Gingerbread

Gingerbread people, stars or trees. Enjoy these classic biscuits plain or adorn them with your favourite edible decorations at Christmas and throughout the year.

Makes 22 using a 10cm x 8cm (4inch x 3inch) cutter

Ingredients

Dry

225g / 1½ cups Anything But Ordinary Plain Flour

30g / ¼ cup arrowroot (see note)

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking powder

Wet

80ml / ⅓ cup apple juice, unsweetened

120ml / ½ cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon / 20 ml molasses

125g / ½ cup almond butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon bicarb soda

Method

Sieve the Anything But Ordinary Plain Flour, arrowroot, ginger and baking powder into a bowl. Whisk together.

Place apple juice, maple syrup, molasses, almond butter and vanilla in a small saucepan over low heat and stir to combine. Once hot, take off heat and add bicarb soda. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until a dough has formed. It will be sticky at this point. Scrape the bowl with a spatula and form into two balls with your hands. Flatten into disc shapes and wrap before placing in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Line a couple of cookie trays with baking paper.

Rub a small amount of flour over a sheet of baking paper, place on a disc of dough from fridge and put another sheet of baking paper over the disc. Using a rolling pin, roll thinly, about 3mm/⅛ inch, between the sheets of baking paper. Remove top sheet and using a cookie cutter, press into the dough to get as many shapes as possible. Lift away excess dough and with a metal spatula transfer each gingerbread man onto prepared cookie tray, being careful to retain their shape. Form the scraps into a ball and roll again, flouring the paper again to prevent sticking. Repeat with the other disc of dough from the fridge and after the second roll combine the leftover bits from both discs to cut out the last few shapes.

Bake for 20 minutes until crisp. If appearing to burn your oven temp is too high. They need the time to bake the moisture out of the dough, otherwise they become tough. Leave on trays to cool. Will keep in a covered container for a couple of weeks , provided they have been baked til crisp. They are delicious plain but can also be decorated with chocolate or icing.

Note - This recipe uses McKenzie’s Arrowroot that is available in a canister from the baking section of supermarkets. It’s actually tapioca flour so if you have some that can be substituted.