Earlier this year I posted this Gingersnap Cookie Recipe, and today I bring you another one! Both of these cookies are delicious, but very different. The original gingersnap cookies are made with almond flour and are soft and chewy like a molasses cookie. Today's gingersnap recipe is crunchy, spicy and made from chestnut flour.
What is chestnut flour??! Chestnut flour is a gluten free alternative to regular flour made from ground chestnuts. Chestnuts have been dried and made into sweet flavored flour in Italy for centuries. In Tuscany, chestnut flour is considered a staple food, and it is commonly called for in recipes such as: chestnut flour bread, pie crust, crepes, and other baked goods. Its sweet flavor makes it the perfect fit for recipes involving almonds, chocolate, honey and hazelnuts. I have found it to be awesome in fall recipes that incorporate pumpkin and spice. Chestnuts do not contain the fat content regular nuts have, and are instead largely composed of carbohydrates. Chestnut flour does have less carbohydrates than regular white flour but has many of the same baking properties as flour. I love using almond flour and am not afraid of fat by any means. I am just enjoying how much fun this flour is to work with, and not to mention how good it is!
Is it actually a nut or a fruit? According to Wikipedia, it's a fruit. If you have tree nut allergies, please look into this more, but my understanding is that it's not a nut!!!
Convinced to buy some chestnut flour yet? You should be because I have a few recipes coming that will use this flour. It's worth buying a pound or two and seeing what you think! It can be purchased from Nuts.com and while you are there, they have fine ground almond flour too if you need more. It's comparable to Honeyville and they also sell other nut flours that could be fun to use instead of almond flour. I have cashew flour on my list to buy soon to make this awesome Spicy Rosemary Cashew Crackers Recipe!
Recipe: Grain-Free Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup chestnut flour
- 1/2 cup grass-fed butter or coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup molasses or yacon syrup
- 3/4 cup granulated sweetener*
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3 tsp ground ginger (heaping if you like spicy)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
- With a handheld mixer, combine the butter/oil, egg, vanilla, sugar and molasses
- In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, soda, salt and spices
- Combine the two bowls and mix well. the dough will be thick
- Take about 1/3 of the dough and roll it out between 2 pieces of parchment paper to about 1/8-1/4 inch thick
- Cut out cookies with a biscuit cutter or round cookie cutter. You could also roll dough into balls and press down flat with the bottom of a greased glass
- Place the cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 7 minutes
- Remove from the oven and place cookies on a wire cooling rack to help them get hard and crunchy
- Repeat until the dough is gone
Quick notes
*I used half erythritol and half coconut palm sugar for the sweetener
This makes about 48 thin cookies. Sounds like a lot, but they will go fast!! They are so thin that I justified eating 4 at a time thinking it really was equivalent to just 1 regular cookie!
