In a break from all inauguration news all the time, I present you with these chewy, yet crispy ginger cookies!
Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 2½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- ½ cup grapeseed oil or palm shortening
- ¼ cup yacon syrup
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and ginger
- In a medium bowl, combine grapeseed oil, yacon, agave and lemon zest
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
- Bake at 350°F for 7-10 minutes, until tops start to crack
- Cool and serve
This recipe is based on Heidi’s “Triple Ginger Cookies” from 101Cookbooks. I’ve made them gluten-free, dairy-free and turned them into “single ginger cookies” as well. Basically, I’m just too impatient to use three types of ginger. Though I bet Heidi’s cookies are every bit as amazing as they look in her photograph and well worth the effort.
You could also call these gluten-free gingersnaps.
Update: In response to many of the comments I’ve received thus far, I haven’t tried making these without yacon, though feel free to experiment; just be sure to stop back here and let us know how your version turns out :-) I use the yacon in place of molasses (it’s a pre-biotic that aids in digestion). Yacon gives these cookies their dark, rich flavor.
Per the questions regarding the type of ginger called for in this recipe, I use dried ground ginger, the kind you can purchase in a bottle at the supermarket in the spice section.
Kirsten says
Hi Elana, I was making these cookies today and left the yacon syrup out. The cookies came out pretty good, but if you are not using the yacon syrup, then you need to let the cookies cool off for like 25 minutes after you bake them. I love this recipe. Thank you so much.
Carolyn says
The ginger cookies (I used Yacon Syrup and agave ) spread all over the parchment paper on the cookie sheet and made one huge flat cookie. I ended up cutting the huge cookie into squares and eating them that way. They were very good but although I followed the recipe and they spread all over. Does altitude make a difference? We are at 4979 which is lower than Boulder, CO so I figured the recipe was adjusted for altitude. I’m thinking next time I might roll them into a log like for the pecan shortbread, freezing the log, and cutting them just before cooking.
jessica says
what brand of almond flour did you use? was it blanched?
Lydia says
I used olive oil for the oil and orange zest for the lemon zest.
SOOOO good. the orange is amazing!
i ate most of them when they were still warm and not quite firm because they were so good.
Sarah says
I just made these cookies and they are delicious! I used coconut oil for the grapeseed oil (don’t keep it in the house) and unblanched almond flour since that was all I had and they turned out great. Thanks for the recipe!
nora says
Thanks so much for your amazing blog! I love each and every recipe I’ve tried so far!
Just wanted to let you know what alterations I did with this recipe.
I used almond meal for the almond flour, and then added 1/4 c coconut flour. For the oil I used warm coconut oil, then honey for the agave, and molasses for the yacon syrup. Also, fresh ginger, and grated lime.
They turned out awesome!
Thanks again for printing this recipe, as it’s my favorite Christmas cookie!
fern feto spring says
I made these tonight, though I used the Honeyville brand of blanched almond flour I had to add about a cup and a half extra and they still came out rather flat. Not sure what I might be doing wrong?
However, they tasted wonderful-and as I had made some of the coconut frosting for a carrot cake, I put a little on top of one of the spread out and flat cookies, sprinkled a little chopped candied ginger on top and rolled it up into a tube-it was absolutely delicious!
I am curious if others have been able to make these with the above recipe and not have them spread out so thin?
Deanna Adair says
I am allergic to all nuts and I am wondering if there are some other gluten free flours that could be used instead in your recipes.
Susan says
Elana….I have been gluten free for 4 weeks and your recipes have been inspiring me. I can’t wait to get the cookbook. I tried these last night but substituted lemon flavored olive oil for the grape seed oil. I also ran half an organic apple and half organic carrot through my chopper and mixed it in with the wet ingredients. Delicious.
kari says
This recipe looks delicious and I’m going to have to try it, though it isn’t exactly what I was looking for. Do you have any ideas about modifying this to make gingerbread cookies? (The kind you decorate, and might build into a house). Thank you for your yummy recipes and your insights.
elana says
Valen -What kind of almond flour are you using? That could be why they turned out runny. It was great that you added more almond flour! Glad they ultimately worked.
Beth -Sorry to hear that they did not turn out; again, I would ask what kind of almond flour you are using and also suggest that you pack the almond flour in a bit when measuring it.
Deb -Thanks so much for posting an altered version of this recipe on your blog. As I mention in my faq’s, this recipe does NOT work with unblanched almond flour. Thanks for the attempt though!
Andrea says
Hi…I, too, found them flat and runny. I made it exactly as printed, blanched almond flour, yacon syrup, etc. Found them very oily, as well…too much oil residue.
Jenny says
Andrea – I had the same sort of results! Too runny and oily… Even though I only had 8 on one baking sheet, on parchment, they all ran into each other and baked into a very flat rectangle on the baking sheet. There was tons of oil residue left over on the parchment when I tried cutting them into squares (they just cracked into little pieces) and removing them.
I also made the recipe as printed… but I’m beginning to wonder if the freshness of the almond flour is affecting the results – I finely ground up blanched, peeled almonds fresh for the recipe. Maybe that contributed to it being too wet (and thus runny)?
Oh well… It still made a fabulous crumble topping for vanilla ice cream. :)