I love gingerbread cookies. End of story…

…okay, not really. This year I wanted to do begin a few new Christmas traditions with my children as well as make a treat I could eat. That usually leads to changing a recipe I already had into a new one. So, several weeks before Christmas, I got down my gingerbread recipe and altered it, and the kids and I got to work cutting out and baking cookies.

These gingerbread cookies have sucanat and honey as the sweetener. I replaced honey for some of the molasses because the sucanat already has the molasses in it. They were super yummy without frosting, and I’m embarrassed to say how many of the little guys I ate myself through the following week or so…

You can use this recipe to cut into any shape you desire. I haven’t tried it as a gingerbread house recipe, but I bet it would work well for it. One batch makes several dozen small to medium gingerbread cookies.

Gingerbread Cookies

• 1 cup Sucanat
• 3/4 cup Molasses
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 3/4 cup Butter
• 1/2 cup Hot Water
• 2 large Eggs
• 6 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Ginger

In a large bowl, cream together sucanat, molasses, and butter. Add in hot water until smooth. Stir in eggs. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Stir into batter to make a soft dough. Add more flour if really sticky still and sticking to the side of the bowl. Add just enough that it doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl. (I double the recipe and use my bosch mixer.) Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness on parchment paper or waxed paper (a floured surface will also do). Cut into desired shapes. Place onto ungreased baking sheets (I use parchement paper), and bake for 10 minutes or until cookies appear dry in the center. Decorate as desired after cookies have cooled.

These no bake cookies are perfect for a quick treat, especially in the summer when you may want to avoid turning on the oven. The cookie is mildly sweet and gives the benefit of fiber as well as protein.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (no bake)

• 1/4 cup Coconut Oil or Butter
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 4 teaspoons Cocoa Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Rice Milk
• 2 dashes of Sea Salt

Heat the coconut oil, honey, cocoa, rice milk, and sea salt over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minutes and remove from heat. Then add:

• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 cup Peanut Butter
• 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 cups Oatmeal

Stir well and drop by the tablespoon onto parchment paper, glass plate, or wax paper. Makes about 12 cookies.

Alternatives

• Carob Oatmeal Cookies: simply substitute Carob Powder for the Cocoa.
• Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal Cookies: Add a few tablespoons of unsweetened coconut when adding in the flour and oatmeal.

I wanted to make my Apricot Jam recipe a little more readable and printable for myself and you get the benefit too! This recipe is the print friendly version of this recipe and assumes you have done preserving before.

Apricot Honey Jam (smaller batch version)

• 7 cups crushed Apricots
• 1 cups Honey (add to taste, this amount makes a semi-tart jam)
• 3 T Lemon Juice
• 1 box No-sugar needed Pectin (optional)

Clean jars and rings. Put lids in hot water. Wash and then crush apricots using a food mill, blender, or potato masher. Put in large stock pot as the jam will “spit.” Add honey and lemon juice. Cook over medium to medium high heat until thickened, stirring frequently to avoid burning. (Use a long handled spoon or even a spatula.) It may take about 45 minutes to cook the pectin out of the apricots. If you add some greener apricots there will be more pectin in the fruit but the jam will be a little more tart. You can add in the box of pectin otherwise. Add more honey to taste if necessary. Ladle into hot jars, wipe around the tops with a clean washcloth, add a lid and ring. Process in a steam or water-bath canner according to your altitude. 0-1000 ft above sea level: 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts. Add 2 minutes processing time for every 1000 ft in elevation above sea level.

Makes approximately 2 quarts or 4 pints of jam.

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Apricot Honey Jam (larger batch version)

• 42 cups crushed Apricots
• 6 cups Honey (add to taste, this amount makes a semi-tart jam)
• 7/8 cup Lemon Juice
• 6 box No-sugar needed Pectin (optional)

Clean jars and rings. Put lids in hot water. Wash and then crush apricots using a food mill, blender, or potato masher. Put in large stock pot as the jam will “spit.” Add honey and lemon juice. Cook until thickened, stirring frequently to avoid burning. (Use a long handled spoon or even a spatula.) It may take about 45 minutes to cook the pectin out of the apricots. If you add some greener apricots there will be more pectin in the fruit but the jam will be a little more tart. You can add in the boxes of pectin otherwise. Add more honey to taste if necessary. Ladle into hot jars, wipe around the tops with a clean washcloth, add a lid and ring. Process in a steam or water-bath canner according to your altitude. 0-1000 ft above sea level: 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts. Add 2 minutes processing time for every 1000 ft in elevation above sea level.

Makes approximately 12 quarts or 24 pints of jam.

I made this yummy cake last night for our Neighborhood Independence Day celebration. I loved the change in flavor that the almond extract added. I had several compliments on the cake. It sure makes a girl’s heart feel good! I must do it again!

• 2 1/2 c. sifted Whole Wheat Flour
• 3 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Sea Salt
• 1 1/4 c. Honey
• 1/2 c. Oil
• 1 tsp. pure Almond Extract
• 3 large Eggs
• 1 c. Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil and flour cake pan(s).

Mix above ingredients on medium until incorporated. Mix on high for 2-3 minutes. Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake at 350 degrees F for:
6″ rounds – 30-35 minutes
8″ rounds – 30-35 minutes
9″ rounds – 25-30 minutes
13″ x 9″ x 2″ – 35-40 minutes
or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Frost when completely cool. If you are doing a layered cake, freeze the layers first for easier handling before frosting with this Sucanat Butter Cream Frosting.

I doubled the frosting recipe and changed the vanilla extract to almond extract for the above pictured layer cake. I also chilled the frosting before using it because my butter was a little too soft. I then left it out to soften up a little bit before using it on the cake. Not bad for a 5 minute frost job!

If you’d like to learn more about frosting a cake, there are many videos out there. I liked this one because it gave a lot of basic information in one video (though the “secret syrup” is not necessary).

Comments welcome!

{Update: Apparently I neglected to include water in this recipe. So Sorry! I have now fixed that problem, and it should work. :D }

I love The Feel Good Cookbook by Jonell West Francis. She has a recipe for healthy whole wheat pancakes that I use a lot…seriously more than any other page in that book. She has some amazing recipes in her book including healthified recipes for food like Cafe Rio. Super yum!

My girls and I have been home while my husband, David, and Lightning went on a camp out. We had a fun night last night, and I wanted to make the special breakfast they normally get on Saturday (usually made by their dad). I also wanted to step up the pancake idea a little. So I took the above mentioned pancake recipe and changed it. The girls and my 3yo son loved them as did I! I think the only thing that would have made the pancakes more fun is if I did them in fun shapes like a turtle or mickey mouse. :)

As an FYI, the pancake itself isn’t super sweet as you might expect from something chocolate. It’s the topping that makes it sweet like nearly every other pancake recipe. Enjoy!

• 3 c. Whole Wheat Flour (fresh is best)
• 1/3 c. Cocoa Powder
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 1/2 T. Baking Powder
• 2 3/4 to 3 cups of Water
• 1/4 c. Oil
• 1/3 c. Honey
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 2 medium Eggs (larger should work, just add a little more flour if needed)

Mix dry ingredients in medium mixing bowl. Mix in wet ingredients, making sure not to overmix. Add a little more water if it is too thick. (Fresh ground wheat will be more moist and may not need as much water.) There will be some small lumps. Cook on hot griddle (350 to 400 degrees F) until bubbly, then flip over to finish cooking. Serve warm with Banana Sucanat Topping. Makes approx. 16 – 4 to 5 inch pancakes.

Banana Sucanat Topping

• 3 medium Bananas (yellow with some spots)
• 1/4 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sweetener)
• 2 T. Butter

Mash bananas then add sucanat and butter. Heat until butter is melted, mix well, and serve on top of pancakes.