Healthy Paleo Gingerbread Cookies (with Tigernut Flour)

These are the absolute BEST Paleo Gingerbread Cookies.  They are healthy, nut free, grain free, egg free, dairy free and made with tigernut flour.  Better yet, the dough doesn't need any chilling and it's easy to roll out.

My very favorite part of the holidays is making Paleo cut-out cookies.  

It's an activity I've loved since childhood, and now I get to partake in cookie baking and decorating with my children.  (They love it too!)

The newest addition to my collection are these healthy Paleo Gingerbread Cookies - or gingerbread men if you prefer to call them that 😉

This nut free gingerbread cookie recipe has many great qualities: 

Cookie Highlights

• Paleo and Vegan
• nut free (made with tigernut flour)
• egg free and dairy free (yes, no egg no butter)
• lightly sweetened (with coconut sugar and molasses)
• easy to make (no-chill dough)

This is the perfect Paleo Christmas cookie recipe; one that you can enjoy year after year. 

And if you have kids, be sure to let them help.  I've made these Vegan gingerbread cookies with my kids multiple times and they have a blast cutting out shapes, frosting, decorating and eating them.

Not only is this fun for kids, but it's also an allergy friendly gingerbread cookie recipe.  These cookies are made with a combination of tigernut flour, tapioca flour and ground flax; making a grain free, gluten free and nut free cookie dough.

What is Tigernut Flour?

Tigernut flour comes from finely ground, peeled tigernuts.  Now, tigernuts are not actually nuts, but small root vegetables.  They are naturally sweet and nutty in flavor - perfect for baking! 

Additionally, tigernuts contain a lot of fiber, a decent amount of potassium, Vitamin E and iron, as well as resistant starch.  This resistant starch has prebiotic properties that helps promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Ingredients in Paleo Gingerbread Cookies

These egg free gingerbread men are healthy, flavorful and perfectly spiced.  Here's what you need to make them:

• tigernut flour
• tapioca flour
• ground flax
• coconut sugar
• baking soda
• salt
• cinnamon
• ground ginger
• nutmeg
• clove
• non-hydrogenated shortening
• molasses
• vanilla extract

I know this seems like a long, intimidating list of ingredients but that's all due to the spices that make up the gingerbread flavor.  You can eliminate any you don't have or want to use, or use a spice blend like Primal Palate's gingersnap.

Ingredient Substitutions

Grain Free Flours

This recipe uses a combination of tigernut flour, tapioca flour and ground flax.  Almond flour may work as a substitution (measured by weight) for the tigernut flour, but I have not tested this myself.

Not into tigernut flour?  I also have a recipe for cassava flour sugar cookies on my blog.  This is another nut free Paleo cookie recipe that my family loves.  It uses cassava flour and can easily be altered to include gingerbread flavors.

Shortening

I use Nutiva's non-hydrogenated shortening in quite a few of my recipes.  It is an excellent Paleo and Vegan butter alternative - dairy free, soy free and unsweetened.  This butter alternative contains: organic palm fruit oil, organic unrefined virgin coconut oil and organic unrefined red palm oil.

The best alternatives would be grass fed butter (not Vegan) or a different plant based butter (possibly not Paleo).  Coconut oil can work, but from my experience makes the dough harder to work with (roll out and cut) and the cookies are often more crumbly.

Sweeteners

This recipe is sweetened with coconut sugar and molasses.  For a lower sugar option, monk fruit sweetener would be a great pick.  Also, the molasses may be subbed with any other liquid sweetener (maple syrup or honey would be my top picks).

Spices

Gingerbread recipes typically contain a whole lot of spices or a single spice blend to get that classic gingerbread flavor.  My recipe uses cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove (plus molasses and vanilla extract).  However, these spices may be substituted with a blend like Gingersnap or Apple Pie Spice. 

How to Make Paleo Vegan Gingerbread Men

These cookies are super easy and fun to make - a no chill dough that rolls easily and bakes in under 10 minutes.  Here's what you need to do:

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the Cookie Dough

Next, make the dough.  

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  This includes the tigernut flour, tapioca flour, ground flax, coconut sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove.

Then, add in the wet ingredients: shortening, molasses and vanilla.  Mix first with a fork or spatula, then use your hands to combine the dough.  The dough will appear too dry at first, keep working it with your hands until it comes together.  Add a tablespoon or two of water if necessary to moisten the dough.

Cut Out the Cookies

Next, roll the dough into a ball and flatten between two sheets of parchment paper.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough between the parchment until it is about ⅛" - ¼" thick.

Remove the top layer of parchment paper and cut out the cookie shapes.  Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake the Cookies

Bake the ginger cookies at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.

Cool the Cookies

Lastly, remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the pan for at least 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Frost the Cookies

In a small bowl, combine all frosting ingredients.  Mix until well combined.

Then, scoop the frosting into a plastic baggie.  Make a small hole in the bag by cutting off the corner.

Pipe frosting onto completely cooled tigernut gingerbread cookies.

How to Store Gingerbread Cookies

These gluten free, Vegan gingerbread cookies are best stored in an air-tight container or plastic baggie. They can be kept at room temperature, in the fridge or the freezer.  Here are my recommended storage times:

• room temperature: 3-4 days
• fridge: 2 weeks
• freezer: 2 months

More Paleo Gingerbread Recipes

• Chocolate Gingerbread Truffles
• Allergy Free Gingerbread Waffles
• Collagen Gingerbread Bites
• Gingerbread Cookie Bars

Enjoy!

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