Undead Gingerbread

Skulls and tombstones.  Would you really expect anything else from a taphophile?

Thanks to my aunt and uncle, I now bake in true undead style with the Lilli Vanilli in ‘A Zombie Ate my Cupcake!’ book and cake decorating kit.

Undead Gingerbread Cookies

Modified from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, “Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies,” Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone’s Favorite Treats (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2009), 220-1.

1/3 cup teff flour

1/3 cup sorghum flour

2/3 cup brown rice flour

2/3 cup King Arthur Flour Ancient Grains flour blend

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup oil (I used a scant 1/4 cup peanut oil from a jar of peanut butter and the rest sunflower oil)

3/4 cup Sucanat

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond)

1/4 cup tapioca starch for rolling (or use your cheapest GF flour)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, leavening agents, and spices.  In a blender, blitz the oil, sugar, molasses, and non-dairy milk until combined.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry in three additions, stirring well between each addition (watch for dry spots).  Flatten dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for 8 hours or overnight, or until your finger meets significant resistance when you poke it.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment.  Dust a sheet of wax paper and the rolling pin with tapioca starch.  Turn out the dough onto the floured surface.  Dust the top of the dough with flour and roll to 1/4-inch thickness.  Cut out shapes with desired cookie cutters.  Use a spatula to transfer cookies to pan.  Collect the scraps, re-dust (get flour everywhere!), and re-roll.  Bake for 12-14 minutes or until crispy, browned on the bottom, and they don’t hold indents.  Remove from the oven, cool on the sheets for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Cool completely before icing (optional).  Depending on the size of your cutters, makes about 2-3 dozen cookies.

The scraps are ectoplasm.