Flashback

Back in another lifetime, there was a weekend tradition. On Sunday mornings, a small person would stumble out of bed into the living room, still half asleep and plonk on the sofa. I would always offer a cup of tea to help him wake up. The offer of tea always sparked the same question, ‘Are there ginger nuts?’. Because what more could you ask for when you have just woken up, a brew and a ginger nut to dunk in your tea?

Try to clean up the ginger nut

My inspiration for coming up with a grain-free ginger nut cookie was in an effort to reduce the amount of crap the small people in my life were eating. While my efforts to provide healthier alternatives didn’t always go down well, this is one of the few times my baked goods beat the store-bought version.

Crunchy, not teeth-breaking.

As these things go, this recipe was pretty easy to develop. I knew the challenge would be getting the right amount of crunch. Too much crunch and we could be looking for replacement teeth, not enough crunch and you have a terrible cookie with no structural integrity for dunking. The key to a good ginger nut is how long you bake it for. The trick with this recipe is to remove the cookies from the oven on time and let them sit on the hot baking tray to crisp up and develop the right amount of crunch. If you leave them in the oven too long, you will be looking for new teeth, and no amount of dunking will help you. 

While I no longer have to bake ginger nut cookies weekly to keep a child happy, they are still my go-to treat for road trips. If I know I am heading off on any kind of adventure, I make sure I have a few ginger nut cookies in my car for those coffee pit stops. Having my ginger nuts on hand means I get a fuel-up when I make a stop for coffee and a leg stretch without having to run the gauntlet of grain and sugar-filled offerings at coffee shops and petrol stations.

Gingernut cookies

Ingredients

• 200g seed butter
• 3 tsp. Ground ginger
• 1 egg
• 100g coconut sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees c/ 392 degrees f 

Have a baking tray ready with baking paper on it 

Into a food processor, place the coconut sugar and ginger blend until thoroughly combined. 

Add the seed or nut butter and mix until thoroughly combined; it will start to clump together. 

Add the egg and mix again until the mixture starts to form a ball. If it doesn’t form a ball straight away, don’t worry. 

When everything is thoroughly combined and sticking together, stop the processor. 

Use an ice cream scoop to portion out the cookie dough, place each portion onto the lined baking tray, and make sure there is space between each portion so that the cookies have space to spread. 

Use the back of a spoon to press down the pieces slightly. 

Bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown. 

Remove the cookies from the oven, let them cool on the baking tray; this will let them crisp up. 

When the cookies are hard, move them to a container; they will keep for about a week. 

Equipment 

• Food processor 
• Ice cream scoop 
• Baking tray
• Baking paper/ silicone liner
• Spoon 
• Measuring spoons
• Scales

Nutritional disclaimer

Nutrition information is provided as an estimate based on the ingredients used and available in my area (New Zealand). The nutritional information is here to help you understand the recipe; I use MyFitnessPal to generate my estimates. For more accurate nutritional information, please use a nutritional calculator with the ingredients in your area.