FRESH GINGER EGGLESS COOKIES

Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle all the way,
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh!!!
Christmas is almost here friends, and this is the time to merry, to celebrate and to spread love and kindness, Just like Santa does. This is the time to exchanges gifts and goodies, time to bake and time to enjoy with family and friends.

Christmas is the time of the year when like everyone else, I also love to bake. Cakes and cookies; Breads and Pies and lots more we all love to bake and celebrate this amazing time of the year. I baked ginger snap cookies last year and everyone loved them , so I thought of baking them again this year too.

I started collecting all the ingredients I needed to my kitchen counter, when I figured out that I was out of ginger powder, which is the main ingredient of ginger cookies. As I had already done half of the preparation, It was not possible for me to wait. Hence, i decided to use fresh ginger in place of ginger powder. I was not sure about the result, but I thought of giving it a try.

The result- “Awesome ” was the word my family told me after tasting it. The aroma of fresh ginger and molasses was all over the house and the flavor of fresh ginger cookies was much better than the powder ginger cookies. The texture of these cookies is not much smooth as I used Flaxseed egg replacer instead of eggs and also they are chewy. These Ginger cookies are not very sweet , if you want more sweet you can increase the amount of sugar. Taste best when serve with a glass of milk and trust me kids love them.

Here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

All purpose flour-3 and 1/2 cup
Molasses-1/2 cup ( or Jaggery syrup) *
Firmly packed brown sugar-1/2 cup
Fresh finely grated ginger- 4 tbsp
Ground clove-1/2 tsp
Ground cinnamon-1 tsp
Baking soda-1 tsp
Unsalted butter 1/4 cup ( at room temperature)
Milk- 1tbsp
Roasted Flax seed powder-2 tbsp.
warm water-6 tbsp

METHOD

• Mix together butter, brown sugar and salt using an electric mixer or hands for 3 minutes scraping the bowl as necessary.
• Add molasses and continue beating on medium until integrated for about 2 minutes
• Now add all dry spices ( cloves,cinnamon) and also ginger and stir on medium.
• In a separate bowl whisk together all purpose flour, baking soda and a pinch of salt.
• Mix water and roasted flaxseed powder and keep aside for 5 minutes. you will see that a slimy mixture will be formed. This is called flaxseed egg replacer.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk using mixer or hands till the mixture becomes like bread crumbs.
• Now add milk little by little and start kneading the dough. Once the dough is done cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• After 2 hours take out the dough,rest it for 10 minutes and take out small potions from it.
• Using a rolling pin roll the potions and cut the cookies using cookie cutter. You may cut desired shapes.
• In a Preheated oven at 170 degree C or 375 degree F  bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. Take them out and let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.
• Serve the ginger cookies and store the rest in fridge,you can use them for a week.
  Thanks, Swati.
• *FOOTNOTES
  Molasses is a by product obtained from sugarcane juice during the refining process to get sugar.
  Instead of Molasses you can use honey ( but the taste will be different) or best is use jaggery syrup. Like making a syrup with 250gms of  Jaggery and 1/4 cup water. Heat both in a pan and switch off the flame once the jaggery is dissolved and syrup is thickened.