Ginger Molasses Cookies – Gluten & Dairy Free
There’s only one problem with baking cookies. With only two of us in the house who do you think eats them all? That’s right, Joe does! Just kidding … I’m testing this out to see if he’s reading my blog or just looking at the pictures 😉 Really, both of us eat them. I do try to bring some  into work to share with those lucky ducks my co-workers, but a lot of sampling goes on at home, too.
The key is to make the most healthy version that I can, and balance out the noshing with regular exercise. These little beauties have ingredients with lots of nutritional value so they now have a place in my rotation.
Meet molasses, everyone! If you aren’t familiar with the nutritional profile of molasses let me enlighten you! As someone who has struggled with low iron levels, molasses is a great addition to my diet as it is very rich in iron. Low levels of this mineral can result in headaches and fatigue. Who has time for that? Definitely not me. With work, school and writing/photographing for the blog I need my energy levels to be at a premium. I guess I’d better eat a lot of these cookies!
To also make these both gluten and dairy free I made a few changes from the original recipe by subbing out the regular wheat flour with ground almonds and the butter with Earth Balance, which is a vegan, butter like spread.
I also swapped out the white sugar for organic cane sugar. This type of sugar is not refined and has nutritional benefits such as a high potassium content which is helpful with digestion.
Start by whisking together the ground almonds with the baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and sea salt.
Next, melt the Earth Balance…
…then mix it in well with the cane sugar and egg.
Pour in the molasses.
Bit by bit, blend in the ground almond mixture until it is all combined really well.
At this point cover and chill the cookie dough for one hour. The original recipe states that this is a very important step so who am I to say otherwise? Into the fridge it goes…
Preheat the oven to 375 and line your baking sheets with parchment.
Add the remaining cane sugar into a shallow bowl. Make small balls from the dough (about 1/2 the size of a golf ball) and roll them in the sugar.
Place each ball 2 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheets. Only 8 balls will fit on each sheet so you will need 4 cookie sheets or bake them in 2 batches.
I baked them for 8 minutes. It’s a little hard as with regular, flour and sugar versions you will see a crackling on the top of the cookie and with these that doesn’t happen. You definitely don’t want them to burn so keep a close eye on them…
Cool them on a cookie sheet.
These cookies are amazing right after cooling. They are deliciously crispy and chewy. They do crisp up a bit more once they’ve been stored for awhile but that didn’t stop me, Joe or my co-workers from gobbling up the entire batch 🙂
This recipe is adapted from Grandma’s Molasses Cookies.
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Ginger Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups ground almonds
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 3/4 cup Earth Balance melted
- 1 cup plus 1/3 cup cane sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup molasses
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together ground almonds, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon & ginger. Set aside.
- In large bowl, blend together the melted Earth Balance, 1 cup of cane sugar and egg, until smooth. Stir in molasses.
- Gradually add almond mixture until well combined.
- Cover and chill dough in fridge for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Roll out small balls of dough and roll in cane sugar.
- Place 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Fit 8 balls per sheet.
- Bake approximately 8 minutes, watching not to burn.
- Cool on racks, then store in a sealed container.