Gingerffic Cutouts

What you need:

2 cups all-purpose flour (can be whole wheat)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger (can use finely grated fresh ginger)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice, optional
1/3 cup canola or grape seed oil (can partially replace with applesauce)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup unsweetened nondairy milk (I use soy)
1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger, optional

What you do:

1. Sift together all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil and vegan sugar thoroughly. Stir in molasses, and then milk. Add flour mixture to molasses mixture 1/2 cup at time; stirring until flour is well combined after each addition. Stir in crystallized ginger, if desired.
2. Roll out dough into a manageable disk between two sheets of parchment or wax paper. Refrigerate or freeze until stiff (1/2-1 hour). Pop dough back into the fridge/freezer at any point during the following steps if it becomes too soft to handle! Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Roll dough until just under 1/4" thick. Peel off top layer of paper, cut into shapes. Place on prepared ookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes, rotate sheet, bake another 5 minutes. Depending on thickness of your cookies and strength of your oven, baking time may need adjustment.
4. Cookies should be puffy and with soft centers straight out of oven. Let cookies cool on sheet for 10 minutes before removing and cooling completely. Frost and decorate as desired.

Preparation Time:

30 minutes

Cooking Time:

Servings:

Recipe Category: