A couple of weeks ago, the husband put in an order for some Ginger Cookies and since this month's power bill contained a ginger cookie recipe, I placed the recipe on the counter to give it a shot; but, you know cookies just can't be made without sugar, and since we try to eliminate sugar from our diet, I decided to make some sugar free ginger cookies.  Lately, I have really been delighted with the liquid stevia. Liquid stevia is way more tasty and dissolves better than the powdered kind.  After looking over the recipe however, I realized that the cookies would need the texture and volume that sugar would provide so I needed to find something else in addition to the liquid stevia to replace the binding effect of the sugar.  Xylitol to the rescue. 

And since I do like to play around with the ingredients, I thought I would make two batches of cookies exactly the same only changing the kind of oil I would use in each batch.  The recipe called for shortening, but I know what a health hazard shortening is, so I opted for two healthy options. One option was lard (organic from Miller's Organic Farm through the Auburn Food Buying Club) and the other option was unrefined coconut oil.  In appearance, the cookies made with lard turned out more rounded and kept their original shape better than did the coconut oil batch.  The husband gave both the taste test and he was not told which cookie contained the lard or coconut oil.  His vote was for the coconut oil batch saying "they were tastier" - so there you have it from someone who loves ginger cookies.  I think the reason for the coconut oil batch being tastier was because the lard batch did have a smell and slight taste of lard which masked the other flavors somewhat.  I could not tell much difference myself.   Either way both were good and healthier versions of the original recipe.  These turned out great!  Hope you'll try them too.  

Please note that some people do not tolerate xylitol as well as others and may experience gastric distress.  Since I have no problems with xylitol, this recipe if fine for me, but just know that everyone is different and you may be one that cannot handle xylitol well.

Here's my adapted recipe from the power bill by Kelly Junkins, Vestavia.

Papa's Favorite Gingersnaps  

3/4 cup lard or coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup Xylitol
1 dropper full of liquid Stevia
4 Tablespoons molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour (I used sprouted spelt flour from To Your Health Sprouted Flour Company)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ginger

Preheat oven to 325.  Cream together (I just used a spoon and a bowl) the lard or the coconut oil with the Xylitol and Stevia.  Add molasses and egg, mixing well.  By hand, mix in dry ingredients putting in the flour first and the rest of the dry ingredients on top.  Stir together until smooth (resist the urge to add more liquid if seems too dry - once it is well mixed it will be just right).  Roll into one inch balls, put into a bowl with a little Xylitol and roll around to coat, then place the balls on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake 12 minutes.  Leave cookies on sheet for a few minutes before removing.  Enjoy.  These are best consumed fresh as each day after baking tends to dry out the cookie.

Hope everyone had a great 4th!  It's a hot one here where I live so I whipped up a beautiful cool patriotic treat and just wanted to show you.  I got the recipe from taste of home website and thought I would make it as healthy as I could so here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 packages (8 ounces each) organic cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup organic sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups raw (unpasteurized) heavy cream, whipped
• 2 quarts organic strawberries, halved, divided
• 2 quarts organic blueberries, divided

Directions

• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and extracts until fluffy. Fold in whipped cream. Place a third of the mixture in a 4-qt. bowl. Reserve 20 strawberry halves and 1/2 cup blueberries for garnish.
• Layer half of the remaining strawberries and blueberries over cream mixture. Top with another third of the cream mixture and the remaining berries. Spread the remaining cream mixture on top. Use the reserved strawberries and blueberries to make a "flag" on top. Yield: 18 servings.  
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• If you do not have access to good ole raw heavy cream from a local farmer then you can use any heavy store bought cream.  My biggest objection to store bought cream is that most of them are UHT (Ultra High Temp.) pasteurized meaning that the protein in the milk has been damaged due to high heat.   Pasteurization doesn't kill all bacteria in milk, just enough so that you don't get a disease from all those sick cows in the confined lots given antibiotics to stay alive (sad).  UHT, on the other hand, kills everything and destroys some of the vitamin content and UHT milk can sit out for 6 months without spoiling - hint - there's nothing alive in it to spoil.  For more about UHT see this website from Food Renegade and if anyone can find non UHT heavy cream in the store, please let me know:   http://www.foodrenegade.com/just-say-no-to-uht-milk/