Good old favourite gingerbread biscuits but with a healthy twist. Free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar, they are a delicious treat to enjoy over the festive season without excessive calories.
It would not be Christmas without the festive little gingerbread men! I love making these healthy gingerbread biscuits with my not-so-little-any-more daughter. It’s a lovely way to spend quality time with her and as a huge bonus, you get healthy biscuits to enjoy as the fruits of your joint labour. A win-win situation, don’t you think?
This year I set on a mission to ‘healthify’ the good old gingerbread men and make them a lot friendlier for the waist. I must admit, it took 3 batches to perfect the recipe and a lot of huffs and puffs. But it was really worth it.
TIPS ON MAKING HEALTHIER GINGERBREAD BISCUITS
A little note before you set to make these gingerbread men.
The biscuits themselves are not very sweet (definitely not as sweet as traditional ones). But when you add icing on top, it makes them just sweet enough. If you prefer your biscuits slightly on the sweeter side, just taste a tiny bit of dough once you’ve mixed all ingredients and add more sugar if required.
For the sugar free icing, I used an all natural alternative to icing sugar Sukrin Icing. It has a GI of zero, zero carbohydrates and does not affect the blood sugar. I just mixed half a cup of this icing sugar with around 3 tablespoons of nut milk to get it to the right consistency.
I personally like my biscuits on the crunchier side, hence I kept them in the oven a little longer to give them time to crisp up. If you prefer your gingerbread biscuits on the softer side, reduce the baking time by a few minutes and take them out when they’ve just turned golden brown.
LOOKING FOR MORE HEALTHIER RECIPES FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON?
Check out readers’ favourite recipes here:
- Homemade vegan eggnog
- Healthy gluten-free chocolate cookies
- No-churn vegan Biscoff ice cream
- Healthier soft pumpkin & chocolate chip cookies
- Vegan chocolate brownies
I really hope you get to enjoy these healthy gingerbread biscuits. If you make them, be sure to drop a comment below and tag me on Instagram (@fit.foodie.nutter #fitfoodienutter) or Pinterest, so I can see your take on them.
Healthfully yours, Tania x
HEALTHY GINGERBREAD BISCUITS (NO GLUTEN, SUGAR FREE)
Ingredients
For the cookie mixture:
- 1 ½ cup buckwheat flour + extra for dusting
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tbsp ground psyllium husk
- 2 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup + 3 tbsp organic coconut sugar
- 2 eggs , lightly beaten
- ¼ cup coconut oil (cold)
- Around 3 tbsp nut milk* (add a table spoon at a time)
For the icing:
- ½ cup icing sugar alternative
- Around 2-3 tablespoons of nut milk
Instructions
- In a big bowl mix together buckwheat flour, baking soda, psyllium husk, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.
- In a food processor, combine cold coconut oil with coconut sugar and mix for a couple of minutes until well combined.
- Transfer the sugar and coconut oil mixture into the bowl with dry ingredients and mix until everything is well combined.
- Stir in the beaten eggs and mix well.
- Start adding the milk, one tablespoon at a time. Your cookie mixture should hold well (although not too wet). If it’s too crumbly, add extra milk (one tablespoon at a time). Once all the ingredients are combined, place the dough ball on the worktop surface sprinkled with buckwheat flour. Knead the dough a little more until all the flour is well incorporated (be careful not to overknead the mixture). Wrap the dough ball into cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Once the dough is chilled, take it out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 180C.
- Take the dough out of the cling film and place on a well floured surface. Sprinkle the dough with a little flour to ensure the rolling pin doesn’t stick to it. Gently roll out the dough into a bug circular shape until it’s about half a centimetre thick. Cut out the gingerbread men with a cookie cutter and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes until the cookies have turned golden brown. If you prefer your gingerbread men slightly on the crunchy side, leave them in the oven a few minutes longer.
- Take the biscuits out of the oven a let them cool down completely before putting the icing on (if using).
- For the icing, combine the icing sugar with 2-3 tablespoons of nut milk (add a tablespoon at a time) until the mixture turns into ever so slightly runny consistency. Transfer the icing mixture into in an icing bag and decorate to your heart’s content.
Hi there! This recipe says “2 x 1/4 tsp. baking soda” – what does that mean?? Thank you!
Hi Jenni. I wrote it as it was in my recipe notes, forgetting to convert, sorry. It should read half a teaspoon. Thank you for pointing it out!
hello
can i use this recipe to make gingerbread houses?
and is it possible to freeze the cooked gingerbread?
thank you
Hi Mia. Personally, I haven’t tried making a gingerbread house with this biscuit dough, so I don’t know whether it will work for sure. In theory, it should but it has to be tested. I wouldn’t recommend freezing the biscuits once they’re made but freezing the dough should work. Just make sure you thaw it completely. I would probably take the dough out of the freezer the night before & leave it on the kitchen counter to thaw overnight. Let me know if you decide to go ahead with the gingerbread house adventure! All the best, Tania x
Thanks for the prompt reply Tania.
I’m going to do a test run first and will let you know how it works out.
best wishes
Mia x
Looking forward to hearing from you Mia! x
Hey, is this dough supposed to taste quite sugarfree? I used stevia sugar and added a tsp of vanillasugar.
Hi Riikka. The dough is meant to be only slightly sweet (I developed this recipe when I was following sugar-free diet) because when you add the icing after, it adds more sweetness to the biscuits. If you like the biscuits sweeter, you can always add more stevia sugar to adjust the recipe to suit your taste. Let me know how you got on with it! x