Holiday Recipe: Ayurvedic Inspired Gingerbread

Holiday Recipe: Ayurvedic Inspired Gingerbread

by sacredwindowprograms | Postpartum Nutrition & Recipes

The ritual of baking holiday cookies is a time-honored tradition for many families. Unfortunately, most seasonal baking recipes are loaded with highly processed ingredients that can cause us to feel quite lethargic and dull.

These Ayurvedically inspired cookies taste delicious and also keep you feeling healthy and balanced. This recipe calls for minimally processed, natural sweeteners like maple syrup, jaggery, and molasses. According to Ayurveda, unlike white sugar, these sugar substitutes digest slower and provide trace nutrients and minerals. Warming and aromatic spices also help stimulate your digestive fire by increasing circulation to the stomach and clearing stagnation.

Try this Recipe!

Ayurvedic Inspired Gingerbread Cookies

INGREDIENTS

For the Cookies:

• ½ cup ghee 

• ½ cup dark, unsulphured molasses 

• ½ cup jaggery or turbinado sugar  

• 1 egg 

• 1½ tsp ground ginger 

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon 

• 1  tsp ground clove 

• ½ tsp ground cardamom 

• 1 cup rice flour 

• 2 cups oat or whole wheat flour

• 2 tsp baking soda

• ½ tsp mineral salt

For the Icing:

• 6 tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• ⅓ cup tahini 

• 1 pinch mineral salt

Adjustments

For high altitude baking, add an additional ½ cup of oat or whole wheat flour. 

For vegan cookies, substitute ghee for ½ cup coconut oil and make a “flax egg” by combining 1 tbsp of flaxseed meal and 3 tbsp of filtered water. Allow to sit for 5 – 10 minutes. From here, you can add this ingredient to the recipe just as you would an egg!

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a medium pan, stirring occasionally, heat jaggery (or sugar), molasses, ghee, and spices to a gentle boil.
4. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda (it will foam).
5. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.
6. Beat an egg, then add to the mixture.
7. Slowly mix in the flour.
8. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until completely incorporated.
9. Divide dough in half. Wrap one half in plastic wrap while you work with the other.
10. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about ¼” thickness.
11. Cut out cookies with your favorite holiday shapes. Re-knead and re-roll the leftover bits of dough until you have used it all.
12. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
13. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes.
14. While the cookies are baking, start the icing by placing maple syrup in a small saucepan; cook over low heat for about 3 minutes.
15. Remove from heat and mix in the tahini, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.
16. Mix until smooth and let cool to room temperature, then place in a piping bag.
17. Once cookies are finished baking, place them on a drying rack and let them cool.
18. When the cookies are completely cool, decorate as desired.

    Serve with love and a glass of spiced warm milk.

    Cookies will stay fresh for up to 1 week stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

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Here at the Center for Sacred Window Studies, we share voices from many perspectives and backgrounds. We believe that the sacred weeks post birth, and the experience of humanity is experienced in countless ways. We learn by listening to one another and honoring our stories. The views and opinions of our writers do not necessarily reflect the mission, viewpoints or opinions of the Center for Sacred Window Studies.