Treats for Santa: Secret Weapon Gingerbread

Do you like the “Be a Good Cookie” spatula that I used in these photos? Right now, OXO is partnering with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, and 50% of the proceeds from each Good Cookie spatula will go towards pediatric cancer research! Hop on over to OXO’s site to pick up one for you and maybe one or two to add to your Christmas gifts this year.

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I don’t think it’s any secret how Santa maintains his belly that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly.

I mean, I don’t know what the missus is feeding him the rest of the year, but just one night of eating as many cookies as he does cannot be good for one’s metabolism.

That’s the problem with Christmas cookies: they’re around for the entire month of December, and yet just one or two nights of eating cookies for dinner (or, um, breakfast…) can entirely ruin your diet for the year.

Crap.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t indulge this holiday season. Not at all! I’m just saying that after your 6th holiday party, you might start feeling a little sluggish if you don’t take a step back to occasionally think about what you are putting into your body.

That’s why these gingerbread cookies are going to be your new secret weapon. I took a traditional gingerbread cookie recipe and I cut out half of the fat (and thus a significant number of calories) and replaced it with applesauce. I also slightly reduced the molasses and replaced some of the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour.

And guess what? You would never know.

Seriously! You could take these slightly spicy cookies to any party this season and they would get demolished right alongside their counterparts – no one would be any the wiser.

You know what else is great about these cookies? They are made on the stove top, which means that you don’t have to wait for the dough to chill. Which means that you can go from dreaming about gingerbread to eating gingerbread in under an hour.

That’s my kind of cookie.

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Adapted from Eat, Live, Run.

Secret Weapon Gingerbread

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Servings40 cookies

Ingredients

  

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• ▢ 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup molasses
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢ 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ▢ 1 stick unsalted butter cut into pieces
• ▢ 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• ▢ 1 egg slightly beaten
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
• ▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• In a large heavy-bottomed pot, combine the brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and white pepper. Bring to a full boil over medium-high heat; remove from heat and immediately add the baking soda and stir well. (The mixture will foam up...just keep stirring!)
• Add the butter a couple of chunks at a time, stirring to combine between each addition. Once all of the better has been added and has melted, stir in the applesauce.
• At the point, the mixture should still be warm but not hot. Add the egg and stir. Finally, add the salt, then the flour. Stir until the dough comes together - the dough should be very soft and still slightly warm.
• Roll out on a well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters or use a large glass to make round cookies. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!