Saturday, 8 December 2012

PALEO GINGERBREAD MEN

During the holidays I always make it a tradition to make gingerbread men for friends and family.  Typical Gingerbread men are definitely not Paleo! But this recipe is equal or better I feel than your classic gluten free stuffed men lol.




INGREDIENTS:

5 1/2 cups almond flour
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 TBSP ground ginger powder
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup olive oil (be sure not to use extra virgin, just plain olive oil), or coconut oil (see notes above)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 TBSP pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsulfered blackstrap molasses
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon zest

DIRECTIONS:

- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cinnamon, ginger powder, cloves, salt and baking soda.  
- In a smaller bowl mix together your oil, sweeteners, vanilla, eggs and lemon zest. Then stir your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix well.
- Roll dough into a ball and chill in fridge for 2 hrs or to speed up the process chill in freezer for 30 min.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Roll dough out on  parchment paper until it's about 1/4" thick. (Put a piece of parchment paper on top as well to keep rolling pin from sticking)  
- Remove the top layer and using cookie cutters make your gingerbread men
- Decorate with Paleo icing , dried fruit and nuts if you like.
- Transfer with a spatula or transfer the whole parchment paper to a baking sheet.  
- Cook at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.  
- To make them a bit crispier (like traditional gingerbread) Lower oven temp to 170 Degrees F and bake for an additional 20-30 min

PALEO ICING:

1/3 cup coconut butter
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 TBS Pure maple Syrup
1/2 TBS honey
1 TSP vanilla extract