Clean Gingerbread Men Cookies

Let me just tell you, I love me some gingerbread men.  They are tasty, cute, and a fun holiday treat.  So I tried making them "clean" and healthy.  Trial and error, thats all I have to say…the first batch I made last week was good, but they needed to be sweeter.  So sweeter I made them…all I can say is NAILED IT this time around.  

Makes about 30 cookies

Dry Ingredients:

4 C almond flour

1 C coconut flour

1 Tbsp ginger powder

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cloves

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1/4 C maple syrup (sugar free works too) + 1 Tbsp for dates

24 dates, pitted

6 Tbsp water

1/2 C egg whites

1/2 C softened coconut oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 drops liquid stevia

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl 

2. Make date paste:  In microwave safe bowl, add dates and 3 Tbsp water. put in microwave for 30 seconds.  Take out bowl and mash dates together.  Add another 3 Tbsp water and sat in microwave for 30 more seconds.  Take out bowl and mash some more.  Add 1 Tbsp maple syrup and mix well. The consistency should be pasty and smooth.

3.  Add all wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl.  Use hand blender and mix everything well.

4.  SLOWLY add dry ingredients and mix with hand blender. Blend until everything is well mixed with each other.

5.  Place cookie mixture on a piece of wax paper, wrap up, and place in freezer for 2 hours.

6.  Once cookie batter is cold, take out of freezer and flour surface with coconut flour and roll out with a rolling pin.  NOTE:  batter as it gets warm becomes difficult to work with, so using a little at a time and keeping in refrigerator until needed helps.

7.  Use cookie cover to cut, place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake for 17 minutes.

8. Take out and let cool before icing.

Icing:

1 scoop protein powder

1 tsp cream of tartar

almond milk

Mix ingredients together and add almond milk until at preferred consistency.  Add stevia if needed.

Add food coloring for different colors.  Or if you don't mind a little sugar, grab icing at the grocery store and decorate!