Your Body Will Thank You For Eating These Gingerbread Cookies

The holidays are coming to a close, and you’re getting ready to kick your resolutions into high gear (if you’re into that sort of thing). But after all the cookie swaps, office holiday parties, and family feasts, most of us are feeling bloated, our skin is looking irritated, and some of us are beginning to consider swearing off sweets altogether. But with a big New Years party coming up, we can’t skip out on a classic holiday treat to finally wring out the rag that was 2016. If you feel like your body can’t handle one more sugar-dense holiday cookie, this dark chocolate covered gingerbread cookie recipe is going to make your day.

Anti-inflammatory ginger, antioxidant-rich dark chocolate, and healing blackstrap molasses are a recipe for happy winter skin. Blackstrap molasses is the thick, gooey substance left over after sugar is extracted from raw cane. The concentrated syrup absorbs essential vitamins and minerals from the sugar cane plant, and has a bittersweet flavor. Vitamin B6, magnesium, potassium, iron, and selenium support proper nervous system and immune system function. Blackstrap molasses also contains lactic acid, which helps to speed up the healing time of any lesions on your skin like cuts, wounds, and even acne. Dip it in dark chocolate, one of the most powerful beautifying superfoods out there, and your skin is going to thank you. Raw cacao helps to smooth skin texture, prevent wrinkles, and protect your skin from free radicals.

Coconut sugar is the perfect, low glycemic sweetener for baking. It is less processed and less sweet than cane sugar, which means fewer carbohydrates. It also won’t give you a sugar rush and inevitable crash that will knock you out before the ball drops. Coconut sugar has just the right amount of sweetness to provide flavor but not overwhelm your taste buds or skew your body’s PH balance. This recipe will help you ring in the New Year right.

Makes about a dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

• 1 cup coconut sugar

• 1 egg white

• 1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp almond flour

• 1/4 cup + 1 tsp coconut flour

• 1 3/4 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 tsp ginger powder

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 3 tbsp molasses

• 1 raw dark chocolate bar

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350’F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat together melted coconut oil, coconut sugar, and egg white until well mixed. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. Stir until there are no clumps.

4. Combine flour mixture with coconut oil mixture and molasses, refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

5. Once the dough has chilled, roll 1 tbsp-size balls and place them on your baking sheet, slightly flattening them with you fingers.

6. Bake until the edges are lightly brown, about 10 minutes.

7. Allow cookies to cool for about 30 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, melt dark chocolate in a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.

9. Dip tops of cookies in melted dark chocolate and place onto parchment paper.

10. Lightly dust cookies with cinnamon and place in the refrigerator, allowing chocolate to cool and set.

By Dorit Jaffe as told to Devon Kelley.

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