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#265 The Case of Gingerbread Soldiers

I will follow with a recipe for vegan Royal Icing. It uses aquafaba!
 
1/2 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
1-1/4 tablespoons water
1-5/8 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/8 cup vegan butter, softened
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup fancy molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla

To make half of a flaxseed egg, in a small bowl, mix together the flaxseeds and water and set aside to thicken.
 
Mix together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves, baking soda and salt.
 
In a large bowl, beat the vegan butter with the brown sugar for 2 min., until creamy and fluffy.
 
Beat in the half of a flaxseed egg, molasses and vanilla, until smooth and well combined.
 
Gradually beat in the flour mixture until just combined.
 
Form the dough into a ball, flatten into a 1-inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
 
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
 
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
 
On a floured surface (I have a pastry cloth that I love but a cotton tea towel also works very well), roll out the dough to 1/8" thick. To begin, you might have to lay the plastic wrap over the dough to prevent it sticking to the rolling pin.
 
Cut out as many shapes as you can then transfer them to the baking sheet. (Gather leftover cuttings together to form a ball and repeat the process—minus the chilling—for another batch of cookies.)
 
Bake for 14 min. on the centre rack of the oven. 

Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 min. then transfer them to a rack to finish cooling.

Makes 35 small soldiers that freeze well.

Becki

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