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves, pepper, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk until blended.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil and molasses and whisk until combined. Add the coconut sugar and whisk until blended. (If the sugar is gloppy and won’t incorporate into the mixture, warm the mixture for about 20 seconds in the microwave or over low heat on the stove, just until you can whisk it all together.) Add the egg and whisk until the mixture is thoroughly blended.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry and mix just until combined. (If it seems like you don’t have enough liquid, just keep mixing!) Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a round disc about 1 inch thick and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place both discs in the refrigerator and chill until cold—about 1 hour, or up to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with racks in the middle and upper third of the oven. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour your working surface and roll out one of your discs out until it’s ¼ inch thick. If the dough is very hard or crumbly, just roll it as best you can and then let it rest for a few minutes to warm up. Repeat until you’ve successfully rolled the dough to ¼ inch thickness.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes and place each cookie on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about ½ inch of space around each one (this dough just barely expands during baking). Combine your dough scraps into a ball and roll them out again, repeating until you have used up all of your dough. Repeat with remaining disc. (If you’d like to decorate the cookies with granulated sugar like turbinado or extra coconut sugar, sprinkle it onto the cookies now.)
- Place baking sheets in the oven, one on the middle rack and one on the upper. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes; for softer cookies, pull them out around 8 minutes and for more crisp cookies, bake for up to 11 minutes. The cookies will further crisp as they cool. Place the baking sheets on cooling racks to cool.
- If you’d like to ice the cookies and/or sprinkle them with powdered sugar, wait until they have completely cooled to do so. To make the icing, in a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, optional lemon zest and the lemon juice. Whisk until thoroughly blended. Transfer the icing into a small Ziploc bag, squeeze out any excess air and seal the bag. Cut off a tiny piece of one of the lower corners and squeeze icing through the hole to decorate the cookies as desired. The frosting will harden eventually, but it won’t ever be as indestructible as royal icing.
- If you’d like to sift powdered sugar over the cookies, do it now. Wait until the icing has firmed up (about 1 hour) before carefully stacking the cookies in a storage container. Cookies will keep for up to 1 week at room temperature.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart, on Smitten Kitchen’s recommendation. Recipe updated 12/17/18 to remove whole wheat flour as an option—it doesn’t work well. My sincere apologies to anyone who was disappointed by their cookies.
*Flour notes: This recipe works great with whole wheat pastry flour. You can find generally whole wheat pastry flour at well-stocked grocery stores, as well as health food stores. All-purpose flour will also work. The dough tends to be hard and crumbly when made with regular whole wheat flour so I don’t recommend it. Also, to measure your flour properly, spoon the flour into your measuring cups and level off the top with a knife.
Make it vegan/egg free: I haven’t tried, but based on other recipes, I think you could successfully substitute a flax egg in this recipe, or maybe even use 3 tablespoons applesauce instead of the egg.
▸ Nutrition Information
This post was created in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill and I received compensation for my participation. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
Susanne
Hi, just to confirm 3cup or 310grams? Isn’t 1 cup 340grams? Thanks Susanne
Kate
Hi Susanne! Here is a helpful conversion chart that has worked for some in the past as a guide depending on the needed measurement. https://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/metric-conversion-charts Hope it helps!
Lori Beavers
Have you tried freezing these cookies after making them? Did it work?
Kate
I haven’t, but you can see if other readers have! In the past, freezing cookies typically works well. Although, I’m not sure about these.
Cada
Works! Still good.
Jennifer
These cut outs worked!! After so many years of trying to find a successful recipe, voila!! Thank you for the recipe, even my teenager liked them and appreciated the snap they had, at least my version turned out with a crisp, This is a good thing after years of crumble. I used butter and 1/4 cup of honey, plus the molasses.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy to hear that, Jennifer! Thanks so much for your review.
Margaret A Scheirman
Did you use butter instead of coconut oil or in addition to it? And, in adding 1/4 cup honey, did you lessen any other ingredient? OK, this is asking me to rate the recipe . . but I haven’t made them yet. In anticipation, I’m giving it 5 stars. Please advise re. the addition of butter and honey. Thank you!
★★★★★
Anita
Hi Kate! I love your recipes. I was wondering if this recipe will work as a gingerbread house? I hope it will be firm enough.
Kate
I haven’t tried it! Sorry to not be more of help here.
Shannon
If anyone was stillwondering, this works greatfor gingerbread houses. I made a homemade kit for my nephew this year. However, beware, you will actually eat this gingerbread house. So maybe make some extra to munch on. My sister in law asked for the recipe and to borrow my molds as she and her husband aye the house while kiddo was sleeping
★★★★★
Sarah
Just wanted to let you know that making and decorating these has turned into a Christmas tradition for me and my girls. They will be 5 soon and it is our 3rd year to make these! We have so much fun decorating them and giving them out to friends and family!
★★★★★
Kate
That’s so fun! Happy holidays, Sarah!
Dianne
Very delicious!!!! Love this recipe and I use it every year for Christmas! Sometimes I halve the recipe and make mini gingerbread men. Tasty with or without icing :)
Kate
Thank you, Dianne! I agree with the icing.
Teresa
No molasses where I am so I used maple syrup and I also melted palm sugar in place of the coconut sugar (it’s what I had and I thought would give a richer taste since I didn’t have molasses). Because of the extra liquid, I needed a lot more flour but just kept adding until it was the right consistency. And fresh ginger over powdered all the way! They were great! Oh and half sifted whole wheat and half sifted white cake flour worked fine…since there isn’t whole wheat pastry flour here either.
Kate
Thanks for sharing, Teresa!
Catherine Davies
i used 1/2 wholemeal flour and 1/2 white flour as we don’t have pastry flour in nz they turned out perfect first batch did for 8 mins softish kids requested second batch to be crispyer so will try tomorrow
Samantha
Have you ever frozen the dough?
Kate
I haven’t, sorry! You could see if other readers have by searching the comments.
Donna
You know what? These are crazy good! My favorite! I use 2 tablespoons of honey in place of the coconut sugar and melted butter for the coconut oil. Not too sweet and very spicy, just the way I like them with tea. Thanks so much for this recipe I’ve been making them for a few years now.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for sharing, Donna! I’m glad you love them.
Claire
This is an amazing recipe. My daughter eats dairy free so I’ve been scouring the internet looking for DF recipes with ingredients I mostly have on hand.
I’ve made it four times this 2018 season. Had some issues with dough being too crumbly but I added liquid coconut oil and then it worked.
The last time I used maple syrup instead of coconut sugar and the dough was perfectly moist! Will use maple syrup in future.
★★★★
Kate
Thanks for sharing! I do try to provide alternatives when I can so I hope other recipes are useful to you as well!
Joe
The batter never came together it seemed like the ratio of wet is not enough. Mixed for over an hour even tried adding some olive oil to salvage but it stayed course similar to a dry butter and sugar mixture.
The only thing I can think of is the coconut oil which I had melted reacted with the molasses. The picture on the instructions showed a generous amount of wet mine was more like adding a pasty peanut butter like consistency to it. I definitely wasn’t able to pour the wet into the dry. 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup molasses and 1 lg egg? Would like to give this another try any suggestions?
Vivi
Same problem here. The mix was dry and it never came together…. :(
★
Vanessa M.
Recipes for cookie cutting are really stiff, and Gingersnap ones have always been the stiffest, in my experiences.
This was one of those that you had to treat like kneading a bread loaf, working the dough with your hands. The heat from your hands warms and softens the fat solids, making it more malleable and will more readily mix with the flour.
I don’t know if this was the process you used, but hopefully this might help?
I made it tonight and my kids had an arm workout mixing and rolling!
For mine tonight, I replaced the coconut sugar woth date sugar. Used blackstrap molasses. I skipped the baking soda and baking powder (due to a health issue), so I unfortunately sacrificed the ‘snap’ it would have had, but was delighted to see it still had a crunch after baking for 11 minutes, even on the thicker pieces.
Had the PERFECT sturdiness to hold up for the gingerbread house with the kids.
Finally, I found a healthier go-to recipe for yearly gingerbread! Thank you!
★★★★★
Marilee Herring
After having a non-crumbly dough and then making it a second time with a crumbly dough, I think it is key to:
-add room temp eggs
– heat the coconut oil but don’t add until cooled but still liquid
-massage the final mix with hands
Next time I might add the sugar to the oil while hot so it is less grainy and more malleable.
Mine had pastry flour, not whole wheat pastry flour.
I made 3x the recipe, cooked a bunch, and rolled out the remaining dough into disks, wrapped them in saran wrap, and froze them. Will let you know how the thawed dough comes out!
Cheryl Sheen
Hi Kathryne!
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas… I just want to thank you for the awesome gingerbread recipe! They turned out great, and were a hit at my family Christmas gathering.
Hugs & Blessings,
Cheryl
(Queensland, Australia)
★★★★★
Kate
I’m so glad you loved it, Cheryl! Thanks for you comment and review.
Yvonne
Egg free: Tried it with flax egg (1T ground flax seed and 3T water, mix and let set for 15 mins) and it works perfectly.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for sharing, Yvonne! I know others will find this helpful.
Anna
Turned out great! I couldn’t find any molasses where I live so i used coconut flower syrup instead. Also I reduced the amount of sugar by a few tablespoons and it worked amazing since the frosting I used was quite sweet.
I mixed 1 cup of all purpose flour and 2 cups of whole wheat- Great combo! It was a bit hard to work with the dough, since it wasn’t malleable and stretchy due to the whole wheat flour. All the people, to whom I gifted these, asked for the recipe (even my teacher)! Thank you.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for sharing your modifications, Anna! I appreciate the review.
Holly
Getting ready for Christmas in July here tomorrow! Can you substitute regular whole wheat flour for the pastry flour? How will the consistency be different? Thanks.
Nicola
Yum. Making these again this year in Dublin Ireland. Thanks for such a great recipe.
★★★★★
Deanna Willis
I tried this recipe and had to add an extra egg to keep the dough together. Flavor was good though! Gracias
★★★
Kate
Hi Deanna! Did you use whole wheat pastry flour? Also, did you let is set in the refrigerator?
Ava
I made this recipe vegan and used a flax egg, it worked perfectly! This recipe is fantastic. I made 2 flax eggs for this recipe, making each egg being 1tbsp of flax meal and 2.5 tbsp of warm water.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for sharing! I’m happy to hear it worked so well for you.
Denise
I had to laugh when you talked of your birthday. Mine is the 23rd and i always joke that at least if it had been on the 24th i would always have a party! So embrace your day and celebrate with friends, family and Jesus. Everyone goes all out for the special day! And I cant wait to try these egg free for my grandson.
Wanie
I replaced a whole egg with an extra large egg white (left over from another recipe), used Splenda brown sugar instead. It still turned out really good. Instead of rolling out the dough and cut it into cute little shapes, I just rolled it into a log, chill the dough and slice it into 1/4 inch disks and freeze them instead of making all the cookies at once (so we won’t eat them all in one sitting).
To cook: I just take it out of the freezer, cooked it in air fryer at 300 degree for 8 min (temp depending on your air fryer). Came out perfect! Thank you so much for a healthier and tasty cookie recipe.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for sharing, Wanie!
Nancy Bailey
I used King Arthur white wheat flour and these cookies were great. I like the really strong flavor
★★★★
Kate
Thanks for sharing, Nancy!
@veganlavie
made it vegan by using a flax egg instead of egg and it worked perfectly!
★★★★★
Karla
They turned out perfect and delicious! I’ll make more batches for sure :D Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome!
Barbara
Made these up and everyone who tried them loved them! No one believed they were “healthier” versions. I myself have never been a huge gingerbread fan, think they are too hard and don’t have enough flavor. However these cookies were soft (I baked them for the lesser time listed) and had tons of flavor!
Also, I pre-made the dough, double wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in a zip top freezer bag and frozen then for a week. The night before I was going to bake them, I move them to the refrigerator to thaw. Didn’t notice any negative issues when rolling out the dough or baking them. First time I’ve tried something like that, but working 2 jobs, you’ve got to use our free time the best way you can.
I was wondering if this recipe would work as drop cookies instead of rolling them out. Thinking about giving that a try next time. Any thoughts if that would work or changes that would need to be made would be very much appreciated!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad everyone loved them! These work best rolled out, from my experience.
Danica
I wanted to try out these cookies but they don’t have that type of flour where I live, would these cookies work with oat flour instead?
Kate
Hi Danica, I don’t believe these will work with oat flour. Sorry!
Keri
I’m allergic to coconut. What do you recommend as replacements in this recipe?
(Oil and sugar) thanks!
Kate
You could try butter instead of the oil and brown sugar. Let me know if that works for you.
ana c arevalo
I love the flavor but for some reason mine came out really crispy. I’m not sure if it was the brown sugar I substituted or whether they just cooked too long. It’s an intense flavor so I think I’ll use a smaller cookie shape rather than a gingerbread man. Love all the healthy ingredients.
★★★★
Kate
Hi Ana! I’m sorry to hear that. They might have cooked a little long. Try decreasing the time next time. They will cook some as they cool.
Kaitlyn
Amazing recipe! My son announced this morning he wanted to make ginger bread men. Followed exactly except I substituted the egg with red mill egg replacer. Used only black strap molasses and they had such a beautiful flavour.
Thank you
★★★★★
Shannon
Has anyone used this recipe for a gingerbread house?
Evgenia
Everything worked just fine! Hubby and kids love it! I did only one substitute instead of unsulphured molasses used Marple syrup.
★★★★★
Christina
These are delicious! Not too sweet and the perfect amount of spice. This is my first time making gingerbread cookies and I am so excited that they turned out well! I can’t decide if I like the softer or harder version better. I just love them all! And the frosting decor is SO cute (thank you for listing a homemade frosting recipe by the way). This recipe is officially a yearly staple. Yum!
★★★★★
Brett
I did half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat. Had to add a little bit extra oil but they taste great! Also I added more spices as I was craving a real gingery cookie and these hit the spot! Not super sweet but sweet enoug.
Kate
Awesome, thanks Brett!
Alexander Fitzgerald
These were fabulous! I used Almond flour instead because I can’t seem to find the whole wheat pastry flour and didn’t want them crumbly from plain whole wheat flour. It worked perfect! I figured it would work because another bake site I follow has found that Almond flour has a 1:1 ratio with all purpose flour IF there is an egg involved, but this is not the case when it comes to things like breads.
★★★★★
Rebecca
I made these with white whole wheat flour, not red, and they were amazing! I also increased the ginger and cinnamon to a total of 1 Tbsp each. I left out the cloves bc I didn’t have any and left out the pepper as these are for the little ones. AMAZING. THANK YOU xoxoxo oxo
★★★★★
Jade
Amazing! This was a huge hit. And it’s not breaking the “bank” on my weight loss app. Thank you!
My dough was a little crumbly so I added a TBSP of applesauce and that did the trick!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Jade! I’m glad it turned out for you.
Melanie Schleef
How much butter would I use to substitute for half or all of the coconut oil? 1:1?
Kate
Hi Melanie, I haven’t tried this with butter as I prefer coconut oil here. I believe others have swapped 1:1 with butter and didn’t mind the results.
Kristen Callahan
Hi Kate,
Can these be cooked to be chewy?
Kate
Hi Kristen, not sure how to accomplish that without changing the recipe, sorry!
Erin
Hi!
Is it possible to use a different oil instead of coconut? I made these cookies yesterday and used sunflower oil; the dough was very crumbly, oily and barely held together, it was difficult to keep it together to cutter the cookies. I’m wondering if it was because of the sunflower oil.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
★★★★★
Kate
Hi Erin, sorry to disappoint, but baking is very precise and found coconut oil works best.
Carrie
These are delicious! I used soft whole wheat flour (I have a home flour mill). Had to cut the molasses in half, because I only had that much at home, replaced the rest with sugar. They come together quickly before the rest period. Rolled out easily-lovely dough to handle. I may add more ginger next time. Will definitley make these again.
★★★★★
kim
These cookies were absolutely delicious. I love all your recipes but these were amazing. I thought for sure I’d flub it somehow but they came out so beautiful and were incredibly tasty while using good ingredients. Thank you for giving me another cooking success.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you loved them, Kim!
Realynn
I made these using white sugar. The mixture was dry and crumbly so I added like 1/2 cup- 3/4 cup more coconut oil than the recipe called for and another egg. Then, they came out great. I used a browned butter frosting that was absolutely delicious with the flavors of the gingerbread.
★★★
Kate
Hi Realynn, Unfortunately, using white sugar won’t get you the same results as you discovered. Baking is very precise and different sugars react differently in recipes.
Ashley Lehmann
Instead of sugar, I substituted 3 TBS honey and 3 TBS maple syrup!
We love your healthy banana bread and wanted these to turn out just as yummy without sugar! Thanks!
★★★★★
Bernarda Sarabia
Hi Kate, quick question if I want to switch the coconut sugar with brown sugar, how much should I place?
Thank you,
Bernarda
Kate
Hi Bernarda! I haven’t tried this one, but typically you can swap a 1:1. I’m not certain though without trying it.
Jay Silvester
I made these a few days ago . They baked well and tasted delicious .
I used white plain flour . I had a problem in binding the dough together , though ., It kept breaking-up every time I tried to use a plastic cutter to cut out a shape . Should I use water , extra egg to bind it , next time . Any tips?
In the end , I put the dough into a tray and pressed it all down with a spoon . Managed to cut out some heart shapes with a metal cutter .Then put them onto a seperate tray to bake .
.
Summer
Can we use regular wheat flour? I can’t find pastry flour anywhere
Kate
Hi Summer, see my notes about the flours below the recipe. I don’t recommend it.
Elena
I am usually not a huge fan of American gingerbread, but these turned out quite good and they were easy to make. I swamped molasses with maple syrup and added one more egg. My son loved them!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you think so, Elena! I appreciate your review.
Nuthi Ganesh
Hi, just tasted the cookie dough and it tastes great! Only problem is, I used regular whole wheat flour, not pastry flour. It’s pretty dry and crumbly. I patted the dough down, wrapped the bowl in plastic wrap, and popped it in the fridge. Do you have any tips on what to do so I’m able to roll it out and cut out gingerbread men?
Kate
Hi! It will be pretty crumbly most likely as that is my experience with this recipe (see the notes below).
Jo Anne
Made this twice and both times it didn’t come out the way I wanted it to. Dough was super crumbly and had to add milk to stiffen the dough to be able to handle it and it definitely does not taste like a gingerbread cookie. It’s more of a bitter, spicy, cookie. Not sure about this recipe but I still appreciate the idea.
★
Nuthi
For anyone who accidentally used regular whole wheat flour instead of pastry flour or anyone who just has a crumbly dough, I added water and flour little by little (like very carefully), and it ended up fine! I love this recipe and will continue to use it every year. It’s not too sweet but for health nuts like me, it doesn’t need the extra frosting and sugar. :)
★★★★★
Hillary
I followed this recipe exactly as written, including weighing out the flour. It is delicious. The perfect amount of spice. We didn’t make the icing because most of the cookies were used to make a gingerbread trifle. This recipe is a keeper I’ll make every year at the holidays. Thank you Kate!
★★★★★
Cada
Love, love, love, this recipe. I’ve made then twice so far. Great without icing – hard to stop eating them.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Cada!
Szandra
Hi Kate! I followed the recipe and baked for 8 minutes but still turned out very dry and crispy unfortunately. What should i change/add more of?
Thanks!
★★★★
Kate
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that. Did you over stir your flour? Make sure you spoon and level the flour so you don’t get too much.
Anna
Love your recipes! I asked for your cookbook for Christmas so hopefully Santa comes through :) do you think I could make these gluten free? My son loves ginger bread and I was hoping to make cookies- we love your ginger bread cake recipe using 1:1 GF four. Someone else in the comments mentioned using almond four. Do you think that will work?
Kate
Hi! You could try an all purpose gluten free flour. Let me know if it works! I don’t recommend almond flour as you usually have to adapt it a lot to make it work, if it will, as an alternative.
Erin
Somehow the dough consistency was off for me despite following the recipe. It was solid as a rock after refrigerating so I let it thaw but even then the dough was still crumbly. I don’t want to rate the recipe because it’s probably something I did, I just don’t know what. I usually have great luck with recipes on this site.
Kate
Hi Erin, I’m sorry to hear that. How did you measure the flour? I wonder if you had too much.
Erin
I did as suggested and made sure the flour measurement was flat across. It did end up turning out okay in terms of taste but I had to use a lot of elbow grease to roll out and could only cut one or two cookies out each time I rolled because the edges were too cracked. Maybe I’ll try a little less flour next time because I like that this is a little bit healthier of an option than most recipes and is dairy-free.
Maria
Have you ever tried to make this same recipe but with almond flour and monk fruit sweetener instead? If so, did it turn out?
Kate
Hi, I haven’t. Almond flour isn’t typically a great 1:1 substitute.
Sue
Hi Katie!
Can I use unsalted butter in place of the coconut oil and replace the coconut sugar with light/dark brown sugar?
Kate
Hi Sue, for best results I recommend following the recipe as written. Baking is precise so changing inputs can really impact your outcome.
Sandra
These turned out great! I used maple syrup instead of coconut sugar. The dough was easy to work with after chilling. I decorated them with royal icing. Tasty!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Sandra! Thank you for your review.
Carrie Gordon
Great recipe for a gingerbread house! This is my second year using this recipe for that purpose. I did roll the dough out thinner than described so I was guaranteed a stiff cookie (to 1/8 inch instead of a 1/4) and at that thickness cooked them for 6 minutes. I like to cut out windows to fill with crushed candy to melt into a stained glass window (baked on parchment)and that timing works well for the 350 degree oven.
I did need to add some additional flour (used fresh milled soft white wheat flour) and the 310 grams wasn’t quite enough.
★★★★★
Karen
Hi, Kate. I love your recipes, and I’ve found that they fit in quite well with the roughly “Mediterranean type diet” we consume in our household. (I’ve subscribed – which I have rarely ever done). The gingerbread cookies are a terrific find, as I used to bake like crazy at Christmas, and wanted something healthier to keep the tradition alive. Many thanks!
Also, you turned me on to the Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry flour. Wow! I love this flour! I did want to note that a cup of Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry flour should weigh 120 g (looked it up on the Red Mill site), thus making the 3 cups 360 grams, which it did for me. Those with a reliable Baker’s scale may want to weigh it out. I had no problem whatsoever, though, using three level cups. It was perfect in consistency, and not at all difficult to blend.
Thanks again!
Karen
suzanne
This is the second year making these and they are excellent. Thank you for such a great recipe
★★★★★
Trish
Used butter instead of coconut oil and light brown sugar instead of coconut sugar. Baked for 8 Mon, they’re nice and chewy with a little spice and not too sweet! Will def make these again
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great to hear, Trish! Thank you for your review.
Kris
Used whole wheat flour (not pastry flour) so probably my mistake as it calls for pastry flour but I didn’t see that before I started. It did not turn out. Super crumbly dough wouldn’t even hold together, increased some liquids but just made it worse. Bummer because I wasted the ingredients, will try another recipe.
★
Kate
Hi Kris, I’m sorry it didn’t turn out for you. Yes, the flour is important to get good results. I hope you try it again!
Priti
So excited to make these for my friends holiday party this weekend! Very random question, if i wanted to make them spiked and add bourbon, would it be possible to add a little bit of in the batter?
Kate
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. Sorry!
Tamra
Not sure what went wrong, but this recipe didn’t turn out for me…. Dough remained crumbly. I had to trash it :(
★
Kate
Hi Tamra, I’m sorry to hear that. How did you measure the flour?
Molly
I just made these this morning. So good! I used 1/3 cup of maple syrup in place of the coconut sugar, and they are perfect – not too sweet, but still treat-like. However, that will not stop me from eating them for breakfast. I’ve been reading this blog for so many years; I can’t believe I waited this long to make these!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m so glad you finally made them, Molly! I appreciate your review.
Diane
Thank you for this recipe. I made it three times this holiday season. I didn’t have coconut ingredients so I used 1 stick melted butter and 1/2 c brown sugar. After round three, I find the best tasting is without the pepper and increasing the cinnamon and ginger amounts to 1 tbls each. The flour used was Red Mill stoneground whole wheat. Added 1 tbls milk to final mixture.
Thanks again!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you were able to make them! Thanks for sharing what worked well for you, Diane.