Olde Fashioned Christmas: Einkorn Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread has certainly grown on me over the years. It’s not my prefered Christmas cookie but I sure do enjoy them. I’ve been making this recipe for a few years now and I thought it was about time to give it a place here on the blog. These are delicious for eating, and beautiful for displaying. Yes indeed I do decorate with real gingerbread! I have tried a variety of salt dough/cinnamon ornament recipes over the years and none of them come out quite as beautiful as real gingerbread. Sure you can’t save them year after year, but I like the tradition of making a fresh batch at the beginning of December, eating a few, and also placing some throughout the house paired with cedar and cinnamon sticks.

For eating, simply follow the recipe as written. If you’d like to display a few, add a couple peppercorns for eyes and buttons before baking, and bake them closer to the 10 minute mark to make sure all the moisture is gone. They will then last you until the holiday festivities are over.

These can be served with powdered sugar or frosting of your choice, but if you ask me I think they are simply delicious plain, served with a hot cup of coffee, and preferably with a Christmas movie!

what you need:

• 3/4 cup of unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 cup of organic unsulphured molasses

• 3 1/4 cups of all-purpose einkorn flour or all-purpose wheat flour

• 1 tablespoon of ground ginger

• 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

• 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

why einkorn?

When baking something that isn’t traditionally fermented (sourdough), I like to use einkorn flour rather than white flour. Einkorn is a low-gluten ancient grain and the only flour that hasn’t been hybridized. It’s full of many health benefits, the flavor is rich, and those with gluten intolerance can often eat einkorn without a problem!

This recipe does well with a 1:1 replacement of regular wheat flour, so you can use either :) To learn more about why I use the ingredients I do, check out my ebook Traditional Eating here!

allergy-friendly swaps

Gluten-free: To make this recipe gluten-free, simply replace the einkorn flour with a 1:1 gluten free flour. I’ve used King Arthur’s in this recipe before and it worked great.

Egg-free: To make this recipe egg free, swap the egg for 1 tablespoon of vinegar + 3 tablespoons of water.

Dairy-free: To make this recipe dairy free, use organic palm shortening or coconut oil instead of butter.

to prepare:

step 1:

In a stand mixer or by hand, cream the butter and the sugar together. Then add in the egg and molasses and mix until combined.

step 2:

Combine the einkorn flour, spices, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly add into the wet mixture a little at a time, mixing until fully combined.

step 3:

Divide the dough into two balls, place in a bowl and cover with a plate. Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour. This step is important and if skipped, the dough will be too sticky to roll out.

step 4:

After the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F and remove the dough from the fridge.

step 5:

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out cookie shapes, rolling out the scraps until you’ve used all your dough.

step 6:

Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes. For a chewier gingerbread, bake for 8 minutes. For a crunchy gingerbread, bake for 9 or 10. The edges will be firm to the touch when they’re done. These cook fast and everyone’s oven is slightly different, so keep an eye!

Step 7:

Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. After they are cooled, you can add powdered sugar or decorate with icing if desired. Serve with hot coffee and enjoy with a Christmas movie!

for more christmas recipes like this one…

From the heart of Kaetlyn’s Christmas Kitchen comes 11 recipes to enjoy this season. Comfort and Joy showcases quintessential December ingredients such as cranberries, chocolate, oranges, and more. Capturing nostalgia and merriment, these recipes are ones to look forward to when Christmastime rolls around each year.

In this ebook, learn how to make Einkorn Chocolate Craisin Cookies, Vanilla Pudding Cups, Cranberry Tacos, Sourdough Soft Pretzels, Christmas Candy Clusters, From-Scratch Chocolate Syrup, Maple Whipped Cream, Christmas Hot Cocoa, Einkorn Linzer Cookies, and Corn Syrup-Free Caramel Corn.