Soft Honey Gingerbread Cookies (Molasses free)

These soft honey gingerbread cookies are everything and you have to try them ASAP. They are soft, fluffy, slightly chewy, and full of flavor from spices such as cloves, ginger, and cinnamon. They are not only the perfect holiday treat, but also gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free, Paleo and AIP.

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Soft Honey Gingerbread Cookies (Molasses free)

I present to you your new favorite holiday recipe. These soft honey gingerbread cookies are the bomb. The texture and the flavor are on point and they are really easy to make. If you know what a lebkuchen is (traditional German gingerbread), this is basically the naked version of a specific type of lebkuchen. But you can glaze it with chocolate (AIP reintro) and you will have the real deal – more about that below.

If you are not a fan of molasses, this recipe is for you, because it only uses honey as a sweetener. It is suitable for many people with food sensitivities since it is dairy and gluten-free, nut and egg-free, Paleo, and AIP.

soft honey gingerbread cookies

Wanna get more holiday and special occasion recipes? Get my AIP/Paleo holiday cookbook, including a full Thanksgiving spread and many holiday desserts.

Ingredients

  • cassava flour
  • tigernut flour
  • arrowroot flour
  • coconut oil
  • honey
  • vanilla powder or extract
  • ground cloves
  • ground ginger
  • cinnamon
  • baking soda
  • water
  • gelatin powder
stack of honey gingerbread cookies

How to Make these Soft Honey Gingerbread Cookies

  1. In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. In a small bowl combine all wet ingredients. Mix the wet and the dry mix with a spoon and use your hands to make a smooth dough. The consistency should be quite soft. Place the bowl with the dough in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.
  2. In the meantime preheat the oven to 350 F. Once the dough has chilled make 12 small balls (about tablespoon size each) and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Make sure you keep enough room around so they can spread.
  3. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden browned. The cookies will still be very soft at this point. Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes to firm up, before placing them on a cooling rack.
  4. Once cooled off store them in an air-tight container on the counter to keep them soft. You can store them for a couple of days.

How to Make these Honey Gingerbread Cookies into German Gingerbread (Lebkuchen)

Once they have completely cooled off you can glaze them with dark chocolate (not AIP). Simply melt the chocolate in a double boiler or place a bowl on top of a pot with water and melt the chocolate in there. Use a basting brush to glaze the cookies, or use a spoon if you don’t have one.

 honey gingerbread cookies glazed with chocolate

Recipe Notes and Adjustments

How to adjust the flavor:

  • If you like your gingerbread cookies to be milder/less spicy you can use 1/4 tsp of cloves. You could also reduce the amount of ginger to 3/4 tsp.
  • The type of honey you use will change the taste of the cookies. Keep that in mind. There are many different types of honey and they all vary in taste. I like to use raw local honey from for example wildflowers. But this of course is a personal preference. So pick whicherver you like best.

Substitutions:

  • Vanilla powder: If you don’t have access to vanilla powder you can simply use vanilla extract. You would then use double the amount since the powder is more intense. In this case you would use 1 tsp of vanilla extract. For AIP make sure it is alcohol free.
  • Coconut oil: To make it coocnut free you can use another oil/fat of your choice. Avocado oil, olive oil (although the flavor will change more), and butter if you tolerate dairy would be great options.
  • Tigernut flour: If you don’t have access to tigernut flour you could try subsituting it with almond flour – this would not be AIP elimination phase compliant.

How to store them:

To keep the honey gingerbread cookies soft place them directly in an airtight container after they have cooled off and store them on the counter for a few days.

More Holiday Treats

Do you crave sweets a lot? Desserts on occasion are great, but frequent cravings are a sign of blood sugar dysregulation. This can easily be fixed without deprivation and restriction. If you need help with this schedule a free discovery call to work together.

Now I would love to hear from you. Try the recipe and let me know what you think in the comment section below. And as always don’t forget to tag me in your food pictures on Instagram.

Happy baking

~ Annika

Soft Honey Gingerbread Cookies (Molasses free)

These cookies are everything and you have to try them ASAP. They are soft, fluffy, slightly chewy, with just the right amount of spices. The perfect holiday treat. They are also gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free, Paleo and AIP.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Resting time 5 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 cookies

Ingredients
  

Dry ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cassava flour
  • 1/2 cup tigernut flour
  • 2 Tbsp arrowroot flour
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves (if you like your cookies less spicey you can also use 1/4 tsp instead)
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 0.5 Tbsp gelatin powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract – alcohol-free for AIP)

Wet Ingredients

  • 6 Tbsp coconut oil
  • 6 Tbsp honey
  • 1.5 Tbsp water

Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. In a small bowl combine all wet ingredients. Mix the wet and the dry mix with a spoon and use your hands to make a smooth dough. The consistency should be quite soft. Place the bowl with the dough in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.
  • In the meantime preheat the oven to 350 F. Once the dough has chilled make 12 small balls (about tablespoon size each) and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Make sure you keep enough room around so they can spread.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden browned. The cookies will still be very soft at this point. Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes to firm up, before placing them on a cooling rack.
  • Once cooled off store them in an air-tight container on the counter to keep them soft. You can store them for a couple of days.

Notes

If you can have chocolate you can melt some chocolate and glaze the cookies once cooled off.
Keyword aip, dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, nute-free, paleo
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