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🎄✨ Whole-Food Gingerbread Cookies with Cashew Maple Icing

Soft • Spiced • Festive • Nervous-System Nourishing

These whole-food gingerbread cookies capture everything we love about the holidays — warm spices, cozy sweetness, and that unmistakable gingerbread flavour — without the crash that usually follows.

They’re softly baked, gently sweetened with whole foods, and finished with a creamy cashew-maple icing that makes them feel just a little fancy ✨ Perfect for sharing, gifting, or enjoying slowly with a cup of tea.

This is gingerbread that honours tradition while supporting your body.

🍪 Ingredients

Makes 12–14 soft cookies

Dry Ingredients 🧡

  • 1¾ cups rolled oats, blended into oat flour
  • 1 tbsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of sea salt

Wet Ingredients 🍯

  • ¾ cup soft Medjool dates, packed
  • 1–2 tbsp blackstrap molasses (2 tbsp for deeper, classic gingerbread flavour)
  • 2 tbsp almond butter or cashew butter
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1–3 tbsp warm water, as needed

✨ Cashew Maple Icing (Whole-Food & Refined-Sugar-Free) 🤍

  • ½ cup raw cashews, soaked 2–4 hours (or hot-soaked 20 minutes)
  • 2–3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp coconut cream
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 1–3 tbsp water, to thin

🧑‍🍳 Instructions

1️⃣ Add all wet ingredients to the food processor

Blend until smooth and sticky:

  • Dates
  • Molasses (or substitute)
  • Maple syrup
  • Nut butter
  • Vanilla
  • Lemon juice
  • Minimal water (only if needed)

2️⃣ Add the dry ingredients directly into the processor

  • Oat flour (or oats, then blend)
  • Ginger
  • Cinnamon
  • Nutmeg
  • Cloves
  • Baking powder
  • Salt

3️⃣ Pulse until just combined

Stop as soon as a soft dough forms. Scrape down the sides once if needed.

4️⃣ Shape

Roll, flatten, bake as usual.

5️⃣ Bake

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10–12 minutes. Let cool completely — they firm slightly while staying soft and chewy inside.

6️⃣ Make the icing

Blend all icing ingredients until silky smooth. Adjust thickness depending on whether you want a drizzle or a thicker topping.

Drizzle or spoon over cooled cookies ✨

🍯 What if I don’t have blackstrap molasses?

No problem at all — this recipe is meant to feel doable, not restrictive.

Blackstrap molasses gives gingerbread its deep, traditional flavour and added minerals, but it’s not something everyone has on hand.

Choose one of these easy options:

Option 1: Regular molasses
Use the same amount.
It has fewer minerals than blackstrap but still delivers classic gingerbread flavour.

Option 2: Maple syrup + extra spice
Replace the molasses with:

  • 2 additional tablespoons maple syrup
  • Add an extra ½ tsp ground ginger or a pinch of cloves

This keeps the cookies warm, spiced, and delicious — just a little lighter in flavour.

Option 3: Date syrup (if available)
Use the same amount.
This keeps everything fully whole-food with a deep caramel note.

Use what you have. Nourishment also includes ease.

🌿 Nervous System Nutrition Notes

  • Dates provide slow, steady energy along with potassium and magnesium — minerals that support calm and regulation
  • Cashews are rich in magnesium and zinc, both essential for mood balance and stress resilience
  • Molasses, while technically a refined sugar, contains iron, calcium, and magnesium — and we use it intentionally and sparingly to honour tradition
  • Oats help stabilize blood sugar and create warmth and steadiness
  • Ginger and cinnamon support digestion, circulation, and that cozy holiday feeling

This is dessert that satisfies without dysregulating — no spike, no crash, no guilt.

Just nourishment, warmth, and joy 🎄

🤍 A Gentle Note

This recipe isn’t about perfection. It’s about choice, nourishment, and enjoying the season in a way that feels supportive.

Food can be festive and kind to your nervous system — and this gingerbread is proof.