Festive Gingerbread people

Hey Guys

It's my favourite time of the year... Christmas!!!! (and also my birthday).  I have been making these gingerbread people non stop.  They are really good for lunch boxes or snacks ( every time me & my mum go past the plate we pick one up!) & they are the best dipped in hot chocolate.

The gingerbread is gluten free and refined sugar free.  I used traditional icing powder and water to pipe on to my gingerbread people, but you could easily replace that with adding raisins or small nuts to make the features.  Just be sure to press them firmly into the gingerbread people before they are baked.

Did you know that black strap Molasses is traditional in making gingerbread, it's high in iron, calcium, magnesium, B6 and selenium, as well as being delicious

For the gingerbread you will need:

3/4 cup oats ( check they are labelled gluten free if you have a gluten allergy)
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp GF baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 vegan margarine or coconut oil
1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
3 tbsp date syrup or your favourite unrefined sweetener
1 flax 'egg' ( 1 tbsp flax add 3 tbsp water)
Gingerbread people cutters
icing sugar if you are using this to pipe or 
small nuts or raisins

Method

Mix up the flax egg and leave to stand for a few minutes.  Place the oats into a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth flour.  Add in to the food processor ( or bowl) the rest of the dry ingredients , mix well.  Add the butter, molasses, date syrup and finally the flax egg.  I pulse the food processor until I have a fairly sticky dough. Now have a taste, you may want to add more sweetener, or if the dough is really 'wet' add a small amount of rice flour. 

Tip out the dough on to a piece of clingfilm, wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Heat the oven to 180C.  

Roll out the gingerbread between 2 pieces of baking parchment.  You may need to sprinkle them with a little rice flour if the dough is too sticky.  Use cutters to make your people and carefully lift ( I use a pallet knife) on to a lined baking tray. If you are using raisins or nuts for the features, press them firmly into place now.

Bake for around 18 minutes until golden brown.  The gingerbread may still feel soft as you get it out of the oven but don't worry as it hardens up as it cools.  You can experiment with the cooking time to get them exactly how you like them ( I like them crisp on the out side but still soft in the middle!)

I hope you enjoyed this recipe.  If you make any thing off my blog don't forget to tag me @moosfood on instagram.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Love from Moo x