Healthy Chocolate Chia Ginger Bread Biscuits

When I think 'Christmas', I think of putting on a classic Christmas movie, cuddling up on the sofa with a thick wooly blanket, family around me, a nice big mug of hot chocolate, and a few little yummy treats to top it all off.

Since learning how calorific the Christmas period can actually be, this year I thought I would make a conscious effort to try and cut down on as many of the unnecessary fat gaining culprits as possible (those being chocolate, biscuits, pannetone, cakes etc.). Or at least try to replace them with some healthier alternatives so the guilt can be suppressed if I do find myself  over eating (which is quite common as I'm sure is with most of you throughout this festive period!). Lets face it- no one wants their new years resolution to be something like, "workout every single day until I get rid of all this christmas fluff" now do they?!

Given all of that, back to todays post, a family approved festive treat...

Chocolate Chia Gingerbread biscuits!

A healthy treat which not only contains some great super foods, but one that everyone can enjoy guilt-free, whilst being assured all that delicious warming christmas flavour is savoured.

They make for perfect little hand-made christmas gifts to give to friends or loved ones too...

Ingredients for the biscuit:
150g Buckwheat or Quinoa flour (I used buckwheat- to make your own simply grind the grains in a food processor until it becomes a flour, sift to ensure you're not left with any coarse grains)
100g Almond flour (or 100g of ground almonds)
50g (or 3tbsp) Honey
30g candied Ginger cut into small pieces
26g (or 2 tbsp) virgin organic Coconut Oil
15g (or 3 heaped tsp) Creative Nature Superfoods Cacao powder
15g (or 3 heaped tsp) Chia seeds
100ml water
Optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon/all spice

1. Pre-heat fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius

2. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl or food processor until a dough is formed

3. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough flat on some grease proof paper until it's just under 1 cm thick

4. Using a ginger bread man cookie cutter (or any shaped equivalent) cut out as many biscuit moulds as possible before using your hands to roll the dough back into a ball and repeating step 3. Do this until all the dough is used up

5. Lay the gingerbread men onto a baking tray lined with grease-proof paper and place in the oven for approximately 8-10 mins or until lightly browned

6. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing them from the tray and decorating

Ingredients for the chocolate decoration:

15g (1 tbsp) Honey
1 heaped tbsp Cacao powder
10g Xylitol

1. Place all ingredients in a small bowl, then place that bowl in a larger pan pr bowl filled with a little boiling water
2. Stir until a smooth, shiny consistency is reached
3. Either spoon into a piping bag or simply spoon straight onto the biscuits
4. Allow to cool and set in the fridge for a few hours

Makes 34 gingerbread men.

Macro breakdown per biscuit (without decoration):

44 kcal, 2.5g Fat, 4.5g Carb, 1.1g Protein, 0.8g Fiber

With chocolate decoration:

46 kcal, 3g Fat, 5g Carb, 1.2g Protein, 0.9g Fiber