Spa+Clinic Team The gingerbread man has become synonymous with Christmas and for lots of people the festive season isn’t complete without them – including baking a batch with the kids to leave under the tree on Christmas Eve night to fuel Santa for his rounds.
Gingerbread originated in the Crusades and was originally made using breadcrumbs, boiled with honey and seasoned heavily with spices. It was pressed onto cookie boards (carved slabs of wood with religious designs) and dried.
It evolved to become more secular and to use more modern ingredients.
Eventually it became associated with Christmas in Europe in the 1500s when speculaas (gingerbread cookies) were made into animal and people shapes and used as holiday decorations.
In those times, laws restricted baking gingerbread to guildsman, but at the holidays these regulations were relaxed and people were allowed to bake their own at home, making a very special annual treat.
Contemporary gingerbread men are usually of the retail variety and thus too often packed with sugar, salt and preservatives.
The Beauty Chef, Carla Oates, has cooked up a healthier – but even tastier – version. They’d make great gifts, as well as treats for the family and Christmas guests.
Why not even make a batch or 10 to offer clients during the madhouse pre-Christmas rush of treatments!
INGREDIENTS
6 medjool dates, pitted
1/ 3 cup (80 ml) boiling water
1/ 2 cup (125 g) almond butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/ 2 teaspoon vanilla bean powder
1 cup (160 g) buckwheat flour
1/ 2 cup (80 g) millet flour
1/ 4 cup (30 g) arrowroot
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons cacao powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1/ 2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/ 2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of Himalayan salt
Dried currants, for decorating
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180. Lightly grease and line two large baking trays with baking paper.
Soak the dates in the boiling water in a small bowl for 10 minutes, or until softened.
Place the softened dates and any remaining liquid, almond butter, maple syrup and vanilla in a food processor or high-speed blender. Blend until smooth.
Sift the buckwheat and millet flours, arrowroot, ginger, cacao powder, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, nutmeg and salt into a medium bowl. Add the date mixture and stir until it begins to form a dough. Turn out onto a clean kitchen bench and shape into a disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper to approximately 3 mm thick. Using a gingerbread man cookie cutter to press out shapes. Arrange on the prepared baking trays. Re-roll any scraps and cut out further men.
Decorate with currants to make eyes and buttons. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Leave on the tray to cool slightly. Transfer onto a rack to cool completely.
AND IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A FABULOUS LAST-MINUTE GIFT IDEA (especially for yourself!) …
You can’t go past The Beauty Chef Cookbook. Available on their website and in-store and online where all good books are sold, it gets a big thumbs up from the SPA+CLINIC team and (editor Jenni’s niece Johanna!).
Beautiful enough for a coffee table book, it’s packed with dozens of delicious, uber-healthy recipes from sweet to savoury, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, suppers, snacks, salads and smoothies.
It would certainly be an invaluable tool for keeping those New Year healthy eating resolutions on track!
