Stevia Sweetened Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies

O my stars, is that some starry spice cookies sweetened with stevia?!? Why yes, yes they are gingerbread stars sweetened with stevia. Hm, delicious and nutritious too :)

I made some "sugar" cut out cookies in my last post that were sweetened with NuNaturals liquid vanilla stevia. My newest best friend in the baking department. Yes, stevia is much different than adding some refined brown or white sugar, but for the sake of a healthy life, it is worth the difference. These cookies are not meant to be super sweet, but just enough sweetness to be a yummy treat. Also, these lovely cookies leave you the option to frost or top with other special icings or decorations. This recipe is based purely off of my last recipe post. Since the "sugar" cut out cookies, I have been imagining the added spice to make a gingerbread version. They too are not on the super sweet side and may be perfect for adding a touch of icing or decor. Especially if you decide to cut out actual ginger-men-people :) I decided to do stars. Pretty stars that remind me to look up to the sky and say thanks this season. 

 Stevia Sweetened Sugar Cookie Recipe (vegan)

Dry:

1 1/3 cup of fresh buckwheat flour (I grind my own fresh flour from groats in my magic bullet)

2/3 cup of tapioca flour

2/3 cup of organic millet flour

1 TB of chia seed meal

1 TB of flax seed meal

1/3 cup of coconut palm sugar 

1/2 ts. of baking powder

1/2 ts. of baking soda

1/4 ts. of sea salt

1 ts. of ground cinnamon

1 ts. of ground ginger

1/2 ts. of ground cloves

1/2 ts. of ground nutmeg

dash of allspice

Wet:

7 TB of room-temperature organic coconut oil (I used Nutiva)

4 TB of unsweetened applesauce (I used homemade)

2-3 TB of water

3 TB of blackstrap molasses

1 ts. of apple cider vinegar 

40-45 drops of Pure NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia Liquid

Mix all the dry ingredients together first, then add the wet and mix well with your clean hands or a spatula. It helps to plop the dough on a parchment paper sprinkled with your choice flour (tapioca, millet or buckwheat). If your dough is too wet this will help it become more of a pliable roll of dough, and can use up to another 1/4 cup of flour in rolling out. Dust your rolling pin with flour and then roll out your dough around 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick. Roll the dough as much as you can and then use your cookie cutters in the dough. Try and get as many cookies as you can, then roll out the remainder and repeat. You should get between 2 dozen cookies depending on the size of your cutters. 

The dough is a perfect pliable dough, so if you do not want to make cookie shapes with cutters you could roll dough balls or mold some shapes. The dough also sticks together better than any other GF  cut out cookie I had made before, so I was pretty excited about that. I am going to experiment more with this flour and wet base for this cookies to see what else I can come up with. Also, perfect for a teething baby or toddler to hold onto and chew on and still the buckwheat cookie will melt with moisture in your mouth.


Place all your cookie cut-outs on a parchment papered cookie sheet (or non-stick pan would work too) and you do not need to set too far apart because they do not expand too much. If you want more sweetness, you could sprinkle some coconut palm sugar on top before baking. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before moving from cookie sheet and can let the cookies remain to cool on a cooling rack or paper.  Top with icing and deco if you desire. Maybe a maple glaze would be a nice finish if you didn't want icing and decor. 

P.S.

Regardless of these being great "Christmas" gingerbread cookies for the holiday...these cookies are also rich in iron and magnesium. With the buckwheat and molasses, plus the chia and flax you will get an amazing kick of vitamins and minerals. So even after the holidays have passed, these thick cookies serve as a perfect snack for the anemic, malnourished, or growing babe.  

So, I have been having fun with my Christmas cookie cutters. I think it is way more fun to make fun cookies when you have a little boy to enjoy them. He really still doesn't appreciate the shapes too much yet, but it is the beginning to a fun tradition. I hope you are enjoying the season and are able to slow down and really have some special moments with ones you love. These cookies may just help you get into the spirit. Stop the gluten-free grinch and make some cookies :)


Much love to you as always!