Christmas Gingerbread
I have a thing about sweet and spice and all things nice. 
I love ginger and I lurrrve gingerbread.Always have.Always will.Since baking and creating with no sugar and no gluten, I've adamantly steered clear of a lot of recipes that use standard gluten-free flours that are made of starches and typically need binding ingredients like gums and high GI flours to get them to mimic regular wheat flours.I've tried to make cut-out cookies and biscuits before using buckwheat flour and almond meal and have not been satisfied... however my number one 3 year-old and I have stumbled upon the perfect combination of healthy flours and made gingerbread Christmas trees that actually knocked my socks off. With every bite we would look at each other and I would say 'I can't believe how good these are, THIS is the recipe... We've totally outdone ourselves here babe'. And she would say 'Mmmmmm Yuummmm Hmmmm MMmmm'.Seriously. These are cut like Christmas trees but you can use this recipe for any shapes or cut-outs you need to decorate or give as gifts. In fact, these would be the perfect Christmas gift for your co-workers or family.We would love to hear what you think of these and please share as we love the idea of people making healthy Christmas treats.
Preheat oven to 160c (320F)You will need, a mixing bowl, something to melt butter in, oven trays with baking paper lining them. A hungry mouth. Ingredients
- 1 tbs ground ginger powder
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 60g melted butter*
- 1/2 tsp mixed spice powder
- pinch of sea salt
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup besan (chickpea) flour
*I used butter in this recipe which does act in the binding process. You can use coconut oil though be more gentle when you cut and place onto the tray. If you do use coconut oil for dairy-free gingerbread trees, I recommend adding 1 tbs of arrowroot flour to the mix to help it bind.MethodMix all ingredients in a bowl until it forms together in a ball, like pastry. Sprinkle some additional rice flour on a clean bench-top or pastry board and then on top of the ball of gingerbread and roll out with a rolling pin until about .7cm thick. If you think your 'dough' is too wet, add some more besan or rice flour to it - this may depend on the size of your egg. Cut into shapes and gently lift onto your baking tray, rolling out the remainder, sprinkling with rice flour and repeating. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges are browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before sliding onto a wire rack.If you want to go all out, I recommend melting and piping some raw chocolate onto your trees as decoration. We simply sprinkled ours with arrowroot flour, which looks like icing sugar - or snow...Merry Christmas babes. Enjoy and share the recipe!