Gingerbread Teddies (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free*)
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
The recipe and accompanying photo are reprinted with permissions from Allergy Cooks. See their website for many more recipes with full color photography.
Author: Allergy Cooks
Serves: 6 large teddies
Ingredients
- 50g dairy-free margarine, softened (3-1/2 tablespoons)
- 20g soya cream cheese (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)*
- 75g soft brown sugar (3/4 cup packed)
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup (can be substituted with molasses or corn syrup)
- 20ml dairy-free milk (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
- 170g gluten-free plain white flour (1-1/3 cups)
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 glace cherry
- 30 currants
Instructions
- Cream together the margarine, soya cream cheese, sugar, syrup and milk.
- Sift together the dry ingredients and fold this into the creamed mixture a little at a time until you achieve a soft dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it lightly to incorporate all the ingredients.
- Roll out the dough to a thickness of ½ cm [1/8 to ¼-inch]. Stamp out teddy shapes with a cookie cutter and transfer them carefully to a greased baking sheet.
- Halve the cherry and slice off a small piece for each teddy’s mouth. Position two currants for its eyes and three more for buttons.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes or until the teddies are well risen and a light golden colour. Once they are cooked, leave the teddies on the baking tray for at least 10 minutes to harden.
- After cooling completely, the cooked teddies can be stored in an airtight container for a few days.
Notes
Since Allergy Cooks is a UK recipe site, we have done our best on conversions for U.S. viewers. However, estimating the weight of the flour was a bit tricky. If you are measuring in cups, start with just 1 cup of gluten-free flour (or all-purpose/plain flour if you aren't sensitive to gluten) and work your way up to the full 1-1/3 cups as needed ...
The soya cream cheese can be replaced with a 50g sachet of creamed coconut. If you can’t get hold of soya cream cheese, you can use plain soya yoghurt [or coconut-based yogurt] instead. [In the U.S. soy-free, dairy-free margarine can be hard to locate, but you can trial substituting 3 tablespoons of shortening.]
Vegans and vegetarians should use cherries that do not contain the colouring E120 Cochineal. If you can’t find any suitable cherries, you could use a slice of dried cranberry instead.
The soya cream cheese can be replaced with a 50g sachet of creamed coconut. If you can’t get hold of soya cream cheese, you can use plain soya yoghurt [or coconut-based yogurt] instead. [In the U.S. soy-free, dairy-free margarine can be hard to locate, but you can trial substituting 3 tablespoons of shortening.]
Vegans and vegetarians should use cherries that do not contain the colouring E120 Cochineal. If you can’t find any suitable cherries, you could use a slice of dried cranberry instead.
Recipe by Go Dairy Free at https://www.godairyfree.org/?p=164988