Healthy gingerbread cookies taste just as delicious as the traditional version but are made with gluten-free almond flour. They are so fun to decorate!
These healthier gingerbread cookies have the perfect balance of sweet and spicy gingerbread flavors. For an easy holiday cookie, you can top them with any icing you love or roll them in coconut sugar.
They are naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan. If you have friends or family members following a grain-free or Paleo diet, they are the perfect Christmas cookie to make.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Almond flour is made from ground almonds, but this recipe calls for blanched almond flour, which means the skins were removed first. Because of this, blanched almond flour looks similar to all-purpose flour.
If you use almond meal (made from whole ground almonds), the cookies may turn out more soft and dense.
The arrowroot starch in this recipe acts as an egg substitute and lends a more flour-like texture to the cookies. If you don’t keep arrowroot on hand, you could probably use cornstarch or tapioca starch with similar results.
The most important thing to know about this recipe is that you can tweak the ratios slightly. I’ve been playing with this one for years, and if you prefer less molasses flavor, you can reduce that to just one teaspoon and add two extra teaspoons of maple syrup for a slightly sweeter flavor. (My kids don’t mind either way once the frosting as been added.)
You can also taste the dough and modify the spices as desired.
These cookies are naturally dairy-free because they are made with coconut oil. Use refined coconut oil for zero coconut flavor. Or, swap this for melted butter if you don’t need a dairy-free recipe. (If you use salted butter, omit the salt in this recipe.)
How to Make Healthy Gingerbread Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot starch
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Use a whisk to mix the ingredients, breaking up any clumps as you go.
Next, add the wet ingredients:
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
Use a rubber spatula to stir until the dough looks uniform. Place the bowl of dough in the freezer for 30 minutes to chill. Or it can be chilled in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.
Skip the cookie cutters
To make regular ginger cookies, scoop the dough with a tablespoon and roll each ball in cane sugar, if desired. Then, arrange the balls on a lined baking sheet and bake as directed.
Place a large piece of parchment paper on your work surface. Then, place the chilled cookie dough in the center of the paper.
Cover the dough with another piece of parchment paper to help prevent sticking. (This will also help prevent cross-contamination if your rolling pin has ever worked with gluten flour.) Use a rolling pin to roll the dough evenly into a flat layer about 1/4-inch thick.
Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes. Then, carefully remove the excess dough and transfer the cutouts to a large parchment-lined baking sheet.
Repeat with the remaining dough, rolling out the scraps to cut out more cookie shapes. You should get at least 12 cookies from this batch, but the number will vary depending on the size and shape of your cookie cutters. (I usually get more than 12!)
Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on how crispy you like. The longer you cook them, the crispier they will be. Remove the cookies after just 10 minutes of baking for a soft center.
Let the cookies cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes, as they will be fragile when warm. Once they have firmed up, you can transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling if you need to use the pan to bake more cookies.
Once the cookies are cool, you can add any decorations you like! Frost them with a simple powdered sugar frosting (recipe below), or try coconut sugar frosting for a naturally sweetened option.
Serve the cookies at room temperature, or transfer them to an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze these cookies for up to 3 months.
Looking for more cookie recipes? Try Almond Flour Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, or Thumbprint Cookies.
- 1 ½ cups almond flour (almond meal works, too)
- ¼ cup arrowroot or tapioca starch
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
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Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl combined the almond flour, starch, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder and stir to combine. Add in the coconut oil, maple syrup and molasses and stir again until a sticky dough is formed.
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To make cut-out cookies, place the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes to help it firm up, or in the fridge for up to 2 hours. (Alternatively, you can skip the cut-out cookies and just roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls, roll them in a bit of coconut sugar, and flatten them on the baking sheet with your hand.)
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Once the dough has been chilled, place the dough in the center of a large piece of parchment paper, then place another piece of parchment paper on top. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a flat layer, about 1/4-inch thick. Pull away the excess dough to reveal each shape, and re-roll the dough to create more shapes. You should end up with 12 to 15 cookies, if use use cookie cutters about the size of the palm of your hand.
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Bake the cookies at 350ºF for about 10 minutes for cookies with a soft center, or 12 to 14 minutes for a more crisp cookie. (The edges should brown for a crispier cookie.) Allow them to cool completely on the pan before icing and serving. They will firm up as they cool.
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Leftover cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week in the fridge, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Simple Powdered Sugar Frosting: Combine 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon of water in a medium bowl. Stir well, and add another teaspoon of water, if needed to thin the texture even more. Spread the frosting on cooled cookies, then let them dry on a cooling rack.
For a Sweeter Cookie: Reduce the molasses to only 1 teaspoon, and increase the maple syrup by adding 2 extra teaspoons.
Update Note: This recipe was updated in December 2022. I swapped the baking soda for baking powder (since this recipe doesn’t call for eggs or an acid, like lemon juice or vinegar, the baking powder makes more sense), and I added a pinch of ground cloves for extra spice. Feel free to stick to the original recipe if you prefer.
Calories: 103kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 38mg | Potassium: 16mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1mg
If you try this gingerbread cookie recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below, letting me know how you like it.
