Soft & Chewy Gingerbread Cookies (sweetened only with dates & love)

As promised in my last post about date paste, here's the first holiday date-sweetened recipe! I made these yesterday. Oh man, I love gingerbread, especially SOFT gingerbread. The two keys to making these nice and soft are to: 1. Roll it out thick! and 2. Don't overbake!

 RECIPE

3 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 T cinnamon
1T ground ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
12 T butter (room temp, but not warm) cut into small chunks
3/4 cup date paste (or approx 1 cup of dates cooked down in 1 cup water and pureed)
         check out all about date paste for tips!
3/4 cup molasses

I like to use a food processor, but a mixer is great too.

Mix dry ingredients.
Add the butter and mix until mixture is "sandy."
With the mixer on low, slowly add the molasses and date paste until the dough is evenly combined.
Scrape the dough out onto parchment paper.
Divide into 2 balls, wrap in plastic and chill. An hour in the fridge or speed it up in the freezer.
Roll out between 2 pieces of parchment. Roll out thick, about 1/4 inch.
Cut out shapes and place on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Add any decorations at this point. Pop in the freezer for about 5 min.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 min. Don't over bake 'em! They'll firm up on the pan outside the oven.
Cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack.

P.S. If you don't feel like rolling out the dough, just shape into little round balls and flatten slightly.

If you try it, let me know how it goes! Also if you have good sugar-free decorating ideas besides raisins, let's hear 'em!

Happy baking.

Carrie

All About Date Paste

Ok, so I don't eat sugar. Not because I'm morally superior, but because I'm vain: it gives me acne. It also makes me feel like I've chugged 5 cups of coffee on an empty stomach. Unfortunately for me, maple syrup and honey have the same effect. Enter date paste. It's dates, cooked down and softened in water and pureed. I use it almost exclusively as a sweetener when I bake and it doesn't make me jittery.

I buy my dates at Costco or from the bulk bin at Winco. Both places are about $3.50 per pound

Here's how to make it!

1 cup dates
1 cup water

Makes approx 3/4 cups date paste, which is usually enough to sweeten most recipes.

Combine in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the dates are very soft. The water will reduce. Use a fork to mash up the dates and break them apart. If you have an immersion blender, this speeds up the process considerably and gets the paste as smooth as possible. Simmering time can vary from 15 min to an hour, depending on how much you are actively smashing up the dates with a fork.

This consistency works fine if you are using the paste to sweeten pie filling or muffins. But if you want it completely smooth for something like frosting, blend, blend, blend.

Using date paste


I usually just go for it, subbing date paste in recipes and trying to make it work. It usually does. 😁. Sometimes you get a different texture than you are used to, but it's usually still good. Following are some ideas.

Pie filling - super easy. Just use date paste instead of sugar. Do it to your taste. It's very forgiving. I use about a cup of dates for a regular pie. A cup and a half to 2 cups if you like it sweeter, or if the pie contains a sour fruit such as rhubarb.

Muffins - I do this all the time using the following link as a guide:
breakfast muffins I used raisins in this recipe, but date paste works just as well. You can also substitute the grated apple and banana for another "wet" ingredient too, such as pumpkin puree.

date sweetened chocolate almond bars - a favorite around here

Cake - This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe from "A spoonful of sugar-free." I usually double it.
Flourless chocolate cake (made with almonds) I have a great date-sweetened frosting recipe that I use with it. Message me if you want it!

Cookies - I have subbed date paste in regular old cookies. It's a bit of trial and error, as it does change the consistency. I've noticed it makes them a bit more cake-y than crumb-y if that makes sense. I do think that almond flour might be better suited with dates for cookies and I'm going to do some testing in my "date paste test kitchen" this holiday season and I'll report back with any winners!

Also, coming soon! Date-sweetened homemade eggnog recipe.  Happy baking!