Eat these in moderation! Although they are gluten-free/dairy-free, they still contain sugar and should not be part of your regular Paleo/Primal diet.
I’ve been presented with a fantastic opportunity….to contribute 20 recipes (along with Aimee who is an amazing chef!) to a Paleo Cookbook that will be published through my friends at Crossfit Quantum. I am SO thrilled about this! The challenge is that a) I don’t often work directly from a recipe, rather I refer to them as inspiration and then throw similar ingredients together to see what happens. And b) I’m a perfectionist and wouldn’t want to submit something that I don’t love. So, I will be making all of my recipes over the next few weeks and perfecting the ingredients/instructions so that they’re ready for publication. As I work through these recipes, I’ll be posting some of them to the site and looking for taste-testers.
With Christmas around the corner, I thought I’d better come up with some festive recipes. Gingerbread is one of my favourite things to binge on so I wanted to come up with a Gingerbread recipe that would even please the big guy in red. Voila:
Ingredients (Makes 12 Cookies)
– 1/2 Cup Medjool Dates (you can sub a portion of this with Prunes to reduce GI – tip courtesy of Sio)
– 1 1/2 Cup Almond Flour or Finely Ground Almonds
– 1/4 Cup of Macadamia Nut Butter – you could use ground macadamia nuts, but the butter makes it chewier
– 1 1/2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
– 4 tsp Ground Ginger
– 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
– 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
– 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
– 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
– 1/8 Cup Agave Syrup (I don’t normally use this stuff because it has a high GI, but it adds the right amount of sweetness)
– 1 Egg
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Remove pits from the dates and send them through the food processor until they form a paste
- Mix all ingredients together in a bowl (you can use a mixer if you have one) – make sure dates are evenly distributed
- Using a Tablespoon, scoop the dough onto your cookie sheet to form cookies. I tried to use a Gingerbread Man shape, but the dough was too gooey to maintain the form.
- Bake for ~10 minutes or until cooked. Remove and cool.
- Try not to eat them all at once
These are seriously one of my best Primal creations to date. They are ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS and I inhaled 2 of them immediately and then forced one down my Husband’s throat because i was so happy with the result. They came out rather chewy, but I like them like that. I’m not sure how to make them crisp and if i could figure this out, then I could probably use my Gingerbread Man cut-out. Sadly, he had to sit out of this experiment (as the picture to the left indicates)…sorry little buddy.
My Semi-Primal Husband’s testimonial: “These are really good! You should bring these on Christmas for my family and they would love them.”
Nutritional Info (fitday.com):
Batch | Per Cookie | |
Calories | 2,181 | 182 |
Fat | 158 | 13 |
Carbs | 172 | 14 |
Protein | 57 | 5 |
December 14, 2009 at 3:45 am
Summer! I’m super excited to try this recipe! It sounds too good to skip – i’ll give it a go some time in the next week or two and let you know how I survive. I love that it calls for Almond flour, especially since I don’t even own regular flour! Keep up the good work!
December 24, 2009 at 12:51 am
[…] Insist on bringing a dish to the dinner. Bring a steamed vegetable, sweet potatoes or even a Primal dessert such as Primal Gingerbread Cookies […]
January 26, 2010 at 8:31 pm
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September 19, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I am allergic to almonds/almond flour. Do you think the coconut flour would work in it’s place?
September 20, 2010 at 8:44 am
@ Michele – I’m not sure Coconut Flour would work in this particular recipe. A nut flour goes better with the flavour and texture in the cookie – coconut flours are best in cake-y recipes. Are you sensitive to walnuts? Ground walnuts would probably be the best substitute.