I spent a few weeks staying at a friend's house recently and got to spend my days with a seven year old who sure loves her treats. I don't know if it was her playfulness and imagination rubbing off on me, or the sight of a set of forest animals cookie cutters, but I suddenly found myself baking... and baking... and baking cookies galore!
These fox cookies were from her set of cutters, and it was my favorite one of the lot. Of course I had to think of a foxy flavor, and so settled on ginger ?? ... common sense, right?! :)
These cookies are just a spin on my cashew tea cookies, so if you're not into playing with your food or don't have tiny hands to put these into, go for these tea biscuits instead. But I hope you find a little tot to share these with or gift to after all ;)
The ginger and cinnamon flavors in these cookies are very mild by the way, so not overpowering, and absolutely lovely with a cup of almond milk.
P.S. for a nut-free variation of this kind of cookie, you can try these vanilla bean cut-out cookies instead.
PrintGinger Fox Cookies
A delicious, mildly sweet spiced gluten-free ginger cookie, using adorable fox cookie cutters. Make them any shape you like! Dairy-free, no refined sugar.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 5 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp white rice flour (I used a finely ground one)
- 2 tbsp cashew butter
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp lemon extract (optional)
- ¼ tsp ginger (spice)
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1/16 tsp salt
- optional: 1 teaspoon raw ground vanilla bean
- optional: chocolate coated balls or cacao nibs for "eyes"
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Process all ingredients in a food processor until the mixture begins to form a ball (note if the mixture is too sticky, add a bit more flour, if too dry, add a bit more maple syrup). Form the mixture into a ball with your hands and knead briefly, then flatten into a disk. Place the disk between two sheets of parchment paper on a flat surface and use a rolling pin to roll out into an ⅛" thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as you can (I used these) -- transfer those onto the prepared cookie sheet (very carefully!). Gather remaining dough scraps, form into a ball, and repeat the process of rolling out and cutting out more cookies until you run out of dough.
- If desired, press in some chocolate balls or cacao nibs into the cookies to create "eyes" (or you can just press in with a blunt object, like chopsticks, to indent some "eyes" instead). Bake in a pre-heated oven for approx 10 mins (or bake longer for crispier cookies to your liking, just watch that they don't burn -- they are ready when they begin to golden around the edges). Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool a few minutes (they will firm up a bit as they cool off). Enjoy!
Claudia says
Hello -- love many of your recipes. I try to avoid rice flour - would you recommend any of the following flours for these cookies: Teff, Sorghum, Millet, or Buckwheat instead?
Audrey says
I think any of these would work for a cookie recipe like this, but of course they each have their own flavor (some stronger than others) which will affect the taste of the cookies in the end.
Mika says
Beautiful cookies! I think I ate them all myself :) I made them a few weeks ago but forgot to leave a comment until now ;) The recipe is quite small, I tripled it and still came out with only six cookies :( However, they were undoubtedly scrumptious. I have a slight problem, too, that I was thinking I could ask you about. Most of my breads and baked items from other blogs (such as from green kitchen stories) seem to always come out raw or inedible, and I follow the recipe EXACTLY. I was wondering if you could give me some tips, because the pictures look great but when I try it myself the food would give me a stomachache if I swallowed it. Nothing from your blog has come out like this though, and I have to thank you for the care and meticulous judging you use when developing your recipes
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Audrey says
Hi Mika. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. The recipe is very small -- just 5 thin cookies. If you tripled though, I'm guessing that either the cookies weren't rolled as thinly, or maybe the cookie cutters are a lot larger than mine? That said though, so long as they taste good, now you'll know what works for next time :)
About baking, one thing to check is the temperature of your oven, as that's often a big culprit. Many (if not most) ovens can easily be off and if they bake at a lower temperature or a higher temperature than expected, or worse yet, if the temperature fluctuates throughout, then it's inevitable there will be problems with the final product. One quick check you can do is get an oven thermometer (they're very cheap -- around $5 or so, and can be found on amazon online, or in shops like Bed, Bath & Beyond, Walmart, etc) and test how well the oven holds its temperature. I test all my ovens when I move, and at home I actually bake in a mini table top convention oven because I find it's more accurate than my big oven :)
dana says
Just discovered your website a few minutes ago, and I'm already in love! Not only do I avoid gluten & animal products, but also coconut & oat so most of your recipes are perfect for my condition & def easy! Keep it up =) <3
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Audrey says
Hi Dana, welcome to the blog!
I'm actually working on a coconut-free tag at the moment to add to the recipes page, so that it's easier to sort for that. Hopefully that'll be up sooner than later and make life easier for the coconut-free crowd :)
Camila says
Hey Audrey, thank you for all the wonderful recipes and ideas you share with us. These little foxes were just so adorable, I really had to finally try your cashew tea biscuits.. expect I didn't have cashew butter to hand, so used almond butter instead. It worked and they are delicious, but I wonder if it changed the texture. I'll have to give them another try and see. In the meantime, do you have any thoughts on cashew vs almond butter in baking?
Audrey says
Hi Camila. So happy you gave these a go, even with almond butter :) And thank you for the lovely feedback.
I do find that almond butter vs cashew butter (or other nut butters) are indeed quite different in baked goods. At first I thought they should be quite the same, but experimenting I found actually the results are not alike. Each nut butter brings its own flavor, color, and sometimes texture. Almond butter is stronger in flavor than cashew butter, especially when baked. Cashew butter tends to be quite mellow. Almond butter is "almondy" instead and is not as naturally sweet, and so the flavors tend to need a bit of adjustment. I like to add a bit more sweetness, and sometimes play up the almond flavor with almond extract or some cinnamon, etc. Cashew is lighter in color too, creating a lighter cookie. And lastly, I find almond butter often has specs or grains of almonds in a way that cashew butter doesn't, which can affect the texture somewhat.
All that said, I don't see why these cookies can't be almond-themed :) It's all delicious and fun in the end. And gives you a reason to give these a try another time with another nut butter... you know.. just to see what the differences are ;)
Natalia says
Those are so cute, Audrey! I bet my girls would love to make them, can't wait to show them the result! Thank you!
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Audrey says
Hehe -- hope they like them :) It was fun to play with these cookie shapes.
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
They are so cute!! I think we all need to spend more time around little ones, they are good influences :)
Audrey says
Yes, definitely! :) So much imagination, it's contagious. I have to share this little gem from this girl -- it cracked me up, and it was one of many... We were in a car and I was in the back seat chatting with her on the way somewhere. She had this giant sea shell with her, you know the kind that's all pearly and patterned on the inside. We got on talking about pearls and muscles and clams, and how the shell is their home, etc. And then she asked me how the patterns is made in the sea shell... before I could even respond, she answered her own question with some serious consideration in her expression: "oh, it must be because the clam didn't mop the floor very well" -- can't argue with that logic, can you? ? Neither can you argue with animal-shaped cookies under the circumstances, so ginger foxes, and moose, and hedgehogs happened... good times!
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
Hahahahah!!! I love that answer so much--better than anything I (or probably any adult) could've come up with?? Aww to think that way again!
Audrey says
I know -- she totally got me there ?
Audrey says
P.S. I can't stop trying to imagine a little clam somewhere out there trying to mop the floor somehow ?