These gluten free vegan molasses ginger cookies are ultra soft and chewy, with no dairy, oil, eggs or unhealthy ingredients. They're the perfect, healthy holiday (or any day) cookie!
Place a rack just above the center of your oven and preheat to 300 degrees F.
Spoon the almond flour into a 1 cup measuring cup (DONT PACK IT DOWN), use a knife to scrape the excess off the top, and and add to a medium mixing bowl. Repeat with a second cup. Then add all of the other dry ingredients to the bowl.
Use a spoon to combine all of the dry ingredients, breaking down any lumps.
Add the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl, and stir well to combine, but don't over process (or the cookies may become tough).
Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes. (Optional, but recommended - see notes.)
Use a spoon or cookie scoop to scoop out enough dough to form a round ball about 1 ½" in diameter. (This should yield 18 to 20 cookies.) Roll the dough between your palms to make the ball.
Place each ball on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, spreading them apart by about an inch. Gently press each ball to flatten by about half. (See pics in the article above for guidance.)
Bake at 300 degrees F for 21 to 23 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow the cookies to rest for a minute or two, then place on a cooling rack to cool. Note: The cookies can be enjoyed immediately, but will firm up after cooling, so wait until cool for the best results.
Notes
Yields 18 cookies. Nutritional information is for 1 cookie.Cane sugar is not WFPB compliant. I used just a few pinches sprinkled on top of the cookies before baking, as date sugar just gets absorbed by the dough. But omit or for a compliant option. Refrigerate the dough. This is not absolutely necessary, but because the dough is fairly wet (this is what helps make the cookies so moist!), it makes it easier to form the balls and keeps your hands cleaner.Cook almond flour cookies long and low. I experimented with many batches, cooking temperatures and times. Almond flour cooks faster than other flours, so at 350 F -- a common baking temperature in cookie recipes -- they tended to get overly brown on the bottoms while still being underdone inside. 300 degrees F for 20+ minutes yielded a cookie that was perfectly soft and chewy, just a bit crisp, and neither over done nor underdone. It also helps keep the cookie bottoms from over browning if you place your oven rack in the top ⅓ of the oven.Don't scoop your flour with the measuring cup. Use a spoon or scoop to spoon it into the measuring cup instead, then use the flat side of a knife to scrape the excess off the top. You don't want to pack your flour, and almond flour is very easy to compress. Some recipes recommend weighing your ingredients, but I didn't find that to be necessary to get a good result with this recipe.Combine your wet and dry ingredients well, but don't over mix. This can lead to a tough cookie. But DO make sure to break up all of the lumps in the dry ingredients before adding the wet, using your fingers if needed.