The holidays are around the corner, and you are probably thinking about the desserts you want to make. But you may also be thinking about how the treats may harm your and your children's teeth. You can avoid damaging your family's teeth with the following gingerbread man cookie recipe. The recipe contains tooth-friendly ingredients.

The Tooth-Friendly Secrets Behind The Gingerbread Man

One of the ingredients that you will need is raw honey. Honey is a very powerful bacteria-killing ingredient. The reason that honey kills cavity-causing bacteria is its high-sugar content, which makes it a humectant compound. This allows honey to suck the moisture out of the oral pathogens in your mouth and effectively kill them through rapid dehydration. 

You will also be using a little cinnamon. Cinnamon contains cinnamaldehyde and other bacteria-killing ingredients. The oral pathogens that are attempting to wreak havoc in your mouth will suffer fatal surface wounds when you consume a little cinnamon.

The last ingredient should help your family smile brighter this holiday season. You will be using strawberries to make the frosting that will decorate your gingerbread man. Strawberries contain a significant amount of malic acid that has been shown to break down stains on your teeth. Keep in mind that malic acid only works on simple surface stains, and harsher stains should be treated by your dentist. 

Now you can move on to the recipe.

Strawberry Frosting Recipe

You will need the following ingredients for your strawberry frosting topping:

  • 1 cup of fresh strawberries, crown removed
  • 1 cup of organic butter
  • 3 and 1/2 cups of xylitol (natural sweetener that oral pathogens cannot consume)
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

To make your frosting, just follow the steps below:

  1. Puree your strawberries.
  2. Put the puree in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and stir often. The puree should be done in 20 minutes when it has been reduced by half.
  3. Remove the puree from heat, and let it cool completely.
  4. In a separate bowl, beat your butter until fluffy. 
  5. Beat in 1 cup of xylitol into the butter. 
  6. Add 2 tablespoons of the puree and the vanilla extract to the butter. Blend well. 
  7. Keep adding the xylitol by a cup each and then puree by 2 tablespoons until you are done blending. 

Now you can gather up the following ingredients for your gingerbread cookies. 

Gingerbread Man Cookie Recipe

  • 1/2 of a cup of softened butter
  • 2/3 of a cup of raw honey
  • 1/3 of a cup of organic blackstrap molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons of water
  • 2 and 2/3 cups of flour
  • 2 teaspoons of ground ginger
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
  • 1/2 a teaspoon of each of the following: sea salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice

To make your gingerbread man, just follow the steps below:

  1. Combine the butter and honey in a large bowl.
  2. Add the egg, molasses, and water. Blend well. 
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Add this to the butter mixture, and blend well.
  4. Cover the dough, and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until the dough is easy to handle. 
  5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  6. Place half of the dough over a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to about 1/8 of an inch. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter and cut out your cookies.
  7. Place each gingerbread man on your greased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are firm.
  8. Let the cookies cool, and finish them up by decorating them with your strawberry frosting. 

As you can see, eating a delicious gingerbread man cookie can be both delicious and tooth-friendly with the right ingredients.

Share