Grain and Gluten Free Gingerbread

It’s as if chestnut flour was always destined for gingerbread cookies. This sweet, caramel flavoured flour complements the spices in gingerbread to perfection. No wonder the Italians use it so much in their dolce.

Depending on where in the world you live, chestnut flour can be difficult to find (except perhaps Italy…). The health food store is a good place to start. If they don’t have it, ask if they can order it in - it’s well worth your while going to the trouble.

Ingredients

125g butter

½ cup honey

½ cup golden syrup

1 egg yolk

2 ½ cups chestnut flour

1 cup soy flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves or mixed spice

1 tbs ground ginger

½ tsp ground nutmeg

Method

In a large bowl, cream the butter, golden syrup and honey until smooth. Stir in the egg yolk.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Blend into the butter mixture until smooth.

Cover and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 160C°/320°F degrees.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to ½ cm (0.2 in.) thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 ½ cm (1 in.) apart on a cookie tray lined with baking paper.

Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until starting to brown on top. Remove from trays to cool on wire racks. Ice or decorate when cool.

Makes approx. 40 cookies, but having said that, it would depend on how big your cookie shapes are.

After some variations for your grain and gluten free gingerbread?

For a dairy free version of this recipe, substitute margarine or coconut oil for the butter. If you are using coconut oil, reduce the oven temperature by about 30°C/85°F.

If you love the taste of the chestnut flour like I do, you can replace the soy flour with chestnut flour, or a portion of the soy flour with chestnut flour. A note, however, that soy flour browns quicker than chestnut flour, so if you eliminate the soy flour altogether, increase the oven temperature by about 10-15°C/50-60°F.