I will tell you right here and now that there is no cookie on the face of this earth that I love more than a soft and chewy ginger molasses cookie. Last year I posted these Soft and Chewy Gingersnaps and they have held the rank of favorite cookie since my early childhood.
With the change of sweeteners and other ingredients used in my kitchen, I’ve been planning on altering my recipe to fit our dietary preferences. This Christmas season presented the perfect opportunity.
And guess what? I made these cookies with no dairy, gluten, or refined sugars and they taste EXACTLY the same as the traditional version. Same flavors, textures, everything is just as amazing as the original. What I’m really saying is you need to get in your kitchen and make these NOW.
I used coconut palm sugar in place of the brown sugar and it was a seamless switch. One thing I love about these cookies is that they are not overly sweet. The cookie itself is spicy and soft and most of the sweetness comes from the coating of fine turbinado sugar the cookies are rolled in before they’re baked.
If you are set on these cookies being gluten free, make sure to use oat flour that says that it is gluten free on the package. If it is not an issue for you, whole wheat flour will work just fine. Speaking of whole wheat flour, that’s another thing that I love about these cookies. Whole wheat flour actually lends itself better to the flavor of these cookies where I feel that white flour took away from it. It’s not every day that you find a baked good that tastes better with whole wheat flour as opposed to white.
Take extra care not to over-bake these cookies. I think 9 minutes is the perfect amount of time (at least in my oven). You want them to seem almost underdone when you pull them out of the oven. As they cool they will firm up into the perfect soft and chewy cookie.
I like to take them straight off the baking sheet and place them in an airtight container. Sealing the hot cookies in an airtight container traps the moisture and makes the cookies even softer and more chewy than they would be if you let them cool in open air.
Looking for more cookies made with better ingredients?
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Macaroons
Old-fashioned Gingerbread Cookies
Soft Sugar Cookies with Spiced Vanilla “Buttercream”
Raw Chocolate Dipped Oreo Cookies
- ½ cup Coconut Oil, melted
- ⅔ cup Coconut Palm Sugar
- ⅓ cup Molasses
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 cups Gluten Free Oat Flour (use whole wheat if gluten free is not a concern)
- 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1¼ teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ cup Fine Turbinado Sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the coconut oil, coconut palm sugar, and molasses until smooth and well combined. Beat in the egg.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Mixture will be a bit sticky.
- Roll scoops of dough (about 2 tablespoons in volume) into balls. Roll the balls of dough in the fine turbinado sugar until the outside is coated. Place dough balls on the prepared cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Do not over-bake. Cookies should be soft in the center, almost seemingly under-done, When they cool they will be the perfect texture.
