Allergic Girl Recipe: Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free

Chocolate gingerbread cookies with mini chocolate chips

One day last week, I wondered: chocolate gingerbread cookies – would that be good? A quick search of the internet proved others had had this idea and made those cookies and that they indeed were beloved.


But had anyone made chocolate gingerbread cookies from a cake mix? Also cookies that were  nut-free and gluten-free? I didn’t see that online so I set out to make it. And I happen to have a Namaste Foods chocolate cake mix in my cabinet waiting to be turned into something yummy.

Namaste Foods chocolate cake mix ingredients as of December 2017

And boy it is ever yummy, I had four taste testers, none of whom require special diets who gobbled these down and I taste tested about a half dozen myself. So good!

The cookie is delicate; it’s cakey and soft in the middle, slightly crisper on the edges.

It’s gently but unmistakably spiced with gingerbread flavors e.g. ginger, cinnamon cloves, nutmeg.

It retains that chocolate richness, and is made a little more chocolatey with mini chocolate chips (if you choose to add them).

I tried it with fresh ginger and with powdered, tasted similar so use what you have on hand.

I added Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips to one batch, heavenly. I sprinkled cinnamon sugar sprinkle on top of another batch, also heavenly.

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Allergic Girl Recipe: Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, Nut-Free, Gluten-Free

Adapted from Betty Crocker & King Arthur

Yield approximately 18 cookies

Ingredients
13 ounces of Namaste Foods Devil's Food Cake Mix
2 teaspoons powdered ginger (or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, micro planed)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs  


Steps
Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheet with parchment or foil.

In large bowl, mix wet ingredients (oil, eggs, vanilla) and then add the dry ingredients (the mix and the spices). Mix all of the ingredients with spoon until a dough forms.


Chill the dough in the bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. 

On cookie sheet, place balls about 2 inches apart.
 These cookies will spread.

Bake 14 -16 minutes or until set. 

Let cool in the pan for a few minutes until you can transfer the parchment to a cooling rack

Cool completely, about 30 minutes, before storing in tightly covered container.