Gluten Free Gingerbread Men

I made gluten free gingerbread ~~men~~ people this year based on Gluten Free Girl's recipe, with a few tweaks of my own, and they turned out great - so spicy and crispy, just how I like them! I'm sure these would have been yummy with the usual pre-ground spices, but I decided to grind the fresh spices myself for a stronger flavour, and it made them soooo good!

I know this recipe seems like a lot of bother, but it really is worth it :) You don't have to do it all in one day - you can make the flour mix and dough one day, make the cookies another day, and ice them another day if you like. And don't feel like this is just a Christmas recipe - use different shapes of cookie cutters and make them all year long!

Below is the gluten free flour mix I've developed (with a bit of inspiration from Gluten Free Girl) - it makes great biscuits and cakes! (Makes 1kg of baking mix.) If you don't have the time or the ingredients to make the mix, go ahead and use a bought pre-mix, it should work fine. They can also be made with spelt or wheat flour - you may just need to adjust the amount of flour to make the dough the right texture for rolling out.

Gluten Free Flour Mix:

1. Grind in Thermomix on speed 9 for 1 1/2 minutes:

- 200g raw brown rice

- 50g dry buckwheat (or dry chick peas)

- 50g chia seeds

(Tip: place a square of kitchen paper under the MC to stop bits spitting out while grinding.)

2. Add and mix on speed 6 until well combined, using TM spatula to help it along:

- 150g sorghum flour (also called 'Jowar Attah' in Indian stores)

- 150g potato starch or mung bean starch

- 250g sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour)

- 200g arrowroot flour (or tapioca or corn starch)

Note: You can grind up the glutinous rice/dried arrowroot/tapioca/sorghum yourself - just make sure it's really fine, and grind in 250g batches for 1-2 mins/sp 9.

Pour into a storage container.

Now for the gingerbread men:

1. Grind the dry, whole spices and roasted almonds first, on speed 9 for 1 minute, until finely ground (don't worry if they're not perfect - they'll grind up more in the next step):

- 1 whole nutmeg

- 3 cloves

- 4 black peppercorns

- 1 vanilla bean, chopped in bits

- 1 cinnamon stick (or more if you like)

- a pinch of cardamom seeds

- 40g roasted almonds, unsalted (can leave out - just add 40g more flour mix)

Have a sniff of that... Doesn't it smell good?!!

2. Add and grind on speed 9, scraping down now and then until everything is finely ground:

- 170g Rapadura or coconut sugar

- zest of 1 or 2 oranges (preferably organic)

- 1 inch of fresh ginger (peeled and cut in quarters)

3. Add and mix on speed 6 for 15 seconds using spatula to help combine mixture:

- 560g Gluten Free Flour Mix

- 1 1/2 tsp xanthum gum (or 2 Tbspns ground chia seeds)

- 2 tsp ground ginger powder (if you like it really gingery!)

- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt

- 1 tsp baking soda

Pour mixture into a bowl and set aside.

4. Place in Thermomix bowl and mix on speed 5-6 for 10 seconds:

- 230g unsalted butter or ghee or coconut oil

- 220g molasses

- 1 large egg

[Note: for egg free, leave out the egg, add 50g water mixed with 1 Tbspn ground chia seeds. Best to keep the xanthum gum in if leaving egg out.]

5. Scrape down sides, then with blades still running on speed 5, slowly add dry mixture through the hole in the lid, mixing until well combined. Towards the end you'll need to use the spatula to help it along. The dough will be a little bit sticky - that's okay.

6. Divide the dough into four pieces, wrapping each one in a piece of plastic wrap, flatten to a disc shape, and refrigerate. Leave them in the fridge for a few hours, or up to three days - this makes the flavours stronger. (Try not to eat all the raw dough - it's so yummy!!)

7. Now for the tricky bit: cutting out the cookies and getting them onto the baking trays without mangling them! I found the easiest way to do this is to roll out one disc of well-chilled dough on a silicon mat, with a piece of baking paper on top of the dough so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin. Roll it to about 5mm thick, or thicker if you like thick cookies, or if you're in a hurry! ;) Cut out the cookies (I used a plastic cutter - if you are using metal cutters, do it gently so you don't damage the silicon mat!). Don't even bother trying to pick up the gingerbread men at this stage - you'll only get frustrated! Just pull away any leftover bits of dough (from around the cut-out g.b.men), wrap bits in plastic and re-refrigerate; then pick up the whole mat and place it on a baking tray and pop it in the freezer for about 10 minutes... Then you can easily peel them off the silicon mat because they're nice and firm, and place them on trays ready to cook!

I have two silicon mats, so this worked for me - one mat in the freezer, one mat being used, swapping them back and forth. If you don't have silicon mats, just roll them out between two pieces of baking paper, using the same method.

8. Bake the cookies in a pre-heated 180 degree oven, until the centres are firm to the touch. Be careful not to burn them - if they're thin they cook in 10 minutes or less. Cool on racks before icing.

I just keep gathering the bits of dough together in balls, chilling them, and re-rolling and cutting them - they all seem to taste the same and not get too tough, probably because you don't need any flour to roll them out with, if you use the baking paper.

Now for the icing! I didn't want to use refined white sugar, so I decided to use xylitol so I'd still get white icing, instead of Rapadura, which I usually use. It worked great! This icing hardens as it dries.

Royal icing made with xylitol:

1. Grind on speed 9, scraping down now and then, until very fine:

- 100g xylitol

- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

- 2 tblspns cornflour

2. Insert butterfly and add egg white, mixing on speed 4 for about 4 or 5 minutes, until thick:

- 1 egg white

3. Sit a zip-loc sandwich bag in a glass and drape the edges over the sides. Pour the icing into the bag, squeeze the air out, and seal. Snip a TINY hole in one corner of the bag. Voila! A little piping bag, ready to decorate your gingerbread people!