I created these when planning foods for my recent "Picnic Alfresco", and can say with all sincerity they are my best sweet recipe to date! Obviously they are without sugar, you know me, and so rely on dates and Manuka honey for their deliciously natural sweetness. The taste and texture of the pecan nuts, the chewiness of the dates, along with the ginger and wonderfully characterful spelt flour make these super more-ish. They didn't last long at all, haha!
Of course you wouldn't go eating them all in one go, but at least with a recipe using natural, organic, sugar-free and additive-free ingredients means you can eat a few biscuits without all the unpleasant side effects often experienced after eating commercial sugary snacks - like sugar highs, bellyache, weight gain, diarrhoea (yes, sugar is a laxative!), etc etc. They are also safe for children, which was one of my considerations when making them as I have a son less than two. He liked them very much, making his Mama happy! Plus lucky me I can avoid what many parents suffer - their child bouncing off the walls for hours after snacks... phew!
Ingredients:
50g butter
3 tsp Manuka honey (or another type if you don't have this)
150g dates
3 tsp ground ginger
100g pecan nuts
2 free-range eggs
200g spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
Method:
In a bowl cream together the butter and honey.
Finely chop the dates and add to the bowl, along with the ground ginger.
Finely chop the pecans (about the size of chocolate chips).
Add the pecans and eggs to the bowl, and mix well.
Add the spelt flour and baking soda, and give a really thorough final mix up.
On a generously-floured surface, roll the mixture out to about 1.5cm thick, and press the shapes out using a pastry cutter. If your mixture is sticking to the surface, you still need more flour! I find using spelt flour for this instead of wheat flour means that 'excess floury' taste is avoided because spelt has such a lovely and slightly nutty flavour.
Carefully place the gingerbread men onto a silicone baking tray, or a well-floured tray. Pop into a preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes, until firm to touch.
Allow to cool on a wire rack.
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Many thanks.
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All photos in this post are my own original, taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S8200.
