Nothing says Christmas like Ginger Shortbread Cookies. This recipe for grain-free, Paleo Ginger Shortbread Cookies is as quick and easy as it gets. The cookie itself has only six ingredients. You can dip these gluten-free cookies in chocolate and sprinkles (as pictured above), or eat them straight up.
I want to thank all of you who chat with me over on my Facebook page for letting me know that you appreciate the simplicity of my grain-free recipes. Did you know that I’ve been grain-free and Paleo since 2001. I’m often asked why I follow a strict grain-free diet, if you’d like to know more about that I recommend taking a look at my post on creating a healing plan for yourself –diet is a big part of my self-care program.
Now back to cookies. And the fabulousness that is ginger. Ginger is not only a fantastic flavor, it is an extraordinary herb that we use for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Did you ever wonder how this came to be? According to both Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine ginger has (among its many amazing benefits) warming properties; it’s also a detoxifying herb, but that’s a topic for another post entirely. In any event, given that the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays fall during some of the chilliest times of year, an herb that warms your constitution is not only delicious, it is functional. So there you have it, that’s why we have a tradition of eating ginger during the winter holidays.
I have lots of recipes that use ginger –here’s a recipe for Ginger Licorice Tea which will warm you to the bone on a chilly day. And here are my famous Ginger Shortbread Cookies. Well, at least they’re famous among the boys and their friends.
Ginger Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons palm shortening
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 ounces chocolate chips
- 1 package gluten-free sprinkles
Instructions
- In a food processor combine almond flour and salt
- Pulse in baking soda and ginger
- Pulse in shortening and honey until dough forms
- Scoop batter 1 tablespoon at a time onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
- Flatten dough with the palm of your hand
- Cut out (or trim) circles of dough with a 2 inch cookie cutter
- Bake at 350°F for 7-10 minutes until golden brown
- Let cool on the baking sheets
- Melt chocolate over very low heat
- Dip each ginger snap halfway into the chocolate
- Let excess chocolate drip off into pan
- Cover with sprinkles if desired
- Place cookies on baking sheet and let chocolate harden
- Serve
This month I’ve been doing quite a bit of grain-free baking for the holidays. My children and their friends are really enjoying the treats that I’ve been testing. And I’m enjoying that they’re eating real food without crazy ingredients and odd preservatives. Here’s to hoping the holidays are bringing happiness to your home as well!
Here are some other grain-free chocolate cookie recipes that are perfect for the holidays:
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Catherine says
Made these tonight. Yummy.
Also tried making the paleo tortillas, only 1 Tablespoon coconut flour. Is that accurate????
Maria says
I love ginger cookies. By the way, I made your triple chocolate cookies for Santa last year, at the insistence of my kids. He devoured them.
sue says
Sandy: Did you use solid or liquid coconut oil? I don’t have a food processor and wonder if liquid could work.
sandy gypp says
Solid, in my Ninja.
Tammy says
Just made them and they have lots going for them. Personally they were not gingery enough for me so next time I am going to tripe the ginger… Am also thing of adding some molasses in place of the honey… Bit the texture is great and I love that the batch size was not too big and it all happened in one bowl. Thanks Elana !
sandy gypp says
I used coconut oil and they turned out amazing!
I baked for a full 10 minutes, next time I’ll probably go for 8.
These had just the right amount of ginger too.
I used Bobs Redmill almond flour and gave it a few extra pulses.
I made 1\2 of the recipe.
This is my first major Paleo baking sucess!
Kariba says
What can I use in lieu of the shortening? Can i use Coconut oil? Ghee?thank you!
Jane says
Could someone who has made these cookies please comment and let us know how they came out? Thanks!
Lisa Daniel says
Jane, Elana made them and posted them here. That means they taste great! Thanks, Elana =)
QueenJellyBean says
I made these. Here are my results: a)) Yielded 20 cookies even though I used same ingredients as Elana b))Crowd pleasing taste, I gave a cookie to everyone I volunteered with yesterday and young and old, foodie or junk-foodie, everyone smilled and made that mmmm sound c)) batter looked ‘sandy’ to me, I was worried the cookies wouldn’t form, so I rolled little balls, pressing them into my hands, then flattened each ball with the bottom of a coffee cup, then started flattening directly with my fingers. Worked great, the formation of little dough balls in my hand made the dough less ‘sandy’ and stuck together well. d)) The Chocolate – to save time I melted about 1/3 cup of choc chips in the microwave, 1 1/2 minutes on 30% power, spooned a blob of chocolate in the middle of the cooled cookie, then stuck them in the freezer for 10 minutes. With a few cookies I put the chocolate chips inside the dough before baking. One eater said she liked the blob of chocolate in the middle because she could control how much chocolate she got in each bite. e)) Flavor Variation – I only had 1/2 a teaspoon of dried ginger left, so I added that plus more than a TB of pumpkin pie spice, worked out great and one of 15 eaters said he tatest cinnamon. f)) Calorie Count – for 1 of 20 Cookies in a batch, Calories: 88, Total Fat: 6.74g, Total Carbs: 6.01g, Protein: 2.3g
Cathleen says
Just wanted to let you know, not only do these look delicious, but your site has the best *print recipe* set up of any site I’ve been to.
Christi Hamburger says
YUM! These look great! Thank you Elana!!!
Alyssa says
Well these look divine! I love the personal touch of chocolate and sprinkles.