Maple almond butter gingerbread cookies by Justin’s for Christmas dessert

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‘Tis the season for Justin’s Maple Almond Butter Gingerbread People. Now that Christmas is here, we’re all looking for fun ways to jazz up our go-to gingerbread cookie recipes, and these playful treats certainly deliver on the flavor front.

"Nut butter and baking go hand in hand around the holidays. At Justin's, we wanted to put an unexpected, delicious twist on a holiday classic, gingerbread cookies," says Penny Andino, Justin’s VP Marketing at Justin’s. "We added in Justin's Maple Almond Butter to make these little buddies sweet, spicy, and a little nutty."

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Try this ‘Maple Almond Butter Gingerbread Cookies’ by Justin’s for Christmas dessert. (Justin's)

Maple Almond Butter Gingerbread Cookies by Justin’s

Makes 8 servings (5-inch cookies) 

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients:

This gingerbread cookie recipe from Justin's is made with maple almond butter and peanut butter cups. (Justin's)

• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter (or vegan butter), at room temperature
• ¼ cup JUSTIN’S Maple Almond Butter or almond butter of choice
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons packed maple sugar (or dark brown sugar)
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
• White frosting (such as Simple Mills Organic Vanilla)
• 1 bag JUSTIN’S Mini Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups or mini chocolate peanut butter cups of choice

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Directions:

Jazz up your go-to gingerbread cookie recipes with blended maple almond butter. (Justin's)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
2. Combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, almond butter, and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the molasses, and mix until well combined. Carefully add the dry ingredients and mix just until just combined.
4. Divide the dough into two. Using a rolling pin, roll each half to ½" thickness between two pieces of parchment paper.
5. Place the parchment sheet with the rolled-out cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Once chilled, use a gingerbread person-shaped cookie cutter to cut the gingerbread people about an inch apart immediately. Peel off excess dough, leaving the gingerbread cutouts on the cookie sheet.
6. Before baking, use your fingers to slightly stretch the arms of the gingerbread people, careful not to break. Crumple a small piece of aluminum foil into a ball about 1-inch in diameter. Place it in the center of each gingerbread person, and gently wrap the stretched dough arms around it, so it looks like it’s holding a ball. Repeat with remaining dough.
7. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until the edges begin to darken. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
8. Once cooled, transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip and decorate your cookies. Very carefully remove aluminum foil balls and replace them with mini peanut butter cups.
9. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

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 This original recipe is owned by Justin’s and was shared with Fox News.