Do you recall that one time I told you a delightful tale about my experience, also known as affection, of astrology and how it is a fixed monochromatic piece of my life? Today were going to talk a little bit more about that and how these cookies, and several other recipes, have ignited from my flame for the stars.

A couple of weeks ago, here in Western New York, came a psychic fair. If you know anything about psychics, you know they can be easily stereotyped into erratic, insane liars. Many people have tried to fake the art of being a psychic, which has resulted in this check box skeptical people throw psychics in. I am not stating that every psychic is real, but I was very interested in getting some of my own experience with psychics. Unfortunately, I did not end up attending the fair, but my mother did.

She told me it wasn't astonishing, however she did meet one lady who was very kind to me, who wasn't even there. To not go in depth about what she said about me and my spirituality, she did say a few things about my business, my blog. She said I was gifted with they ability to touch souls with words. She said I have a way of putting images in people's vasts mind simply by writing. Every time I get compliments on my writing skills, even if it is from a psychic, it creates this feeling inside of me of hope and satisfaction because I have always wanted to be a writer. I'll get more into doing what fulfills you in another post. 

This woman said that my blog would help people and show people how to eat healthy without compromising flavor and composition. That is where these cookies and future recipes are inspired by: a psychic who was so sweet to a girl who wasn't even in the room.  So here are my Vegan, Gluten Free Maple Gingersnaps.

I forgot just how challenging it is to create a recipe free of "normal" ingredients. Not only to accomplish that, but also make look and taste good. Gluten free flours from the grocery store can be made out of many different things including rice, beans, and seeds. I purchased the Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour which is made of garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, white sorghum flour, and fava bean flour. For no proper reason, I did not take into account just how starchy this flour would taste. Thanks to Adrienne from Whole New Mom I learned that baking at about 25'F lower will result in a better tasting product. I'm assuming this is because you give the flour longer time to cook out. Once I did that, the cookies are more unbelievable than any other gingersnap I have ever had! I would never guess that they are vegan and gluten free if I wasn't the one dropping them onto the cookie sheet. If you give this recipe a try, please hashtag it #haasofrachel #cookieweek!  Please look forward to more marvelous, healthy recipes.

Gluten Free, Vegan Merry Maple Gingersnaps with Maple Cinnamon Icing

Yields: 24 cookies

Ingredients: 

// Cookie //

• 1/4 cup of vegetable/melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup of raw coconut sugar
• 1 flax seed egg
• 2 tablespoons of organic vanilla 
• 1/4 cup & 3 tablespoons of Grade A maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon of organic pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon of lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon of organic ground ginger
• 1 cup of gluten free flour (Bob's Red Mill Baking Flour)

// Icing //

• 1/4 cup of organic powder sugar
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of water
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 325'F. 
2. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar for 2 minutes. Add in the "egg", vanilla, maple syrup, spices, ginger, and lemon. Once that is all combined, whisk in the flour. Do not mix for too long as the dough can get tough.
3. On a parchment lined cookie sheet using the drop method, spoon out tablespoon size cookies. Smooth the cookies in a circle to ensure even baking!
4. Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes until they are golden brown around the edges.
5. Allow the cookies to cool before eating! I know it can be tempting to eat them out of the oven, but these are much better cool. It is also enables a little bit of carry over cooking which gets rid of that starch flavor.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, whisk together the icing ingredients in a small bowl until completely smooth and free of any lumps. If you find your icing to be too dry, add extra water. Too much syrup will make it too sweet. If it is too liquidity, add a teaspoon of sugar at a time. Drizzle the icing over the cookies! Enjoy and be merry!