Well, well this weekend I officially had my first Christmas-baking-sweet-treat-session! It is the best, just dancing around in the kitchen listening to all sorts of Christmas music while attempting to reach the very high nodes together with Mariah Carey and ‘all I want for Christmas is yoooou’!
It seems as pure luxury in a normally busy everyday to be able to clear a whole day in your schedule to simply have fun and experiment in the kitchen – and it also resulted in a new and nutrition improved Christmas cookie that had some slight similarities to honey cake, despite being 100% free of honey!
In Denmark we eat something called ‘pebern ¸dder’ directly translated to pepper nuts. It is a spicy and crispy little christmas cookie that belongs to this Holiday and is consumed in rather huge amounts around the entire country. A couple of years ago I encountered a meeting with a chocolate covered and oversized version that has been imprinted in mind ever since. This little chocolate covered fellow actually inspired me to make this batch of cookies – and even though this version is slightly different, especially in its more soft texture, there is still something absolutely magical about a spicy cookie dressed in chocolate.
These cookies are made gluten free and with the use of a healthier sugar alternative, here coconut sugar. They are filled with spices and the almond flour gives them a slightly moist texture which I absolutely adore. I coated them in very dark aromatic chocolate that are perfectly balanced by the spicy and sweet cookie. You can eat them straight away, keep them in a cookie can or divide them into small bags and attach them to your Christmas presents.
I might be doing another batch soon and possible pamper my dear family with chocolate covered goods during the next week or so. But for now I wish you all a very merry Christmas and hopefully happy baking :)
Gluten free Spicy Christmas Cookies dipped in Dark Chocolate
Makes 50 spicy Christmas cookies
75 g coconut sugar or use regular sugar (alternatively sukrin gold or another granulated sweetener)
50 g almond meal
150 g buckwheat flour (alternatively for non gluten free, use spelt or whole wheat flour)
1 tbsp corn starch
50 g butter (room temperature) or coconut oil
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp fresh grated ginger (alternatively 1/2 tsp ground)
A generous pinch of salt
100 g 70% dark chocolate
Directions
Whisk together eggs and sugar until foamy. Gently mix in soft butter, ginger and almond flour. Mix all the remaining dry ingredients and stir it into the wet mixture. Knead the dough until it sticks together. Set a side to cool in the fridge for 30 min.
Preheat oven to 175 C/350 F (with fan). Divide the dough into 4 smaller portions and use your palms to roll the dough into 4 long rolls. Chop eat roll into smaller cookies, give them a roll and place them on a lines baking sheet. Give each cookie a little tug on the top to flatten them just a bit. Bake in the oven for 8-10 min.
Set the cookies a side to cool. Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Gently and swiftly dip each cookie half into the chocolate and place on a sheet to cool.
Comments (23)
These look like the perfect Christmas cookie! Love the chocolate dip :)
Well thank you, I do looove the chocolate too :)
I just made a batch for the weekend (though they might not last that long) – they are absolutely delicious! Thanks for this (and all of your other) wonderful recipe(s).
Haha, Oh i know that.. mine never last long, it seems as my mind can’t concentrate on anything else than ‘eat those cookies’ as long as they are in my kitchen :)
Haha, I did a similar thing last Christmas with Mariah Carey Christmas songs blaring and cookies baking in the oven – such a lovely, relaxing way to spend the day, and it really made it feel like Christmas time!
I love spiced cookies at Christmas. And I love the cute Danish name for them too – Pepper nuts. They look delicious :)
I am so glad I am not alone – love those divas and their grand versions of Christmas songs!
I have been surfing around the web looking fo different gluten free cookies all moring… these are just perfect, you made my day!
i can now start baking off my Christmas :)
thank you!
You are very welcome – glad you stumbled upon these :)
As a dutchman I feel really offended by this article ;) We invented the ‘pepernoten’. We always eat them around ‘Sinterklaas’ and throw them in kids faces…..
Weird tradition actually hahaha
Hahaha, I am sorry I should investigate my food history better :) But still they have become a danish christmas tradition as well- you did a good job inventing them :)
These cookies look SO delicious.. and I am just loving how much healthier they are in comparison to other cookies. It’s not Christmas yet, so I still have time for some holiday baking and I know that I will definitely be making these!
Oh yes you have – I too will make an additional batch :) And I am very pleased you like the healthier (and promise you just as tasty) version of Christmas cookies!
These photos are just beautiful! I’m very curious about coconut sugar. Does it taste very sweet? I bake paleo cookies a lot and have not yet tried using coconut sugar yet.
Coconut sugar taste a little more exotic and has that slightly golden aromatic flavour known from brown sugar. It is almost as sweet as regular sugar and bring more flavour to your baked goods. I love it and so does my blood sugar :)
Jeg har lige bagt din lækre version af pebernødder, og hold op de er gode! Jeg tror, jeg bliver nødt til at bage en portion til, for de holder vidst ikke helt til jul… :-)
Jubii, jeg blir så glad når jeg hører at opskrifterne også fungere godt i andres køkkener, så fedt! Og ja da, du skal så meget bage en portion til, man kan ikke få nok pebernødder i december :)
Så gott! Jag ¤lskar pepparn ¶tter och bara måste prova dessa! God jul och gott nytt år från Sverige! /Sonja
Tusind tak i lige måde :) Og ja, pebernødder er bare dejligt her i julen!
These cookies are great! Just made them last week and I will again soon. I just didn’t dip them in chocolate but put it chopped in the dough. This weekend I’m making your beetroot muffins.
I especially appreciate your blog for good gluten free recipes for baked goods that use healthy ingredients. In my opinion it’s a big advantage of your blog and of course I’m hoping for more such recipes in the future. Keep up the good work! :) Kind regards.
I love your website and just finished baking the cookies. Though the flavor is awesome, they seem a bit dry. I may have not made the correct conversion from grams to American measures. Can you help with that as I would like try the recipe again. Thank you
Just finished making these with 70% mint dark chocolate. The only trouble I had was obtaining the right consistency for dipping of the chocolate. Added a bit of water & stirred it up to make smooth dipping.
Any chance you have the recipe with cups/tbsp rather than grams? Looks fabulous.
I am sorry I haven’t. But try this site for conversion :) http://www.well.com/conf/cooking/recipes/convert-chart.html