Its Baking Season!

Ginger Bread cookies are of course traditional treats for the holiday season and of course its lots of fun to bake and decorate little ginger bread men with the kids or create your Ginger Bread dream house. Well there is no reason to miss out on your holiday snacks this year due to your heathy diet choices because of these two recipes. Wether Gluten free, or vegan. For you, or for your guests, either of these recipes are sure to please in any holiday setting.

first lets start with…
Gluten Free Ginger Bread
INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the brown sugar and whisk again to combine, working out any lumps. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, molasses, honey, egg and vanilla, mixing to combine after each addition. The dough will be thick and sticky.
- Transfer the dough to a large sheet of unbleached parchment paper, cover with another sheet of parchment and roll into a rectangle about 3/8-inch thick (more than 1/4-inch, less than 1/2-inch). If you are concerned that the dough will be difficult to handle, place it in the refrigerator or freezer after you roll it out to allow it to firm up. Pull back the top sheet of parchment paper, dip a gingerbread man cutter in all purpose gluten free flour or cornstarch, and use it to cut out shapes from the cookie dough. With each cut, jiggle the cutter back and forth to create a neat shape. Place the dough on a flat, portable surface like a cutting board and place in the freezer until firm (about 10 minutes).
- Once the dough has chilled, peel back the rest of the dough from around the cut-outs and gather the scraps. Then carefully peel off the cut-out shapes and place them, about 1 1/2-inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat the process with the remaining dough until you have used it all.
- Place the cut-outs on the baking sheets in the refrigerator or freezer until firm (about 20 minutes in the refrigerator, or just 5 minutes in the freezer). This will help them keep their shape during baking. Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until just set, about 8 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheets. Decorate the completely cooled cookies with gluten free icing, if desired. Allow the the icing to set for 24 hours before stacking

Vegan Ginger Bread Cookies
This is a great recipe because it is super easy! Only about a half hour to prepare which will give you more time to spend with the family. Nothing wrong with that!
INGREDIENTS
- In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt. Set aside.
- In large bowl, cream shortening and sugar with fork. Stir in molasses, hot water and vanilla with large spoon. Stir in flour mixture until smooth, 1 minute.
- Cover dough. Chill 2 to 4 hours.
- On lightly floured surface, roll out dough. Cut out shapes. Bake on cookie sheet in 400F oven 8 to 10 minutes, depending on size. Cool on sheet. Decorate as you like.