These AIP Gingerbread Cookies and Frosting taste just like my great-grandmother’s cookies. You can join the cookie decorating fun, even while on a healing diet!
COOKIES!!! I thought I would have to give up baking when I went on the AIP, but I have found ways… This year, I had a powerful yearning for gingerbread. I found my great-grandmother’s recipe for gingerbread, and adapted it, since the original had tons of sugar, and many non-compliant ingredients.
I learned something during this process which has saved me. In this recipe and any others that require rolling the dough (even my AIP pie crust!), place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper before rolling. This keeps your dough from drying out with too much flour! Try it!
One last thing. You will need a food processor for this recipe. There is just no getting around it. A good friend of mine tried to use a blender, and it didn’t work. Fortunately, Santa brought her a food processor, and it worked beautifully!
Now, I pass this recipe on to you with warm wishes for a simple, lovely holiday season.
Happy baking!!!!
💗,
Wendi
AIP Gingerbread Cookies and Frosting
Course: DessertCuisine: AIP, PaleoDifficulty: Easy2
dozen25
minutes10
minutes30
minutesThese AIP Gingerbread Cookies and Frosting taste just like my great-grandmother’s cookies. You can join the cookie decorating fun, even while on a healing diet!
Ingredients
For the cookies:
1/2 C. 1/2 chopped, pitted dates
1/2 C. 1/2 blackstrap molasses
1/2 C. 1/2 palm shortening
1/2 C. 1/2 full fat coconut milk
1 T. 1 apple cider vinegar
1 C. 1 (150 g) or 5 1/4 ozs. cassava flour
1 1/2 C. 1 1/2 (173 g) or 6 ozs. arrowroot flour
1 T. 1 gelatin
1 1/2 t. 1 1/2 baking soda
1 t. 1 dried ginger
1/2 t. 1/2 cinnamon
1/2 t. 1/2 cloves
1/2 t. 1/2 cream of tartar
For the frosting:
1/2 C. 1/2 palm shortening
1/4 cup 1/4 arrowroot flour
1 T. 1 maple syrup
Items for coloring: carob powder, cinnamon, beet juice, blueberry juice, pomegranate juice, whatever…
Directions
- For the cookies:
- In a food processor, cream together dates, molasses and shortening until fluffy and without lumps. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl multiple times to get everything fully incorporated.
- Add vinegar to coconut milk, and set aside.
- In separate bowl, mix the remaining eight ingredients.
- With processor on, gradually add the coconut milk mixture through the feeder tube. Add dry ingredients in batches, processing until the dough comes together in a ball. (Note: If your dough is too wet, simply add 2 tablespoons of cassava flour at a time, until you have a stiff, workable dough. No worries.) Wrap dough in plastic, and chill it in the refrigerator for thirty minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough in batches between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/4”. No less, though! Cut into shapes and place on lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool before decorating.
- For the frosting:
- Mix first three ingredients in a bowl with a hand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Divide frosting to desired number of colors. Add colorings. Pipe onto cooled cookies.
Recipe Video
Notes
- For best results, weigh your flour!
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Thanks Wendy, they look amazing. I Want to make these for sure. My tradition for gingerbread includes chocolate. Do you think a little carob powder added in would work? How do they taste without the frosting, still yummy?
Sure! I made frosting for decorating using carob. One thing I’ve learned on the AIP is that each person is different, and we have to do what works for us individually. Incidentally, these should be eaten right away! I’ve found that baking with cassava flour, baked goods wilt pretty quickly, unlike things baked with gluten. I don’t know why. 🤷🏼♀️ Let me know how they turn out! -Wendi
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Hi there,
Just curious about the gelatin as I’m not a fan of what it does to food haha even in tiny amounts. Is it essential in your recipe? I love working with Cassava and found it blends amazing with almond flour in baking–puffs it all up!
Hi, Judy! I’m using gelatin to replace eggs. How I WISH I could use eggs in my baking recipes – and almond flour, too – but those are avoided on the AIP. Folks who are sensitive to nuts could react to almond flour. If you tolerate it, I say, go for it! I bet it would be delightful. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Thank you Wendy, very clever! These are for one of my sons who needs to be on the AIP for about 6 months and I want to make sure he doesn’t miss out on gingerbread this year!
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Plan on making these. Does the icing dry and harden up? I plan on freezing these since I’m making them ahead
Interesting question! I would say “sort of.” I’m guessing you’re asking if the frosting hardens on decorated cookies. If you want to test it, you could make the frosting, wrap it in plastic wrap with no air getting to it, and test a little bit of it on a plate. I think you could freeze the cookies, then just decorate them closer to serving. Since the frosting doesn’t contain cane sugar, it won’t harden as much as regular frosting. Am I making any sense…?
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Wendi , I just started AIP two months ago . It has been so so rough. The desserts just got me by , nothing special just slightly filled the void i have from my missing sweets .
THIS WAS IMPRESSIVE. I am in love with this recipe I can’t even tell it doesn’t have all the old ingredients I used to use. Thank you so much it brought back my joy of baking I can’t wait for the holidays now . I am also looking forward to your other recipes:) god bless you !
Brittany, your message has made my day! I know what you mean about baking. I used to LOVE to bake – especially cookies, bread, and bagels. I thought I wouldn’t be able to bake again. But we can! It will be slightly different, but it’s totally possible. I hope you find some more things that bring back your JOY! 🙂
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Hi, these looks lovely! Do you think I could sub another sweetener for dates? My body doesn’t do well with dried fruit. Thank you!!
Hi, Heather! Wow, that’s a good question. The dried fruit adds some body and chewy-ness as well as sweetness. You could try some maple sugar, but with the understanding that whatever subs you make in an AIP baking recipe may not work. I wish I had an easy answer for you, but… yeesh. It’s dicey… Sorry!
This recipe is amazing. The shapes bake perfectly. The gingerbread smell coming from the oven is delicious. We would have eaten the whole batch in one sitting if I didn’t rescue some and hide them for later.
I know what you mean! I keep snitching the dough when I make it. Hahaha! Thank you for writing to me. Happiest of holidays to you! – Wendi
By chance, will regular whole milk substitute well for the coconut milk? Thanks!
Possibly. Since I haven’t tried it, I can’t say for sure. (Note that it would not be AIP if dairy is used.) Best of luck to you! 😀