Soft Ginger Cookies - Vegan and Wheat-free!

I love Sundays like today. Chris and I met up with friends for a late brunch, we did some running around getting fruits and veggies for the week at one of the markets on Bloor, stopped for tea at David's (Spicy Chocolate Rooibus for me and Berry Sorbet Green tea for Chris!) and then parked ourselves at home for the rest of the afternoon.

I made tofu frittata for a dinner later on in the week, chopped up some kale and cabbage for 3 lunches for myself, cooked a pot of beets to have ready for another dinner this week, AND made some festive ginger cookies. It's a recipe I got from a friend in 2004 and bake consistently every year around this time of the year! I've changed the recipe over the years and this year I love the final product. Here's the recipe! You can do all spelt flour if you don't have or want to use quinoa flour.

4, 1-inch pieces of fresh gingerroot
8 Tbsp pure maple syrup (not Aunt Jemima)
3 Tbsp dark molasses
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1.5 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1.5 tsp orange zest
1 cup spelt flour
0.5 cup quinoa flour
2 Tbsp demerara sugar (pure cane brown sugar)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
pinch ground cloves
10 pieces crystallized ginger - chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor blend maple syrup, molasses, oil, juice, zest, and ginger. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, white pepper, cloves and salt in a bowl. Pour ginger mixture into dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Using a spoon, scoop 1 tbsp batter for each cookie and place on baking sheet. Top each cookie with a few small pieces of crystallized ginger. Bake 15-18 minutes until edges are light brown.