These cookies are crisp and reminiscent of gingerbread with a satisfying complexity that’s rare in cookies. I use sucanat, an unrefined cane sugar, blackstrap molasses, stone ground flours, and a candied ginger that is close to the real thing—sugared slices of real ginger sold in the bulk bins at our Co-Op which are infinitely better than the little gravel-like nuggets sold in bags for baking.
This recipe is great for using any combination of flours you may have on hand, because it is a simple, stirred together dough that you then chill and slice-and-bake. In this batch I combined purple barley from The Grain Shed (Spokane) and Wheatsome, a wheat-spelt-rye-kamut blend from Conservation Grains (Choteau, MT). Thank you to the creator, Rebecca Katz (check out her IACP award winning book: The Cancer Fighting Kitchen).
Heading into the refrigerator to chill.
Lifts out easily from the pan.
Slice and bake
Ginger Pecan Snaps
makes 30-36 cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ⅔ cup sucanat (unrefined cane sugar crystals) or brown sugar
- ⅓ cup blackstrap molasses
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt or sea salt
- 1 egg
- 1 ⅓ cup barley flour or oat or wheat
- 1 ⅓ cup spelt or whole wheat flour Conservation Grains Wheatsome
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp chopped candied ginger
Instructions
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In small saucepan, combine coconut oil, sucanat, molasses, butter, spices, and salt. Bring to boil and stir until sucanat is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
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Prepare a standard loaf pan (8.5- by 4.5-inches) by lining it with two pieces of parchment paper, one crosswise, one lengthwise, with a few inches of overhang to cover and serve as a lift after chilling the dough.
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Whisk together flours and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Pour in the cooled saucepan mixture, crack in the egg, and mix well with a wood spoon or spatula. Stir in the pecans and candied ginger. Scoop into prepared loaf pan and smooth top. Fold the parchment over the dough to cover. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or ideally, overnight.
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When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheet pan with parchment paper or a Silpat liner. Using the edges of the parchment, lift the loaf out of the pan and then then thinly slice aiming for graham-cracker-thickness, 30–36 slices for the whole loaf.
Bake for 7–9 minutes, until fragrant and edges just begin to brown. Cool on sheet pan 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack. Cookies will crisp as they cool.
Recipe Notes / Tips
- Gluten free: I feel this recipe would work very well with a gluten-free flour blend and some buckwheat or teff. Here's my favorite gluten-free blend. I would aim for 2 or 2 1/3 cups GF + 1/3 to 2/3 cup buckwheat or teff.
- Dough can be refrigerated for several days before baking.
