For the fifth day of 12 days of cookies, we’ve got a recipe featuring what’s quite possibly the most Christmas-y cookie of them all: gingerbread! It comes to use from Liz King of Bliss in the Kitchen, whose website and Instagram are a must-see if you love nutritious food and cooking advice. We’ll let Liz take it away…

From Liz: Growing up, the smell of cookies filled our home at this time of year. My mom would invite each one of my 5 siblings and me to bake any kind of cookie we dreamed of. I’m sure you can imagine, that’s a lot of cookies! Here is my simple gingerbread recipe: it’s kid-friendly to bake and takes just a few steps. It’s also lightweight enough for Santa to enjoy more than one!

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Gingerbread Cookies

What you’ll need:

For the gingerbread:

3 cups sprouted spelt flour or all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup unsalted butter or vegan butter
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons agave syrup
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or other milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon ground vanilla bean pod

For the light icing:

1/4 cup monk fruit sugar or confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or other milk

For the dark icing:

One 2.1 oz. bar Hu Kitchen salted dark chocolate

What to do:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice.

To another bowl, add butter, molasses, agave, coconut sugar, and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer on medium speed until well-combined.

Slowly fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients, adding about a quarter of the dry mixture at a time and scraping down the sides to evenly incorporate. Transfer resulting dough to a large piece of parchment paper and top with another piece of paper. Use a rolling pin to roll dough to about 1/4″ thick. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes from the chilled dough and place on a silicon mat or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned, 8–9 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes after baking, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While cookies cool, whisk together light icing ingredients in a bowl. Melt the chocolate for the dark icing.

Once cookies are completely cool, pipe or drizzle icings onto cookies to decorate. Icing will harden when left to dry.

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P.S. Enter the 12 Days of Cookies giveaway for the chance to win a $100 FreshDirect gift card. Head to the giveaway post on the @freshdirect Instagram and tag a friend in the comments to submit your entry. See the full contest rules here.

Also, don’t forget to show us what you’re baking this holiday season! Use the hashtag #FD12DaysOfCookies on Instagram.