As a child winter-time started for me when my mother bought ‘braune Kuchen’, ginger cookies. Thin, dark brown cookies, crispy and tasty. Then my mother would peel some apples and I had these together with the cookies as dinner. So delicious, so good!
For decades I didn’t eat them anymore, I never rarely bought them by my own. Maybe because I left Germany at a young age and forgot, maybe just because I didn’t trust they would be still the same when I would buy them at the supermarket. My mother got them at a special pastry shop. A few times I found them at IKEA, pepperkakor. They are very similar.
So a few days ago I thought why not to try a recipe for these great cookies? They last for a long time stored in a airtight container. And I was sure I still had a lot of Lebkuchen spices. That is a special mixture for ginger bread, I bought a lot the last years. I thought. I didn’t. No ginger bread spices! I asked a friend from Germany to send me some. I am still waiting.
And then I had an idea: as I anyway have to change the recipe to make it paleo, gluten-free and lactose-free then I could also change the spices. Very similar to the Lebkuchen spices are pumpkin pie spices. My solution!
The procedure is a longer one, the cookie dough has to rest at least for 12 hours in a cool place, I prepared the dough yesterday morning and let it chill outside (I don’t use a fridge if not in summer for ice cream).
This morning I prepared the cookies and watching them in the oven, slowly and lightly raising, I could smell my childhood. In my mind I was already sitting in the chair, eating a sliced and peeled apple, biting into a crunchy ginger cookie and reading the last Ken Follett Saga book.
The wonderful thing is that even paleo and without ginger bread spices they are perfect! They are a great snack, a dinner substitute, a nice present when vising friends and so great to offer with a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. And even easy to prepare.
I hope you will enjoy them like me, even though they maybe don’t remind you anything now, one day maybe they will!
- 135 gr paleo all purpose flour
- 35 gr almond meal
- 0.5 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 60 gr cold ghee
- 125 ml maples syrup or honey
- In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients
- Add the ghee and the maple syrup and stir first with a wooden spoon. Then use the hands and form a ball.
- Transfer the cookie dough into a tupperware and leave the dough in the fridge or in a cool place over night.
- The next morning preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F.
- Take the cookie dough out of the container and roll out the dough. It should be around 3 mm/0.1 inches
- Cut the cookies with a cookie cutter of your choice or just a glass to have a round form. Put the cookies on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
- Let them cool out and transfer the cookies into a airtight container.
You can store the cookies for a relative long time. They are hard but friable.