Gingerbread Men – Gluten-free and Vegan

I’ve been a little quiet on this blog this year. We’ve had quite the medical roundabout with me having a couple of day surgeries, my youngest son having some medical problems and my husband being diagnosed with a very rare form of lymphoma. Thankfully, although rare, his lymphoma is very low grade and when he gets to the point of needing chemotherapy it should respond well. There’s been little spare time for baking but in time for Christmas I’ve been back in the kitchen trying out new recipes.

I’ve been wanting to sort out a gingerbread man recipe for some time now. In previous years I’ve used a recipe that comes out nicely but doesn’t quite have the zing that I was hoping for. I recently tried another recipe which had the zing but the texture was not quite how we like it. This recipe uses ideas from both recipes I’ve tried and it’s a winner. My youngest son finds it a little too zingy for his taste buds, so if you want it a bit milder just reduce the ginger amount. It’s a good recipe as it’s free from all the common allergens – gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts and soy. Here it is:

Ingredients

250 g dairy free margarine (I use Nuttelex in Australia) or you can use butter if not dairy -free

225 g brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

60 g water combined with 2 teaspoons of Organ No Egg powder (or use 2 eggs if you can have them) A flax egg should also work but I haven’t tried it in this recipe.

120 g golden syrup (if you can’t get golden syrup, perhaps try treacle)

600 g gluten free plain/all purpose flour (I use Aldi or Orgran gluten free plain flour)

3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

4 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

Method

1. Cream margarine/butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixers.
2. Add water and No Egg powder and golden syrup and mix well.
3. Mix the dry ingredients well together and add to the creamed mixture until it is incorporated.
4. Roll out on floured baking paper until 3-5 mm thick and cut out the gingerbread people.
5. Transfer to a baking paper lined tray (I use silicon mats on a baking tray).
6. Cook at 160 C (fan-forced oven) or 180 C (conventional oven) for 15-20 minutes depending on thickness of the gingerbread men.
7. Cool on the trays then store in an airtight container.