Sprite and I made the gingerbread cookie dough the night before. Sprite, six years old, is my niece’s daughter. Does that make her my grand niece? She her mom came up from Oregon to celebrate solstice with us, and we planned to make gingerbread men and decorate them with the Goblin, the next day. The Goblin, my 12 year old grandson, lives across the water (the Puget Sound).
Sprite carefully measured out 3 cups of oat flour; we used oat flour for family members who can’t eat wheat. Then she measured out the cinnamon and ginger. For the diabetics in our family, we sweetened it with honey and blackstrap molasses .
“It’s too spicy!” Sprite declared when she tasted the honey and molasses mixture, so of course I made sugar cookie dough for her after she went to bed.
It turned out to be a truly intergenerational event when we took the cookie dough, cookie cutters, and decorating frosting over to my 99 year old mother’s house. My niece supervised Sprite and the Goblin while I helped mom roll out dough and made sure the cookies got baked and not burned. Even my brother Steve got into the act, helping mom place the cookie cutters just so and making sure the last batch came out of the oven in time.
Oh my, what a lot of energy Sprite and the Goblin have when they get together! We managed to get the cookies all cut out and baked without dropping any on the floor or getting dough in our hair, but their combined energy and excitement nearly blew the roof off! While the cookies were cooling, they exploded out the door and we could hear their excitement as we followed them, even when they were out of sight, chasing each other down to the beach.
Decorating is always fun. Sprite gave me her first cookie, decorated with white frosting and red sprinkles. The Goblin decorated a cookie for everyone in the house before he squeezed blue and pink frosting on his own gingerbread men. Their generosity was not prompted by an adul. I was impressed. I decorated several of the dark brown gingerbread cookies with cranberries for our diabetic family members—who were very happy to have Christmas cookies they could eat!
Christmas subsumed my creativity. I made cards—which I have yet to send—wrapping paper, gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, and Cranberry Scones.
Here is the gingerbread recipe for diabetic people and those who can’t eat wheat.
Gluten free Gingerbread Cookies
Blend until creamy:
1/4 cup butter (warmed or melted)
1/2 cup coconut sugar (low on the glycemic index)
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup honey
Sift together:
3 1/2 cups oat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Mix the butter mixture with the flour mixture, adding about 1/4-1/3 cup of water, more if needed to make the consistancy right. Chill overnight. Roll and cut with cookie cutters or mold like clay with clean hands. Bake at 350 degree for about 8 minutes, or until the dough springs back when touched (ovens vary).
Cranberries for decorating:
Chop enough cranberries to fill a cup measurer. Heat 1/2 cup hot water and mix it with with 1/2 cup honey. Pour over cranberries in a glass jar and soak overnight. The liquid should cover all the cranberries. Save the resulting juice for baking sweet breads.
The Cranberry Scone recipe is from The Island Epicure, a paid subscription substack article which features stories and recipes from 99 year old Marjorie Watkins. I am doing The Island Epicure with Marjorie to share her stories and recipes. She will receive the subscriptions, though I may take a commission or royalty once we have enough subscribers to make a difference. Marjorie has traveled all over the world and has fascinating stories from her travels and from growing up during the depression. In this one, she tells of Christmas in Crete, where she, my dad and my two brothers spent one winter.
That was a fun read.