This recipe was contributed by https://www.instagram.com/the.sensitive.foodie/ Karen is a retired nurse who creates plant based meals for a healthy, active lifestyle.

Prep time – 20 minutes | Cooking time – 38 minutes

Ingredients

½ tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 tablespoon water
60g Pure Hazelnut Butter
50g coconut sugar or molasses
2 tablespoons maple syrup
175g spelt flour or gluten free flour mix**
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch each of nutmeg and cloves
3 ½ tablespoons hazelnut milk or dairy free milk of choice
20g Kape maple and sea salt activated nuts (optional)
Icing sugar to dust

Method:

1. Mix the ground flaxseed and water together in a small bowl and put to one side to thicken.
2. Add the hazelnut butter, sugar and maple syrup to a bowl and mix well to combine.
3. In another bowl, weigh out the flour and add the salt and spices. Mix well to combine.
4. Tip the flour into the hazelnut mix and stir well. It will form a very dry mix. Add the hazelnut milk or other dairy free milk and bring together into a soft dough. If the mix is too dry still, add a little more milk but with extreme caution as you don’t want it wet and sticky.
5. Knead a few times in the bowl then pop it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4. Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
7. Sprinkle a little flour over the worktop and roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it’s 1.5-2cm thick. Grab a 6cm round cookie cutter and cut out as many rounds as you can. Transfer each one to the prepared tray. Bring the remaining dough back together into a ball, knead a little then roll out again and cut out more cookies. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
8. Sprinkle the chopped nuts over each cookie (or half the cookies) and lightly press into the dough. You can leave half plain and decorate with icing if you choose.
9. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Carefully turn the cookies over and bake for another 3 minutes.
10. Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Once cooled, sprinkle with icing sugar or decorate the plain ones with a simple icing.
11. Keep in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.

 
** make sure the gluten free flour mix contains xanthan gum. If not, add ¼ teaspoon to the flour.