Gluten Free Ginger Walnut Cookies with no grain

Ginger walnut cookies with 2 kinds of ginger plus other cozy spices make these the perfect gluten free cookies to enjoy at Christmas or anytime through the winter months! Quick to make and vibrantly flavored, these grain free cookies are also low in refined sugar!

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Ginger cookies aren’t just for Christmas! While this particular cookie would be lovely for Christmas, I usually stick with a more traditionally-flavored ginger cookie for the holiday season.

What makes this ginger drop cookie different?

Mainly, this ginger walnut cookie recipe calls for both fresh and dried ginger. The fresh ginger imparts a deeper flavor, similar to more traditional ginger cookies but just a bit extra.

Another different aspect of these ginger walnut cookies is that they not only don’t contain gluten or grain, but the recipe calls for hardly any flour. They are based on coconut butter, with a bit of coconut flour. Different, but it works.

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What is coconut butter?

Simply put, coconut butter is coconut that has been ground up until it forms a smooth paste. This process is like making peanut or nut butters– you start with coconut flakes, peanuts, or nuts. Then grind for a good while as they progress through increasingly finer-ground stages and finally the oils release and they turns into “butter”.

Unlike coconut flour, which is usually a little more processed, nothing has been removed or altered about the coconut in coconut butter.

You can buy coconut butter, also called coconut manna, in jars. It is smooth, rich, and will have a little layer of coconut oil at the top.

Coconut butter is solid and not very usable at room temperature. You need to soften it before using it.

Where can I buy coconut butter?

You will often find coconut butter in health food stores, and sometimes in ordinary grocery stores. Of course, you can find it online. Thrive Market carries it, and you can find it on Amazon. I used this one, but I have used other brands with equal success.

How do you soften coconut butter?

There are different ways. Often, I stick the container in a larger container of hot water. That works, though it may take a few water changes, especially if the coconut butter is in a glass jar.

Another way to do it is to set the jar in a very warm place half an hour before you need to scoop the coconut butter out. For example, I might set it on the back of my stove while the oven is on; that is usually hot enough. Similarly, I might set the jar up against a hot slow cooker, maybe turning the jar now and then.

It works to set the jar in a clean slow cooker and let it heat up inside.

In a pinch, I warm the jar gently in a saucepan of water on the stove. This is the fastest way to do it! Short of using the microwave, which would be faster. I don’t use a microwave, so I can’t tell you how long that would take. Probably you need to do it in short bursts and keep stirring to avoid overheating parts of the coconut butter.

In any case, I don’t love a plastic container for this. I would definitely not want plastic in the microwave with food in it, and similarly avoid heating plastic on the stove. If I had a plastic container of coconut butter, I think I would stick with the container of hot water and switch the water out several times. On the bright side, the plastic will conduct the heat to the contents faster than the glass, so it probably won’t take as long!

Can I make my own coconut butter?

Yes! I do this, and it works just fine. It is a little more economical as well. You need a food processor or a high-powered blender. Here is how to do it:

• Put coconut flakes in the bowl of a food processor or in a blender. You need a lot of coconut! I used a 5-oz. package of coconut flakes– 3 cups– and it yielded only 2/3 C coconut butter! Not enough for this recipe.
• Turn on the food processor or blender. You may need to stop it and scrape the coconut off the sides now and then. Expect the processing to take at least 5 minutes, and maybe more like 10 minutes. The coconut flakes will become smaller, then seem a bit like flour, and eventually look a bit oily before beginning to smooth out into an oily paste or butter.
• I find that my food processor never gets the coconut butter as smooth as the store bought kind. That is a problem for something like frosting. For the cookies, though, a slightly grainy coconut butter is just fine. (If you have something like a Vitamix, you may get a smoother result.)
• If you make your own coconut butter just before making the cookies, you won’t have to soften it. The processing warms up the coconut and it will be soft-to-runny. That is fine. Once I have it made and measured, I just mix the cookies up in the food processor without cleaning it first– no dirty bowl.

Can I substitute something else for the coconut butter?

Yes, you can use the same amount of almond butter. The cookies look a little shinier, but the recipe works the same and doesn’t taste much different.

I have not personally tried other nut or seed butters, or peanut butter. Presumably, they could work. Cashew butter sounds good! Let me know how it goes if you try one. I would think that peanut butter would taste more conspicuous.

Sunflower seed butter is likely to turn the cookies increasingly green as time goes on– this may delight the 8-year-old in your life, but repel some people. It happens because of a harmless chemical reaction that doesn’t affect the safety or flavor. For more about this little quirk and ways to prevent it, read this.

How to Make Ginger Walnut Cookies

Since we are using odd ingredients, the usual order of cookie-mixing is not needed. You can just dump it all together and mix it up. Save the walnuts for last.

Gather your ingredients, grating the ginger or mincing it very finely, and softening your coconut butter and chopping the walnuts. Ginger paste also works.

Mix the ingredients until very smooth, then stir in the walnuts.

Let the dough rest for a few minutes. Coconut flour is “thirsty” and absorbs far more liquid than most flours do. After 2-3 minutes, even the small amount of coconut flour will have absorbed some moisture and the dough will be thicker and much easier to scoop and roll.

I am comfortable with this recipe– it always seems to turn out– but until I know what to expect of a recipe, I like to bake one test cookie before committing to a full tray of them. It is worth the extra 12 minutes!

When I see that the test cookie is near the end of its baking time, and it looks good, I prepare a full cookie sheet to go in the oven. Roll the dough into balls and space them 3 inches apart or so, about 12 to a sheet. I like to use baking parchment, but you don’t have to.

If the test cookie is too runny, and you let the dough rest before baking it, try adding a tablespoon of coconut flour, letting it rest again, and baking another test cookie.

If the test cookie doesn’t spread at all (and you want it to), either flatten the cookies a bit with your fingers or the bottom of a glass, or try adding a tablespoon of soft butter or coconut oil and re-testing.

These cookies will be slightly fragile straight out of the oven. You can move them to a rack or plate, but maybe let them firm up a bit before serving them.

Except for the test cookie. That you should probably eat. To complete the test. For Science.

Make Ginger Walnut Cookies Your Way!

• sub almond or another butter for the coconut butter
• use brown or white sugar in place of the coconut sugar
• increase or reduce the spices
• skip the walnuts or use a different nut
• for the GAPS diet– swap 1/4 C honey for the coconut sugar and molasses, use baking soda in place of baking powder, and grind your coconut flour fresh. It doesn’t work quite as well, but the cookies are still good. They are fragile, though; cool very well before serving!