Happy December dear friends! For the rest of this fine festive month, we will be showcasing Christmas cookie recipes. They will all be gluten free and absolutely delicious.
I am totally one of those people who loves Christmas–I get all sappy when I hear Christmas carols, I love the way the decorated tree sparkles and twinkles and I love the excuse Christmas gives me to be with family and friends while sipping on hot chocolate.
One of my favourite parts of the season is delivering cookies to my people. For the last few years, I’ve made this currant gingersnap recipe by the wonderful women at Canal House (if you’ve never leafed through their adorable books, start now). This is the first year that I’ve been able to convert them into a totally gluten and grain free recipe without sacrificing any flavour.
Here’s a little note about these cookies…they’re not health food. Do they contain corn syrup? No. Do they have even a dusting of white flour? Nope. Are they doused in artificially flavoured sprinkles? Nah. These cookies are made using naturally gluten free cassava flour. They are flavoured with freshly ground spices. And I’ve replaced the white sugar with coconut sugar.
But repeat after me: Sugar is Sugar is Sugar.
That’s right, it don’t matter if it’s white, brown or purple with yellow spots, stuff that we eat that contains sugar is a treat. And instead of trying to health-ify our sweet tooth, we should just acknowledge that it feels good to eat sweet stuff now and again. There are far worse ways to spend your time than sharing in the cheer of the season around a cup of tea and some homemade cookies. That’s why I don’t sweat that these cookies contain 3 types of sugar: coconut sugar, molasses and cane sugar. I’m only going to eat a couple and I can rest assured that these cookies have been made from real, whole foods and contain zero junk. In fact molasses even provides some trace minerals and is a good source of iron! So I can relax and enjoy the sweetness without having any guilt because guilt is a waste of time and it is not welcome here.
My only caveat is that whatever sugar I buy is organic and fair trade. Most commercial sugar is genetically modified so buying organic ensures that it’s not. And as we know, sugar cane is harvested from countries where labour laws and power dynamics are not favourable to those working in the fields. Pay that extra bit for fair trade so that you know the workers who made the sugar possible get their fair wages and proper treatment.
Just one other note, the cassava flour I use here is made of the dried root vegetable, yuca. The yuca is ground into a powder which produces a lovely light flour that can be used as a 1:1 replacement for wheat flour. Tapioca starch is also derived from the yuca plant but it is just the starch of the plant. Tapioca starch is very light and dry and cannot replace wheat flour without some adjustments. Please do not use tapioca starch in place of the cassava flour. The best brand of cassava flour out there is Otto’s Naturals. This can be ordered in Canada from this website and it’s totally worth the price!
Now go on and bake up a batch of cookies and really kick off the holiday season. What are some of your favourite holiday baking projects? I’m always looking for new inspiration so please leave a comment below.
| Currant Gingersnaps | Print |
- 4.5 cups of Otto's cassava flour (buy here)
- 4 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 340 g (3/4 lb) butter, unsalted and softened
- 1.5 cups coconut sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 cups currants, dried
- organic granulated cane sugar, for rolling
- Place the butter and coconut sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, several minutes.
- Meanwhile, in another large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Add the eggs to the butter and sugar one at a time until fully combined.
- Add the molasses and vanilla and beat until smooth.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and add in the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until evenly combined.
- Stir in the currants.
- Turn dough out onto plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least 30 miinutes or as long as a day.
- Once fully chilled, preheat the oven to 375 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
- Pour some cane sugar into a small bowl for rolling.
- Shape the dough into walnut-sized balls and roll each ball in the sugar until coated.
- Place the cookie balls on the baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. If you run out of room, just place the remaining dough back in the fridge until the next round.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the house is fragrant and the tops are crackled.
- Cool on a cooling rack and then store in an airtight container.
Im a healthy foodie doubled as a cookie baking fanatic so when I make cookies, I also use high-quality natural ingredients! I always make sure to tell my family that just because I use healthy ingredients, doesn’t mean they can eat 15 in a sitting lol! These gingersnaps look mighty fine! I love using cassava flour in place of regular!
Yes, that is good advice Bethany! We’re loving cassava flour as well. Another recipe to come using cassava flour later this week 🙂
Best cookies I ever tried!Thank you guy:)
*guys
It was our pleasure Vica! Glad you liked them 🙂
So happy to have found you through Pinterest {this recipe}. Your photos are beautiful. I’m a huge fan of gingersnaps and have just started using cassava. I have to say, the currants are what drew me in. They remind me of my mom, she always used them in this Martha Stewart recipe that she made … mini muffins with currants sliced in half with sliced turkey and some kind of jam. I’m missing my mom today and your recipe brought me to happy tears. Pinned + sharing.