These chewy gingerbread cookies use almond butter to replace most of the butter, wheat flour for a few extra nutrients, and applesauce to keep them chewy.
Here it is: a recipe that took years to prepare! When I was growing up outside of Minneapolis, my family would take my sister and I to a Dayton Holiday Fair for Christmas, a life-size department store display filled with characters brought to life from stories like Pinocchio and the Velvet Bunny. We waited for hours for the crossing, my sister and I looking forward to the end so we could have huge soft gingerbread cookies. Here’s our version of this recipe: and it’s just as delicious as I remember!
Also try: Gingerbread waffles, gingerbread syrup and gingerbread martini
How to make soft gingerbread cookies
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve searched for the perfect chewy gingerbread cookies: flavorful, chewy, and gooey. And I think (*hope*) we’re finally getting it! Because our recipes focus on healthy eating, we’ve also tried to keep these cookies a little healthier than the norm: we’ve used almond butter to replace most of the butter and added wheat flour to add some extra nutrients. A little applesauce will help keep them moist. And this gingerbread cookie recipe is topped with turbinado sugar instead of frosting, which is a more “natural” sugar (plus, it’s a lot easier than frosting!).
We’ve found over the years that healthy cookies just aren’t that good. Healthy cookies taste weird and leave you wanting more. But “healthier” cookies — like these chewy gingerbread recipes — while not quite as healthy, are absolutely delicious and filling.
Tips for making “healthier” Christmas cookies
- Cookies need fat, usually butter to create that cookie-like texture. Omitting or substituting all of the fat (with a substitute like applesauce) usually results in a cake-like texture that’s not entirely satisfying for a biscuit. A good alternative is almond butter, which we used in these gingerbread cookies: it’s a natural fat, rich in nutrients and protein. We combined it with a small amount of butter as well as some applesauce to keep the cookies soft and moist but not too cakey.
- Cookies need sugar, refined or natural. We love baking with natural sugars like honey or maple syrup, but we’ve found that they change the flavor of a cookie more than sugar. For this cookie, we used a combination of brown sugar and molasses with turbinado sugar (a less processed sugar) for the filling. Medjool dates can also be used to add natural sweetness (like in our Healthy Buckeyes), but we find dates work best in no-bake cookies, not baked goods.
- Baked cookies usually require a flour-like substance. Fat, sugar, and flour are generally frowned upon in the health food world, but when you want to bake cookies, you usually need to incorporate these ingredients. Alternatives include flourless cookies and using substitutes like oatmeal. For these gingerbread cookies, we used all-purpose flour with a little wheat flour for flavor and a small amount of health benefits. We’ve found that replacing white flour with up to ¼ wheat flour in baked goods works well, but adding more than ¼ wheat flour results in a dense, chewy texture.
- Make smaller portions. We love making mini desserts; Not only do they look cute, they give you less of everything and still feel satisfied.
Looking for healthy cookie recipes?
Now for some healthy cookie ideas! We’ve also teamed up with our friend Ashley from Edible Perspective, who, like us, is a healthier cookie lover. Here are some of our combined ideas from our blogs:
This recipe is…
These soft gingerbread cookies are vegetarian.
The description
These chewy gingerbread cookies use almond butter to replace most of the butter, wheat flour for a few extra nutrients, and applesauce to keep them chewy.
- 1 egg
- ½ cup Brown sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- ¼ cup almond butter
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 2 tablespoons applesauce
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon Cinammon
- 2 teaspoons pimento
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup wheat flour
- Turbo sugar (for garnish)
- In a medium bowl, add 1 egg, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup molasses, ¼ cup almond butter, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and 2 tablespoons applesauce; beat vigorously to combine well.
- To wet ingredients, stir in 2 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp allspice, ¼ tsp kosher salt, ½ tsp baking soda, 1¼ cup all-purpose flour, and ½ cup wheat flour until well combined. Unmold onto plastic wrap and form into a rough ball; Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Flour a flat surface and rolling pin, then roll out the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out gingerbread men, about 25-35 in total. Place the gingerbread men on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Bake until puffed and slightly set, about 8 minutes. Let rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Store covered at room temperature for several days or freeze for several months.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Cooked
- Kitchen: American
Keywords: soft gingerbread cookies
