Chocolatey, perfectly spiced, and not too sweet, these Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies are the quintessential Holiday cookies. And they just happen to be my favorite!
I must have made a thousand gingerbread cookies during Christmas for my business in the last 6 years...I kid you not. Yet, every year, I look forward to munching on them. No, I'm not bored at all!
This year though, I experimented with adding cocoa to one of the batches. Boy, was I in for a wonderful surprise or what! Chocolate with hints of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves... it's truly a match made in heaven.
How Can I Make Chocolate Gingerbread Cookie Dough
This gluten-free dough ( Yes I used Buckwheat Flour ) comes together fairly quickly and doesn't need much resting time. Maybe just 15-20 minutes in the refrigerator. It's quite cold here, so I didn't need to refrigerate it at all.
The buckwheat flour, along with cocoa powder, and the spices are combined in a bowl. These dry ingredients get stirred into whipped butter, brown sugar, honey, and flax egg. Gently knead the dough for a minute or two to bring it all together. And that's it.
Not only is the dough easy to make, but it also stays fine in the refrigerator till you're ready to roll it out! It would be a good idea to let the dough sit on the counter until it loses some of the chill before you proceed with the cookie making.
Keep some dough handy, roll it out, cut into desired shapes and bake for 10-12 minutes. And you can impress your kids or guests with some freshly baked cookies just like that!!
To Decorate The Cookies Or Not
These cookies are buttery yet light. Rich in flavors and so festive. You can decorate them if you want or enjoy them plain.
You can cut the cookies into any shape you like. I love my little gingerbread men, Christmas tree and snowflakes shapes and I simply adore decorating them. It's so therapeutic for me.
You can use a simple mixture of icing sugar and water for decorating. Just remember the icing should be smooth and thick. You can use a piping bag or a small offset spatula to spread the icing on the cookies.
Royal icing works beautifully here. For years, I've followed Bake At 350 blog for tips on making royal icing and cookie decoration. If you don't want to be bothered with any of that, a simple drizzle of dark or white chocolate will do very well.
Or like I said earlier, keep them plain. They taste like a million bucks and look adorable any which way!
Can These Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies Be Made Vegan
This is a vegan-friendly recipe. You can use coconut butter or any non-dairy butter ( if its available to you) instead of regular butter. I used honey here for some lovely floral sweetness. You could use molasses, which is what is traditionally used in these cookies. Or maybe maple syrup. I went with what I had on hand.
I've got flax egg too instead of regular egg and it worked perfectly fine here. Just like it did for my Mocha Gingerbread Biscotti.
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Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 250 gms Buckwheat flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp Clove powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp Ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 130 gms Butter, softened I used salted butter so omitted adding salt to the batter.
- 130 gms brown sugar
- 70 ml honey 1/4 cup
- 1 Flax egg 1 tbsp flaxseed powder + 3 tbsp water
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix the flaxseed powder with water. Keep aside for 5 -10 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt ( if using unsalted butter), cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, clove powder, ginger powder, and nutmeg powder.
- In a large bowl, whisk the softened butter with honey, brown sugar and flax egg until creamy.
- Stir in the dry ingredients with a spatula. Combine well till a soft dough is formed.
- If the dough is very soft and sticky, please refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
- When you're ready to make the cookies, preheat your oven to 180C. Line your baking tray with baking paper or silpat.
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out into desired shapes and transfer to the baking tray.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. If you want them very crisp, give them another minute in the oven They will harden as they cool.
- Eat warm or let the cookies cool completely if you wish to decorate them. Enjoy!
Notes
Easyfoodsmith says
I am always sold out to recipes that say not too sweet. These cookies are so pretty and festive Tasha. Love them!
Natasha Minocha says
Thanks so much Taruna! I can't eat too much sweet myself, and I like to be able to taste the flavours..so I'm always gravitating towards low sugar treats:)