Orange Ginger Cookies [gf/df]

Okay, winter is here, Christmas music is playing everywhere, our halls have been decked, and I want all the Christmas cookies. This past week I really had a craving for a gingersnap, molassesy something yummy. While I do love a traditional gingerbread (wo)man cookie, crunchy with a strong snap, I do also love something a little more soft - and that's what these are. I also decided I really needed orange in there. Maybe its the combination of the two, maybe its just been too many episodes of The Great British Baking Show (which highlights orange in desserts a ton), either way, I thought it was my time to give it a whirl. I am 100% not disappointed with how these holiday cookies came out. I may even make these this week for my work Christmas party. For a self proclaimed chocoholic, these are even amazing plain - but a little chocolate on them, doesn't hurt either.

The base of these is coconut flour and oat flour. I start with all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. The flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, a little minced ginger, baking powder and salt. I then will zest one whole orange and put that in. Give it a quick mix and then in go the wet ingredients. Two teaspoons of vanilla, one-ish tablespoons of maple syrup or honey, two eggs, molasses and juice half of an orange (Around 1/4 cup). Mix thoroughly and place in the fridge to chill. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, and use this time to clean up the kitchen, after about 5-10 minutes your dough should be chilled.

Roll out into about an inch sized ball and place on baking sheet. [If you plan to roll in sugar, now is the time to do it.] I then will use a glass and flatten them to my desired thickness. This isn't the kind of dough that will just flatten out, so make them whatever height you'd like your cookies to be - if you leave them as balls, they will stay that way.

Bake for 10 minutes total, flipping around in the oven halfway through. Let cool and top with chocolate if you'd like. To make my chocolate glaze, which some I dunked, and some I drizzled, I melted 1/4 cup of chocolate with one tablespoon of juice from an orange. Let the cookies cool before you attempt the glaze. They would also be great with a simple orange glaze using powdered sugar, rolled in coconut sugar (before baking) or even good plain. You could even roll these out and use cookie cutters. Either way, these will be sticking into my new holiday cookie rotation. I may have eaten three already...

Orange Ginger Holiday Cookies [GF/DF]

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups oat flour

• 1/3 cup coconut flour

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon fresh minced ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• Zest of one orange

• Juice of half an orange (about 1/4 cup)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 1 Tablespoon maple syrup

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 2 eggs

Optional toppings: roll in coconut sugar. For chocolate glaze melt 1/4 cup dairy free chocolate (I like Enjoy Life) with 1 tablespoon and drizzle or dunk.

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Add all dry ingredients, ginger and orange zest to a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly.

3. Add remaining ingredients and stir until batter forms. Place in fridge to chill for 5-10 minutes.

4. Remove from fridge, roll into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheet. Push flat to desired thickness with glass. If rolling in sugar, now is the time to do it!

5. Baking for 10 minutes total, flipping halfway through for an even bake.

6. Remove from oven and let cool on rack.

7. If doing chocolate glaze: melt chocolate and orange juice. Dunk or drizzle as you like and let harden before putting away.

xx

Rita