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Vegane Lebkuchen ohne Zucker

Vegan Sugar-Free Gingerbread

Fine scents from the kitchen announce: The season of Advent has arrived and it is time to start baking for the pre-Christmas time. My vegan gingerbread without sugar not only smells promising; it is packed with wholesome ingredients but without any additional sugar at all. My gingerbread is sweetened with dates and applesauce and makes an ideal gift for all with a sweet tooth and loves of fine Christmas cookies.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Resting time, baking time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course bake, cookies
Cuisine Europe, USA

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g hazelnuts
  • 200 g wholegrain (spelt) flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp gingerbread spice
  • 1 ½ Tbsp cacao powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 50 g canola oil alternatively coconut oil
  • 100 g dates
  • 150 g apple sauce sugar-free, home-made
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 organic orange 1 Tbsp orange zest

Chocolate coating easy to make yourself

  • 40 g cocoa butter
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp almond butter or any other nut butter
  • 2 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 pinch salt
  • optional: chopped pistachios or walnuts

Instructions
 

  • Soak the dates in hot water for 10 minutes.
  • Finely grind the hazelnuts.
  • Roast the ground hazelnuts in a pan until they are fragrant.
  • Then mix all the dry ingredients from hazelnuts to cinnamon in a large bowl.
  • Finely puree the dates with the apple pulp, lemon juice, oil and orange zest.
  • Mix the dry with the wet ingredients and knead everything into a ball of dough. The dough is still very soft and sticky and has to be put in the fridge (ideally wrapped in cling film and kept overnight in the cold).
  • The next day or after a few hours, the dough should be firmer. Now roll it out on a lightly floured surface (approx. 1 cm thick) and cut out gingerbread stars, man, hearts or whatever shapes you like.
  • Place the cut out gingerbread cookies on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Then bake in the preheated oven at 180 ° C convection for 8-10 minutes and then leave to cool on a rack.
  • For the home-made chocolate coating: Melt the cocoa butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave and mix the remaining ingredients with it. Dip the cooled gingerbread stars in the chocolate and use them to decorate or cover the stars. (Alternatively, you can simply melt the vegan chocolate you have bought in a water bath and cover and decorate your gingerbread stars. I have chosen both variants for the photo.) You may also like to decorate the gingerbread stars with chopped pistachios or other chopped (preferably roasted) nuts.

Notes

You can use carob powder instead of cocoa powder. Here is more information about carob powder together with a cookie recipe
 
Keyword applesauce, bake, christmas, dates, sugar-free, vegan, wholesome
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