Gingerbread & Caramel Cream Cheese Cookie Cups

Alright, I’m finally graduating from the pumpkin scene and breaking into the rest of the wonderful flavors the season has to offer. You mean there’s other flavors of the season? YES! You wouldn’t know it if you’ve stuck with me over the last month – but hey, they were all great recipes right? Darn skippy. I am so excited to offer healthier options for you during the holidays so you don’t have to feel deprived. Speaking of the holidays, good golly miss molly it’s already November? Am I the only one who is uber excited? I love this time of year! I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear this, but I LOVE baking for the holidays. For the last handful of years its been tradition for my mom and I (sometimes my sister too) to bake like crazy the week before Christmas to have oodles and oodles of candies, cookies and bars to hand out to the neighbors. It’s by far one of my favorite traditions. With my parents move last year I’m sad to be continuing the tradition alone… BUT my sister is coming back for Christmas so we’ll get to do it together!

I am eager to not only hand out delicious treats this year, but also health conscious ones too! Remember my Whole Wheat Cinnamon Chip Biscotti made with Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat flour from last year? Those were a HUGE hit! I wanted to try something new this year so I used the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour for a healthy gingerbread. Have you used it before? It’s AWESOME! It is perfectly formulated for baked goods with terrific taste and texture – no additional specialty ingredients or custom recipes required. Which is nice! It’s a combination of finely ground brown rice flour, sweet white rice flour, whole grain sorghum flour, potato starch, and tapioca flour with a touch of xanthan gum (just enough xanthan gum to create chewy cookies and springy muffins). The protein in the sorghum flour helps give baked goods an almost wheat-like texture and aids in browning, for those times you need a perfectly golden brown chocolate chip cookie. Not that you’d be able to tell in these cookie cups, but for future recipes that’ll be great!. Best part about it is that you can use this blend for cookies, cakes, and brownies! If you’d like to give it a try, here’s a coupon for you!

Gingerbread & Caramel Cream Cheese Cookie Cups

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Gingerbread & Caramel Cream Cheese Cookie Cups

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 32 minutes

Servings: 24

Calories: 165 kcal

Author: Yvonne

These adorable little festive Gingerbread & Caramel Cream Cheese Cookie Cups are wonderfully guilty free! Made without any refined sugar, they're the perfect healthy gingerbread cookie for the holiday season. Filled with a creamy 'caramel' cream cheese and drizzled for the extra special touch!

Print

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

• 3 c. Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tbsp. ginger
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/3 c. + 1 tbsp. grade b maple syrup
• 1/4 c. blackstrap molasses
• 4 tbsp. applesauce
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Caramel Cream Cheese

• 8 medjool dates pitted
• 4 oz. cream cheese softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Caramel Drizzle

• 6 medjool dates pitted
• 1/4 c. water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  

2. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix wet in another. Add dry to wet and mix only until combined.

3. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the dough into a mini muffin pan. Bake the cookies for about 12-14 minutes. Gently press center to create a cavity. Completely cool before filling. 

4. For the cream cheese using your high speed blender or food processor, blend together the dates, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. 

5. Spoon a tbsp of caramel cream cheese into each cookie cup. 

6. For drizzle, blend together dates and water until smooth. Add to a ziplock bag and snip the corner. Drizzle over each cookie cup.

Recipe Notes

Gingerbread cookie dough recipe adapted from My Whole Food Life: http://mywholefoodlife.com/2012/11/17/healthy-gingerbread-cookies/

Nutrition Facts

Gingerbread & Caramel Cream Cheese Cookie Cups

Amount Per Serving

Calories 165 Calories from Fat 18

% Daily Value*

Fat 2g3%

Cholesterol 12mg4%

Sodium 81mg4%

Potassium 184mg5%

Carbohydrates 34g11%

Fiber 3g13%

Sugar 14g16%

Protein 3g6%

Vitamin A 95IU2%

Calcium 58mg6%

Iron 1.3mg7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Chip Almond Biscotti // Tried and Tasty

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.