These paleo ginger cookies are made with coconut flour. They are delicious soft, chewy ginger biscuits that are sweetened with honey. If you’re following the paleo or GAPS/SCD diets then these are suitable for you.
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Busy sums up my week, and I’m sure it sums yours up too?
What in the world is going on? I’m too busy, you’re too busy, everyone is too busy.
We all need to just slow down! I’m writing that down in case it sinks in and I actually do it.
Anyway, onto today’s recipe which is for paleo ginger cookies or coconut flour cookies. If you’d like to find out more about the paleo diet then check out this link. I’m currently following the SCD/GAPS diet which is very similar.
Baking with coconut flour
A few weeks ago I was sent some coconut products from Biona.
I always use Biona cuisine coconut oil when I don’t want the flavour of coconut in my recipes, but want the benefits of coconut.
In this recipe I used their ‘ordinary’ coconut oil. If you don’t like the flavour of coconut then don’t worry. The ginger shines though and I challenge you to detect that there’s even coconut in them. Even Mr M can’t detect it (and he hates coconut).
Coconut flour is a popular flour to bake with because it’s low carb, high in fibre and protein, and gluten (grain) free. It’s also suitable for people following the paleo diet.
However, coconut flour can be tricky to bake with. It absorbs a lot of moisture so if you’re ever using it to make cakes then you’ll find you will need an awful lot of eggs, and ideally liquid sweeteners. In my experience for every one tablespoon of coconut flour you use, you’ll need one egg in cake making.
What sweetener is used for these coconut flour cookies?
For these gluten free and refined sugar free cookies I’ve used honey as a sweetener. There are a number of reasons for this.
Firstly, as I mentioned above, when baking with coconut flour it’s necessary to use a liquid sweetener. This is because the coconut flour absorbs lots of moisture.
Secondly I like to use honey as a sweetener where I can. It is ‘allowable’ on the GAPS/SCD diet (which I am currently following for my IBS) and it’s generally unprocessed.
Finally, because honey is hygroscopic (it absorbs moisture from the air) it helps create these soft, chewy gluten free cookies which is the result I was looking for.
For this reason I have kept the quantity of cookies to a minimum because they don’t keep for very long.
It also means there’s less temptation in the house.
Of course if you wanted to make more you could easily double or quadruple the ingredient quantities.
How to make paleo ginger cookies
It’s so easy to make these cookies. You’ll need soft (but not liquid coconut oil) and into that you mix the coconut flour, honey, almond butter and ginger. I like my cookies really gingery (is that a word?!) but I know some people find it too much.
The ground ginger acts a bit like flour in this recipe so you don’t want to cut it down too much. Trust me, because the coconut flavour is quite strong you need a lot of ground ginger to get a full ginger taste.
One last tip, make sure you leave a large gap between the cookies. They spread a lot in the baking process and otherwise you’ll end up with one, very large, cookie!
Free recipe booklet
If you like this recipe and would like to learn how to make other delicious gluten free treats then sign up for my free booklet below. In the book you’ll find recipes for gluten free pastry, bread, pizza, Yorkshire puddings, Victoria sponge, pancakes and gingerbread.
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And if you like this recipe you’ll probably like this one for gluten free ginger cookies too. Rather than using coconut flour, that recipe uses almond flour.
As with all of my recipes…if you try them please do post a picture on your favourite social media site, tagging @freefromfairy. It makes my day to see you enjoying my recipes!
Have a great weekend.
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Paleo Ginger Cookies (Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free)
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp runny honey
- 1 tbsp almond butter - you can make your own by 'whizzing' almonds in a blender or food processor with a little flavourless oil
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until a sticky dough forms
- Grease or line (with baking paper) a large baking tray
- Remove 1tsp of the mixture from the bowl and flatten to about 5cm in diameter. Repeat with the remaining mixture leaving big spaces between each biscuit (the mixture spreads when cooking)
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C (160 degree fan, gas mark 4) for approx. 5 - 10 minutes until golden
- Leave to cool on the baking tray, then store in an airtight container, or eat immediately!
Notes
Nutrition (Approx)
Jennifer says
I just made these, and they were so good! One of the best ginger coconut flour cookies I’ve had. thanks for this recipe!
Vicki Montague says
I’m glad you liked them 🙂
Helen says
Hi, I’ve just made these, but as I can’t have any kind of sugar, left out the honey. They were so dry, they just crumbled when I tied to get them off the baking tray. I wondered if I could try egg instead of the coconut oil to bind it?
Helen says
I forgot to add that the mixture was still delicious, I just ate it like a crumble 🙂
Vicki Montague says
Hi Helen, I’m not sure about the egg but it’s worth a try. I always encourage people to experiment with my recipes. Let me know how you get on!
MAureen says
Hi there
Can I use maple syrup instead of honey?
Vicki Montague says
Yes you can use any liquid sweetener. Today I used rice syrup.
Annette says
I was so excited to try these that I made them straight away. I didn’t have coconut oil and have no issues with butter, so I used butter instead and I also used tahini paste in place of almond butter because that’s what I always do (to make my baking school safe).
They weren’t thin and crispy like yours look, so I was a little disappointed but I’ve noticed this a few times when I’ve swapped coconut oil for butter. But the taste was ok – I reduced the ginger because it seemed like so much. I would love to try them again with coconut oil and hopefully get the thin crispy texture that yours appear to have.
Vicki Montague says
Hiya! Sorry to hear you were disappointed. Do let me know how you get on if you make them again. Sometimes I find that the temperature of the butter or coconut oil affects them. It needs to be soft but not melted.
Barend says
Can you leave out the honey? Im not allowed any sugar even sugar replacements.
Vicki Montague says
I don’t think they will be very nice I’m afraid. I’d stick to savoury recipes…how about my cheese biscuits?
Nish says
Hi… im lookimg forward to making these with my son!! I was wondering if these biscuits hold their shape… was going to use a gingerbread man cutter will.it still.look that shape after cooking? Thanks
Vicki Montague says
Hi Nish, I’m afraid not! This dough spreads when baking. If you want to make gingerbread men then I suggest you use this recipe of mine..https://freefromfairy.com/2015/12/healthier-gingerbread-low-sugar-gluten-free-dairy-free-egg-free-low-fodmap.html
Louise says
Thanks! I like the recipe very much – especially the robust ginger flavor. I used almond butter that I had made and that had some nut pieces in it that the food processor missed. I really liked the taste when I took a bite with a nut in it so next time I am going to try adding some finely chopped almonds to the recipe. Thanks again for the very simple and yummy recipe!
Vicki Montague says
Ah so pleased you like it. It’s great for those times when you ‘need’ a quick fix eh?!
Louise says
Perhaps add Celsius next to the temperature on the recipe – I was reading the comments after putting my cookies in an 180 degree oven and didn’t realize my error until 4 minutes had passed. Oops! I am also curious about how many cookies you typically get out of this recipe? Thanks for the recipe!
Vicki Montague says
Hi Louise, I have amended the recipe! Sorry. I make around 8 cookies with the mix. I hope that helps?
Debby says
O.k. so I’ve just made these and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. They are dry like really dry the only thing wad I didn’t have the right butter so I just used ordinary butter. They were really easy to make but I just don’t know what went wrong help me please
Vicki Montague says
Hi Debby, I guess changing the almond butter to butter is the issue. I suggest trying again but using almond butter. I’ve never had a problem with them being dry…
Mariel says
Is the oven temp Celsius or farenheit?
Vicki Montague says
Sorry it’s celsius.
Linda says
Delicious. I used hazelnut butter. Make sure you leave them to cool as this is when they harden up. I would use less ginger next time. Thank I loved them!
Vicki Montague says
Ooo that sounds great! I am a bit of a ginger monster. Sorry they were too strong for you!!
Nadine Beaufort says
Is it 180 degrees farhenheit? It’s so low that I wondered if it was celcius!
Vicki Montague says
Hi Nadine, it’s celsius! Sorry.
Nat Ford says
Will these work if I replace the ginger with cocoa powder for a friend who cannot eat ginger? I also wonder if they would wor if I also replace the almond butter with peanut butter. Mmmm peanut and chocolate.
Vicki Montague says
Hi Nat, I have never done that but it may work. However to get a strong chocolate taste you will need more cocoa powder than ginger and probably more sweetener…it may take some experimenting! Good luck.
Rachael Soster-Smith says
These were the most surprising recipe I’ve tried lately! Surprising in a very good way. I didn’t think the tiny mixture would make any quantity of note – but it was plenty for one afternoon tea. My kids all adored these – thank you 🙂
Vicki Montague says
What a lovely comment. I’m so glad you tried the recipe out. I find it much better to create small amounts of things so that there isn’t too much temptation! Glad the kids liked them too.
Elwing says
I subbed the coconut flour (which cannot be found here) by rice flour. Unfortunately, I must have done something wrong as they ended up completely flat and with holes.
Vicki Montague says
Hi Elwing, sorry to hear about your disaster. I’m afraid subbing the coconut flour with rice flour is where you went wrong. They are very different beasts and cannot be substituted for one another…in fact I’m not sure there is anything that would work in the place of coconut flour. Try one of my other biscuit recipes that use ‘normal’ gluten free flour! Good luck!
Wasila says
Hi, these look delicious……can I use pasteurized butter instead of almond butter?
Vicki Montague says
Give it a try! I don’t see why not. I like to encourage experimentation with my recipes!
Helen says
Delicious recipe – I have to be really careful with checking them because they can burn very easily, but the end product has such a great texture! Not sure if I should really admit this but the batter on its own makes a delicious bowl of satisfaction as well!
Vicki Montague says
Hi Helen, I agree about the batter. Sometimes only half makes it into the oven!
Kate - glutenfreealchemist says
Busy is an understatement right now! How do you fit it all in? I feel like I have hardly touched the blog and still can’t get everything else done.
The ginger biscuits look like the perfect anti-dote to life’s manicness….. sit down with a cup of tea and stop! Now THAT would be nice!!! Great recipe….. I actually quite like the idea of them going soft after a couple of days….. A sort of BOGOF biscuit!
Vicki Montague says
Ah you are lovely Kate! I don’t know how you do all the things that you do!!!
Charlotte Oates says
Wow! It sounds like you’ve been really busy, although busy recipe developing sounds like a lot of fun to me!
These biscuits sound delicious. We love ginger biscuits in our house and I’m trying to increase my ability to cook “free-from” foods so I’m very temped to give these a try!
Vicki Montague says
Hi Charlotte, they are probably the easiest freefrom biscuit you could cook! Any reason you are learning how to cook freefrom food or just like a challenge?! Let me know if you try them out!
Julie's Family Kitchen says
These look delicious Vicki, I’d definitely like to try these out. I’m trying so hard to not eat any refined sugar at the moment so these would be a great tasty treat. Although with the Bake Off back on soon I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to last!
Vicki Montague says
Oh well done!!! It is tough but I think it is worth it! It is a nice challenge to make things without refined sugar!
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
Ooo these look gorgeous, I adore ginger biscuits. I shall have to give them a whirl and as they don’t taste like coconut Mr E would be happy (he doesn’t like coconut either like your husband). I’ve never used any coconut flour before I shall have to look out for some. Would it be useable in pastries & sponges as well??
And many congratulations with getting to the stage of developing recipes for a brand! Impressive 🙂
Angela x
Vicki Montague says
Hi Angela. Thank you so much! Coconut flour is not a simple one to use!!! Just be warned! It is nothing like ‘normal’ flour… Having said that it can be used in pastry and sponges but not on its own. If you are keen to try it out start with recipes that you find other people have done and work on from there! These are really simple and delicious! And a lot more healthy that your ‘usual’ biscuit!
Vicki Montague says
Ah thanks Kirsty! Do let me know if you try them, I would love your feedback! I have been doing recipes for Nature’s Path since around this time last year…but the bread is a new thing!!
Lisa says
Oh wow, these look delicious. I have coconut flour but to date haven’t used it, this might be just the thing! Love that they are dairy free.
Vicki Montague says
Hi Lisa! These are so easy and make so few that if you hate them you won’t have wasted much time or money!! Let me know what you think if you do try them!
Mel says
They look yummy! Do you think I could make them with Wow butter (soya-based) for Jumpy? xx
Vicki Montague says
Hi Mel, I reckon you could…give it a go. It is such a quick and easy recipe!
Vicky says
Wow! You have been busy! Funnily enough, I’ve never made or eaten sticky toffee pudding so I’m looking forward to your recipe, it’s been on my to-do list for a while.
I LOVE these ginger biscuits! A simple, quick recipe and you’re right, small batches are definitely the way to go!
Nicola Young says
Well done for getting the recognition you deserve from all the lovely things you make. Sounds like you will be kept busy!
Those biscuits look fab and so easy to make. Will definitely give them a go.
Vicki Montague says
Ah thanks Nicola. It is gratifying to see things coming together after years of working hard on my blog! Do let me know what you think of the biscuits!
Cristina @ I Say Nomato says
These look so delicious! Just a quick, gingery treat 🙂 They look almost like fairy cookies!
Vicki Montague says
You don’t have to feel guilty about eating them either since there is nothing too awful in them!!!