Ginger Cookies
In a break from all inauguration news all the time, I present you with these chewy, yet crispy ginger cookies!
Ginger Cookies
- 2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- ½ cup grapeseed oil
- ¼ cup yacon syrup
- ½ cup agave nectar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and ginger
- In a medium bowl, combine grapeseed oil, yacon, agave and lemon zest
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time onto a parchment paper
lined baking sheet
- Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes, until tops start to crack
- Cool and serve
This recipe is based on Heidi’s “Triple Ginger Cookies” from 101Cookbooks. I’ve made them gluten-free, dairy-free and turned them into “single ginger cookies” as well. Basically, I’m just too impatient to use three types of ginger. Though I bet Heidi’s cookies are every bit as amazing as they look in her photograph and well worth the effort.
You could also call these gluten-free gingersnaps.
Update: In response to many of the comments I’ve received thus far, I haven’t tried making these without yacon, though feel free to experiment; just be sure to stop back here and let us know how your version turns out :-) I use the yacon in place of molasses (it’s a pre-biotic that aids in digestion). Yacon gives these cookies their dark, rich flavor.
Per the questions regarding the type of ginger called for in this recipe, I use dried ground ginger, the kind you can purchase in a bottle at the supermarket in the spice section.
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mmmmm!!! Yay for ginger cookies! And egg-free too! My almond flour came just in time :-)
Thank you for not talking about the inauguration- I’ve had enough for today.
Nothing against eggs by the way, I would actually love to eat them, but they’re on my list. Thank you Elana for this delicious recipe! I’m sure your cookies are usually gobbled up within a day or so, but generally, how long do almond flour cookies keep? Should they be stored in the fridge?
Have a wonderful day! I am looking forward to later this week when I will have some time to devote several hours in my kitchen to almond flour experimentation!
Chewy cookies are always a winner with me!! Yum!!
These look pretty tempting…I love ginger!
I’m not familiar with yacon syrup though I heard about it.
If I were to use maple syrup instead of agave and yacon, do you think I should keep the same amount of sweetener?
Thanks ;).
I substituted molasses for yukon and used 3 cups of flour instead, chilled in freezer for one hour and cut into shapes. They were wonderful!!
I was so excited to do these with my toddler in cut-out shapes as suggested…but it was NOT EASY. The dough was hard as a rock when it came out of the freezer, and although it warmed up fast—it was SO STICKY. (I also used 3 cups of flour)….it just didn’t work well. I ended up making regular cookies out of most of it.
mmm, these look so good! did you use fresh ground or spice cabinet ginger? i might just have to make them. i love ginger!
These look delicious. I love a chewy cookie, and dairy-free…even better!
Can i use maple or some other sweetener in place of the yacon? Do you think preschoolers might like these or do they have that gingery bite?
Hi Elana,
I have never used yacon syrup before, but it looks very interesting. I am a big fan of agave but I will have to order some yacon the next time I want to make some cookies.
Thanks so much for your yummy recipes. I made your orange chocolate truffles, which I ended up making orange-free because I am not a big fan of orange and was in the middle of a big chocolate craving. They hit the spot, thanks so much.
sarah
Why does everyone love Agave?
People in the KNOW do not like High Fructose Corn Syrup!
HFCS now renamed corn sugar is 55 % fructose!
Agave is 85 to 97 % Fructose!
The human body does NOT and cannot tell any difference between Fructose and Fructose!
Fructose contributes to diabetes! All fructose! From every source!
It is not healthy!
Why use it!?
Agave syrup makes the Paleo diet the worst so called “healthy” diet of all!
I have a great great love for ginger and these look amazing! After seeing the picture, I had my fingers crossed that they were vegan as well as gluten free and they are! Is yacon syrup sold in any stores that you know of or is there an adequate replacement for it? I just cannot wait to make these guys!
I love ginger!!
Thanks Elana, I will make these very soon!
We have been watching the inauguration here as well. Obama said some very good things when it comes to foreign politics. With a divided Europe, the American president has a lot of responsibility in the world. To me it seems he is very aware of that and will do his best to unite and bring peace. I was touched by his words and said to my friend that it feels like he is our president too… Congratulations!
Beautiful cookies! I am a huge fan of any good ginger cookie. I had never heard of yacons or yacon syrup before, but I see it’s another “pomme de terre” per the description … and a lower glycemic one at that. Neat.
Do you use the Silpat liners, Elena?
Thanks,
Shirley
Just wondering if you could use all agave nectar? I haven’t used yacon (hadn’t even heard of it till I googled it!) I imagine the flavor won’t be as rich, but is the consistency the same for baking?
Saw these on Tastespotting. These look perfect. Mr. Cakespy just adores ginger cookies, so I think I’ve got to try these out!
I made these ginger cookies last night with molasses instead of the yacon syrup and thought they turned out fantastic.
I made them to be triple ginger cookies and they were amazing! Chewy for sure! :) Thank You!!
Emily -You’re welcome! That’s so great that you received your almond flour. My cookies usually last for up to a week uncovered on a plate on the counter (if my husband doesn’t eat them first). I don’t store them in the fridge.
VeggieGirl -Oh, these are very chewy (yet crispy). Thanks!
Alchemille -I’m not sure what the result would be if you tried maple syrup. Feel free to give it a shot and let us know how it turns out.
Stephanie -I use dried ground ginger. I updated the post in response to your comment.
Hayley -Thank you!
beth -Per your comment (and others), I have updated the post to answer your questions. Don’t think they are too gingery. So I would say, yes they are a good treat for preschoolers.
Sarah -I’m glad you enjoyed the
OrangeChocolate Truffles. Thanks for your comment :-)Lizzie -Thanks! I buy my yacon online; feel free to experiment with replacements for it. I haven’t tried a substitution, if you find one that works, please let us know.
Christianne -You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! Yes, after 8 years of Bush we are all coming together again. Hopefully Obama will undo some of the damage and do some good in the world.
Shirley -That’s OK, don’t worry about it :-)
Nancy -You could experiment and try agave nectar, though I haven’t done so myself. I’ve updated the post to explain a bit more as to why I used yacon syrup in this recipe.
Cakespy -Thanks! Hope you like them!
Courtney -Thanks for letting us know. It seems a lot of people were curious about that substitution!
Lisa -Awesome! So glad it worked! Thanks for you comment :-)
Thank you Elana for all your inspiration. This recipe is delicious. I was able to make it SCD legal with a couple of substitutions.
In place of the Yacon syrup, I used 3 large Medjoul dates and replaced the agave with the same amount of honey. The rest of the ingredients and amounts remained the same. Just don’t over mix the batter or the oil will separate from it.
Merci!!!
So glad to see this comment, Bonnie! I was just hankering for some ginger snaps, and I know how to make SCD subs for most of Elana’s common ingredients, but I would never have known what to do for the Yacon syrup. Thank you!
Bonnie,
You are very welcome! Glad it was easy to convert to SCD and thanks for the report.
Elana
Thank you for the recipe. These are delicious! But, I did have issues, even though i followed the recipe exactly I my batter was very thin and my cookies ended up thin like pancakes, huge and running into each other. Once I added more almond flour they were just fine.
DON’T double the recipe. Making it for Passover in Jerusalem. No baking soda but I think the real issue was too much oil too nuts – too rich and runny. Scraped the batter up and am redoing it in a pan as a bar with some stabilizing ingredients. Tasted good. Shame for such expensive ingredients to go to waste.
Hi Elena,
I had the too much oil issue too. Perhaps you might want to check that. I posted my experience here:
http://alteredplates.blogspot.com/
Valen -What kind of almond flour are you using? That could be why they turned out runny. It was great that you added more almond flour! Glad they ultimately worked.
Beth -Sorry to hear that they did not turn out; again, I would ask what kind of almond flour you are using and also suggest that you pack the almond flour in a bit when measuring it.
Deb -Thanks so much for posting an altered version of this recipe on your blog. As I mention in my faq’s, this recipe does NOT work with unblanched almond flour. Thanks for the attempt though!
Hi…I, too, found them flat and runny. I made it exactly as printed, blanched almond flour, yacon syrup, etc. Found them very oily, as well…too much oil residue.
This recipe looks delicious and I’m going to have to try it, though it isn’t exactly what I was looking for. Do you have any ideas about modifying this to make gingerbread cookies? (The kind you decorate, and might build into a house). Thank you for your yummy recipes and your insights.
Elana….I have been gluten free for 4 weeks and your recipes have been inspiring me. I can’t wait to get the cookbook. I tried these last night but substituted lemon flavored olive oil for the grape seed oil. I also ran half an organic apple and half organic carrot through my chopper and mixed it in with the wet ingredients. Delicious.
I am allergic to all nuts and I am wondering if there are some other gluten free flours that could be used instead in your recipes.
I made these tonight, though I used the Honeyville brand of blanched almond flour I had to add about a cup and a half extra and they still came out rather flat. Not sure what I might be doing wrong?
However, they tasted wonderful-and as I had made some of the coconut frosting for a carrot cake, I put a little on top of one of the spread out and flat cookies, sprinkled a little chopped candied ginger on top and rolled it up into a tube-it was absolutely delicious!
I am curious if others have been able to make these with the above recipe and not have them spread out so thin?
Thanks so much for your amazing blog! I love each and every recipe I’ve tried so far!
Just wanted to let you know what alterations I did with this recipe.
I used almond meal for the almond flour, and then added 1/4 c coconut flour. For the oil I used warm coconut oil, then honey for the agave, and molasses for the yacon syrup. Also, fresh ginger, and grated lime.
They turned out awesome!
Thanks again for printing this recipe, as it’s my favorite Christmas cookie!
I just made these cookies and they are delicious! I used coconut oil for the grapeseed oil (don’t keep it in the house) and unblanched almond flour since that was all I had and they turned out great. Thanks for the recipe!
I used olive oil for the oil and orange zest for the lemon zest.
SOOOO good. the orange is amazing!
i ate most of them when they were still warm and not quite firm because they were so good.
The ginger cookies (I used Yacon Syrup and agave ) spread all over the parchment paper on the cookie sheet and made one huge flat cookie. I ended up cutting the huge cookie into squares and eating them that way. They were very good but although I followed the recipe and they spread all over. Does altitude make a difference? We are at 4979 which is lower than Boulder, CO so I figured the recipe was adjusted for altitude. I’m thinking next time I might roll them into a log like for the pecan shortbread, freezing the log, and cutting them just before cooking.
what brand of almond flour did you use? was it blanched?
Hi Elana, I was making these cookies today and left the yacon syrup out. The cookies came out pretty good, but if you are not using the yacon syrup, then you need to let the cookies cool off for like 25 minutes after you bake them. I love this recipe. Thank you so much.
can you use butter instead of grapeseed oil or coconut oil if so how much is the ratio difference? also I love the Butter cookie recipe maybe I will try to combine the two. I’m very excited to try Yacon syrup.
I subbed melted butter in a 1:1 ratio to the grapeseed oil. They turned out beautifully!
I made these tonight with several changes. LOVED them! I’ve been experimenting with molasses cookie recipes all week – and with some changes, my husband declared these the very best of the bunch!
I substituted 2 teas. ground ginger, and 2 teas. Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend for the 2 Tbls. of ginger.
I subbed 3 Tbls. blackstrap molasses for the yacon syrup
I subbed melted butter for the grapeseed oil
I omitted the lemon zest, because the cinnamon blend I used has orange zest in it.
I used a 2 Tbls. cookie scoop and used a scant scoop for each cookie, and baked them at 350 for 12 minutes. Perfect amount of spice, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Wonderful with a glass of whole cream-line milk. Even the 6 yr. old gave them two thumbs up!
I am so ready to make these they sound so delicious. thanks becky d for posting your results makes and easier recipe for me. :)haven’t had great look with making GF baked goods. hope this one turns out.
i featured these gems on my blog today! i made them for my birthday and they were fabulous. in needed to bake them quite a bit longer than you did but that’s likely because i made them quite large cookies. i also substituted molasses for the yacon. the ginger flavor was amazing, and they got rave reviews from all who tried them. thanks for being so inspirational!!
I’m so excited to try these once they come out of the oven! I didn’t have enough ginger so got creative, and the batter is amazingly delicious! I added cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg, and a bunch of pureed pumpkin to the yacon, agave, and coconut oil (reduced the oil since I added pumpkin and people above had commented their cookies turned out too oily). I didn’t have any lemon zest.
Even though the recipe is substantially different from the original, I’m very appreciative for your website, Elana. I have about 17 known food allergies (I stopped testing after I got that long list) so I really have a lot of gratitude for your recipes because they give me a great base to work from when I bake.
Thank you!
Brandae
I baked these about 11 min. (once they started to crack at the top). Once cool, these are very mushy and oily on the bottom? The batter was delicious but im wondering if it is perhaps too much oil?
Hi Scarlet,
It sounds as though it could be an almond flour issue –some brands are very wet and oily and I do not recommend those. What brand of almond flour were you using.
Elana
What can OI use to substitute Almond Flour
I am going to try to use flour and Almond extract, and regular flour
donhonor@yahoo.com
Thank you, D Honor
Elana-
What are your thoughts on using maple syrup instead of yacon and cutting the agave? I follow paleo and wanted to know what you thought about the sub. Thank you!
Heather
just took these out of the over! Great. My husband and four year old son and I love them. I subbed yacon with blackstrap molasses and the agave with maple syrup. They didn’t crack on top like elana’s but they are delicious and as they cool are getting crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I love that these are egg free and are my new substitute for ginger snaps (which i love!)
Thanks elana!
I just tried making these ginger cookies for the first time, but I altered the spices to match a cookie recipe I have always loved. Lots of spices in these, but they are yummy!
I left out the lemon zest and kept the 2 Tablespoons of ground ginger, but I also added 2 Tablespoons of ground cinnamon, 1 Tablespoon of ground cloves and 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg. I also used a gluten free molasses that I had on hand instead of yacon syrup.
I pressed them fairly flat and sprinkled with demarara raw sugar crystals before baking.
It is hard to tell the difference between these and my old recipe which uses regular flour, sugar and eggs.
Thanks for the recipe, Elena……now I am able to keep a holiday favorite going!
Susan
Thank you for this great recipe!
I used xylitol (4 tbsp) instead of yacon and agave (can’t eat fruits or honey at the moment so xylitol is a great substitute). Because of this I had less liquid in there, so I put in an egg. I had to cook them quite a bit longer, they were in there for almost 20 min, but they turned out super yummie!
Thanks
Your recipes look wonderful – and perfect for Passover. I just recommended your blog on a posting I wrote about alternative ways to bake on Passover. Thanks for the inspiration!
Just made these with chopped candied ginger and molasses instead of yacon syrup; added extra lemon rind – delicious!
Hello, I just made these cookies with a few modifications for our family and we LOVED them. My husband’s stomach is very sensitive to sweets and so I used brown rice syrup (from suzannes-specialties.com) instead of the agave. I also used molasses instead of the yacon. For an spicier flavor I chose to put in 1/4tsp of ground cinnamon.
I have really been enjoying looking around your site and trying your different recipes. Thanks for sharing so freely with all of us out here. I hope you won’t mind if I re-post this recipe on my blog. I’ll be sure to give you credit.
Alena
I love these! I used molasses instead of yacon, and the flavor was great. I also used melted Spectrum shortening instead of the grapeseed oil. I wanted the flavor of the ginger cookies my mom made when I was a kid so I added 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ground cloves and omitted the lemon zest. I’m so excited to have ginger cookies in my gluten- and grain-free baking arsenal!
I left these in the oven for 14 minutes. They were very moist when I pulled them out. I let them sit on the baking sheet for a while and they did firm up, but still moist and a bit oily. Am thinking that an egg would have firmed them up a bit and will try that next time. Loved the citrus ginger combination, though!
I should mention that I did sub molasses yacon and honey for agave…
Has anyone tried cashew or hazelnut flour instead of almond?
These cookies were excellent! I am always looking for soft, chewy ginger cookies that aren’t loaded with butter or that come out cakey from applesauce substitutions. They turned out wonderfully :) Thank you for the recipe! I did change a couple things for those wondering about molasses:
1) I substituted the yacon for molasses 1:1
2) Replaced half agave with honey, and the other half with sucralose (don’t judge, I am diabetic and I try to minimize where ever I can)
3) I used canola oil in place of grapeseed and reduced it to 1/3 cup
4) Next time I will reduce the salt by half since I found the salt a bit too prominent
The textures were excellent! Thanks again!
Hello. I just used this recipe as inspiration for a batch of ginger apricot cookies. I didn’t have enough almond flour left, so I added plantain flour as well as a bit of sweet potato flour. Because those are more absorbent than almond flour, I added 2 eggs to the wet ingredients to add more liquid and help the texture out a bit (I’m not a vegan). I also put 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum into the dry ingredients, used only 1/2 tsp baking soda and used 3 packed Tbsp fresh ginger, diced very finely. I also used molasses and honey instead of yacon and agave. I added about 1 cup chopped dried apricots at the end. The first batch is in the oven! :) I realize I changed the recipe a lot. Just wanted to say thanks! Without coming across this recipe I would have never created this batch of cookies. Love your blog!
Yum! I just tried making these cookies with significant changes to the wet ingredients, in order to make the recipe more appropriate for a candida diet. They turned out great! Here are my changes:
Replace grapeseed oil with melted coconut oil
Do not use agave syrup at all
Cut the amount of yacon syrup in half (it’s just so expensive!)
Add the following: one egg, five drops of liquid stevia, about half a teaspoon of vanilla, and about 1/4 cup of melted ghee
They aren’t super sweet, but I really like the taste of them. Also, I flattened them out a good bit when I placed them on the baking sheet. They’re still fluffier than the pictured cookies, but they have a nice chewy texture.
I have a slight addiction to all things ginger. Coconut flour is my usual go to flour for gfree foods in my kitchen but recently have been experimenting with blanched almonds in many of my recipes. Most with great success. I think a little lemon ginger glaze on these cookies would be a great christmas cookie gift. Thanks!
Hi Elana –
Thanks so much for these cookies and for all your recipes. They are such a hit whenever I make any of your recipes.
So, just wanted to let you know about some substitutions I made:
-Used almond meal from Trader Joe’s instead of blanched almond flour (added some flour at the end when I was mixing it all together because it was a little wetter than I thought it should be)
-Used mostly agave with about 1/8 C of maple syrup instead of yacon
-Used 1 tsp powdered ground ginger/ 1 tsp real grated ginger
-Used a little less than 1/2 C grapeseed oil (didn’t measure – just read some of the above comments and didn’t want to use too much oil
Came out delicious, moist, and chewy!
Thanks again,
Angela
p.s. I had to cook these a little longer than 10 minutes…more like 12-15.
I tried both the Ginger Snap recipe and this one. I wasn’t real thrilled with the Ginger Snap recipe though, so I wanted to try this one. After going through all of the comments to see how people were altering the original recipe, here is what I did and holy cow are they good!! I was going for a conventional molasses spice cookie recipe that I always loved, and these turned out absolutely perfect!
So, here’s what I did: 2 1/2 C (10 oz) blanched almond flour, 1 tsp b. soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 TBSP + 1tsp cinnamon, 1 TBSP ginger, 1 tsp cloves, 1/2 C (4 oz) pasture butter, 1/2 C (2.8 oz) coconut palm sugar, 2 TBSP water and 3 TBSP (2.4 oz) molasses. I melt the butter and coconut palm sugar together, then add in the water and molasses. Then add all of that to the dry ingredients. I was worried I would need to add more flour, but I didn’t and the consistency was perfect. I used a medium cookie scoop, then rolled them and flattened them and baked them for 13 minutes. They are beautiful and delicious and I’m pretty excited because I didn’t think I could replicate my molasses spice cookies that I loved so much.
Hello!
I’m new to your wonderful website and I’ve just attempted the Ginger cookies.
I’m eliminating all forms of sugar for a month (candida cleanse), and so I didn’t use yacon, agave or grape seed oil as I didn’t have any.
The cookies taste quite nice, however they were soft and slightly dry. Which ingredient would you say would make them more crispy? (I’m hoping it’s the oil!)
I used the almond flour as recommended on your ingredients list (the flour bin in the UK) and all the other ingredients were fresh and high quality.
Thank you for your time.
Wiw Elana. These are quite possibly the best gingernuts that I have ever made!!
Thank you so much. Just delish!
Shelley Belcourt
I just made these yummy cookies with some substitutions. I used 1 c packed honeyville almond flour, 1 c quinoa flakes, and 1/2 c sprouted rice flour. I also subbed molasses for yacon and added1/2 c xylitol with water( measured xylitol then added water up to 1/2 c measure. I didn’t press down the first sheet and they didn’t spread so they were a little too soft, but pressing them down before baking worked well.
These did not turn out as well as I hoped. Not sure what I did wrong so looking for help.
I followed the recipe (except I used molasses) but my cookies spread out very thin while baking and were very strong ginger tasting. I really want my next attempt to work out better. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Just in case anyone else has to adjust based on available ingredients, here’s what worked for me: Used 3 dates and 1/2 cup honey instead of agave/yacon syrups and subbed coconut oil for the grapeseed. Also added 1/2 T grated fresh ginger. I had to press them together to shape the dough, but turned out soft and tasty. Thanks for all the recipes!
When I decied to bake these, I decided to also bake The Triple Ginger Cookies from 101 Cookbooks, I only use Honeyville’s almond flour, but Elana’s was kind of oily, So, I being the weirdo that I am, decided to combine the two recipes,and YUM YUM YUM. Both of these cookies tasted great separately,but the two combined tasted AMAZING! Thanks for all of your hard work Elana.
I decided to make these cookies again today, and this is what I did with great success. I used about 1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon, 1/2 c blackstrap molasses, 1/4 c grade b maple syrup 1/4 c extra virgin coconut oil a pinch of allspice a pinch of nutmeg, and everything else I followed the recipe, after they were mixed, I rolled them into balls and rolled them in a mixture of evaporated cane juice, and Ceylon Cinnamon. It took them about 12-15 minutes, and they were yummy warm, and probably even better as they cooled. Thanks Elana for all you do. Oh yeah, in case anyone is wondering about the texture, they were chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside…just how I love them.