Gingerbread Cookies ~ Holiday Gifts

December 17, 2022January 1, 202322 Comments

This holiday season enjoy a nutritional treat! Healthy, soft, chewy, sugar free gingerbread cookies.

Gingerbread Cookies (Sugar-Free Keto) Recipe

Servings: 2 dozen
Time: 15 mins+ cook time
Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS
2 cups almond meal*
1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or salt free butter -or- ghee butter)
3 tbsp maple syrup
4 Medjool dates
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
A pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS
(1) Combine almond meal, dates and all of the spices in a food processor. Process until combined.
(2) Add coconut oil (or unsalted butter), maple syrup and egg. Process again until a soft dough forms.
(3) Remove the dough and roll flat between 2 pieces of parchment paper (about 1/8 to 1/4 inch). Thicker cookies are chewier
(4) Place in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up.
(5) Preheat oven to 300 °F (150 °C)
(6) Cut out into shapes with a gingerbread cutter and place cookies onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
(7) Bake at for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and cool.
Optional step: After cooling, add sugar free cream cheese frosting. ..see link below
CHEWY Cookie: Reduce Cooking time. e.g. instead of 15 minutes, take cookies out at 11 minutes. (suggested by Mrs. Fields). You be the judge.

One cookie = 77 Calories

Finished Cookie

The above recipe results in light coloured cookies .. & dark specks from the almond meal. For a darker cookie use almond ‘flour‘ and substitute in coconut sugar or brown Monk’s fruit for the maple syrup. Changes the cookie to a darker colour. Monk Fruit –> LINK —>Monk Fruit . I thought about adding food coloring. I need to research this a bit more. Experiment for yourself to get the results you wish to achieve.

Baking – STEPS

To get the classic brown colored cookie–> Recipe LINK–> Keto Gingerbread Cookies. These photos below are from the ‘darker’ version of the gingerbread cookies. Still keto friendly!

Cream Cheese FROSTING

Decorate these low carb gingerbread cookies with a simple frosting : 1 cup sugar substitute, add low calorie cream cheese until the icing has the right thickness (like toothpaste). Place mixture in a writing tip piping bag or a sandwich bag (finely cut the corner) and decorate your cookies. IMPORTANT: Grind sugar substitute to a fine powder in a magic bullet. Otherwise your frosting will be grainy.

Cookie Tips

This is the most important part. Chilling the dough firms it up so that it’s easier to work with. If it takes you a long time to cut all the shapes, it may soften, so chill again if necessary. Add flour for too soft dough. Add cream/ half and half, if dough is too hard. You may roll the dough right on the parchment covered baking pan. Use your cookie cutter and remove the side bits of dough for more cookies. CARBS ( ‘cane-sugar’ free): 1.4 grams. CARB count with flour & sugar: 21 grams per cookie.

Cooking Hack 👩‍🍳

If you make these thicker, they’re a little chewier, which is nice; if you make them thinner, they’re more crisp and “snappy,” which is also nice. Regano suggests, “Pat the chilled dough into a log shape almost the length of the baking sheet. Place plastic school rulers on each long side and roll along the length with the pin resting on both rulers. I get a uniform thickness appropriate for a bakery style cookie with no high or low places. I use the cookie cutter directly on the parchment/baking sheet. When finished baking, I lift the parchment, with cookies still on it to the cooling area, no breaks!”

Storage 🎄

1 week in the refrigerator. You can freeze these cookies for 2-3 months. Make sure that you let them cool completely and freeze in a single layer before transferring to a freezer bag, so they don’t stick to each other.

*Almond Meal (skin on) & Almond flour (skin removed)

However, almond meal has a slightly higher fiber and mineral content due to the presence of almond skin.

Healthy Broccoli Soup

September 4, 2015June 6, 20163 Comments

Green is Gold! The zinger is the added sweet peas (Pisum) adding more phytonutrients!

. . .

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, grated
1 teaspoon fresh turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 cups frozen baby green peas
1 bunch broccoli about 1 pound, trimmed and chopped
3 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS
1) Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add shallots and saute for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the minced garlic, ginger, and turmeric. Cook until tender and fragrant. Add curry powder, salt and pepper and cook over low heat for a few minutes.

2) Add broccoli and combine well. Cook for a few minutes and add chicken stock. Bring to a boil and reduce heat until medium. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the broccoli is tender.

Add the frozen peas and cook for a few minutes only so that the soup will maintain it’s bright green colour.

Frozen Peas Adds Green Colour

3) Puree the soup in a blender or food processor and add salt to taste if required.
Serve hot sprinkled with almonds and optionally sour cream. This can be served cold as well.

Healthy Broccoli Soup Garnished with Sour Cream and Almonds

Broccoli contains cancer fighting glycosinolates which are transformed to disable toxins in the body. The younger the broccoli, the more glucosinolates.

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Oven-dried Tomatoes

August 28, 2015March 5, 20206 Comments

These are so easy to make and freeze to enjoy throughout the year. Great on salads, sandwiched, pasta. pizza. The flavour is concentrated.
INGREDIENTS
6 to 8 tomatoes, slices about 1/2 inch thick
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, fresh oregano, fresh basil, whatever you have
1 tablespoon olive oil
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 250 F or 120 C
2. Place sliced tomatoes on a baking sheet on a piece of parchment or silpat sheet.

Sliced fresh tomatoes with salt, pepper, herbs, olive oil

3 Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt pepper and fresh herbs.
4. Bake for one to two hours checking every half hour until pieces have shrunk slightly, edges are shriveled and juices no longer run. They are not completely dried but are still juicy.

tomatoes that have been backed and out of the oven

Sun (oven) Dried Tomatoes

5. Cool slightly and put into glass jars covered by olive oil. Leave about 1/2 inch of head room and freeze if you will not use them up in the next week or two. Yummy!