Cookie baking continues! Today’s recipe is for soft gluten-free ginger cookies. These cookies are a favorite of my families, and I like that because they are quick, easy & cheap to make. All good things in my books. These cookies do taste better the second day, I think all spicy cookies taste better when they have had a chance to sit a bit and let the spices do their thing.
Soft Gluten-Free Ginger Cookies
Yield:
48 cookies
Prep Time:
20 minutes
Cook Time:
10 minutes
Total Time:
30 minutes
Source: Based on a recipe fromAllRecipes.com
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter, softened but still cool (if too soft, your cookies will be flat. Still taste great, but flat)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 3/4 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Additional sugar for rolling the cookies in.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and molasses. Mix until blended.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the brown rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing until well blended.
- Roll the dough into 1" balls (I used my small cookie scoop for this), and roll in the additional granulated sugar. Place on baking sheet, 2-inches apart.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until puffy and lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in an air-tight container once completely cool.
sarah says
OOOOOH. I’ve been yearning for a ginger cookie. This looks so good.
Jeanine says
Awesome! Perfect timing then. 🙂 Enjoy!
Heather Porrill says
My mouth is watering!
Jeanine says
I wish I could trade cookies for fudge. Mmm…. 😉
Tamara says
Ooohh, honey! I’m so ready for this cookie!!!!! What a treat! Thanks for posting this, Jeanine.
Jeanine says
You are more than welcome, Tamara! Hope you enjoy them!
Wendy says
Are these like ginger snaps? I am looking for a spicy ginger snap cookie!
Thanks,
Wendy
Jeanine says
These have the same spiciness as a gingersnap, but they don’t have the snap part, they are a soft cookie, not crisp. HTH.
Elise says
These look delicious! I way prefer soft to crunchy ginger snaps.
Jeanine says
Thanks, Elise! I don’t have a preference, as long as they are spicy. 🙂
Diamond says
I’ve been making our version of this allrecipes cookie for a couple of years. I use a slightly different flour mix and 1 Tablespoon of Orange Juice. It is AMAZING what that touch of orange flavour does to the whole cookie.
I was planning to make them next week, but have now been inspired to make them sooner!
Jeanine says
Oh, I just made another batch tonight, and if I had orange juice on hand, I’d add that. Or even some orange zest. I bet that would be fantastic. Thanks for the suggestion!
Michelle says
This recipe came just in the nick of time. I was so wanting to try some soft molasses cookies. I halved the ginger to be on the milder side, but I think it would have been ok, cuz they weren’t that spicy. Mine didn’t turn out quite as thick or pretty as yours. But, I used butter instead of margarine. I might add a tad more sorghum flour next time to see if I can get the height. I was glad to see the sorghum in this recipe because it seems to thicken my cookies. The end of this batch was chilled a bit longer and they seemed slightly thicker and had more of that beautiful crackle. Yum! Thanks a bunch!
Stephanie says
These cookies look so good! I have a question for anyone that wants to answer 🙂 I’m allergic to nightshades as well as gluten, so I don’t use potato starch and I don’t use corn starch either. That leaves Tapioca and Arrowroot. Arrowroot is a little pricey and too much Tapioca causes baked goods to be too “chewy”. Do you think that i could sub sweet rice flour for the potato starch? Thanks!
Jeanine says
I would definitely try subbing the sweet rice flour for the potato starch.
Elaine DuPlessis says
Kind of disappointed that they didn’t turn out as expected. The only change I made was I used brown sugar instead of white, just because I prefer brown sugar in a cookie. They went flat and are a thin, crisp/chewy cookie. My husband loves them and they ARE pretty fantastic ~ just not big & soft. I put the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours to be sure the dough wasn’t too warm, so not sure what happened?
Jeanine says
Sorry they didn’t turn out as hoped, Elaine. Sometimes, cookies are such a problem, between the size of eggs, the temp of your butter, the type of baking sheets, whether you line your sheets with parchment or not, there are so many factors. I hope that you give these cookies another try. The brown sugar will change the texture as well, that may have had something to do with it. Sorry, not much help here. 🙁
Robin says
I made these today–they were AWESOME! I used Spectrum shortening because I can’t have dairy. They were exactly right. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Jeanine says
Wonderful! Glad to hear that it works with the Spectrum shortening as well. 🙂
Melanie says
So glad you posted this! I’ve been nothing but disappointed with the gluten free gingerbread recipes I’ve tried this year and was really needing a successful ginger cookie for my Christmas dessert trays. These were super easy, tasty and smell so yummy. Even after chilling overnight mine came out a bit flat too, but are still awesome. I’ll try a bit more sorghum next time to see if that helps with the loft.
Jill says
I made these yesterday and they turned out amazing, by far the best gluten free ginger cookie I have ever made!!!! I really messed up by adding 2 tsp of cinnamon by accident then realizing my mistake but they still tasted amazing.
Teresa says
These are fabulous. This made my GF 16yr old boy in “heaven” for Christmas. Thanks so much for sharing. Mine came out very flat however– what did I do wrong?
Teresa says
ok so now I feel a bit stupid — reading back through the recipe you said not to get the butter to soft or your cookies will be flat — oh yeah think that is what i did. Teach me to read thoroughly next time and not be in such a hurry
Jeanine says
No problem, Teresa! I’ve heard of quite a few that had them go flat (but still good). I think cookies are one of the most difficult recipes to convert, there are so many factors (butter temp, baking pans, etc).
Teresa says
Just thought I would share that the dough for this recipe freezes wonderfully. After rolling in sugar placed them all on a cookie sheet and froze them — after freezing them for about three hours put them all in one freezer bag. Pulled them out 2 weeks later placed them on a cookie sheet ( w/ parchment) allowed to come to room temp then baked them as instructed. Yummy, Yummy Yummy and they were not flat !!!!
Jeanine says
Interesting! Glad to hear that, Teresa! Great idea to freeze them, that’s a huge time saver when you want a few fresh cookies. 🙂
Sarah Ray says
Hi, these cookies look amazing! I’ve been looking for a good cookie recipe 🙂 I was wondering if I could just use a cup for cup baking flour instead of adding all the different kinds. would the recipe work the same? Thanks in advance. -Sarah Ray
Heather says
I can’t seem to find millet flour in my area. What else could I use?
Jeanine says
The recipe calls for sorghum, but you could sub with millet, gluten-free oat, teff, or even more brown rice flour. HTH!
Ange says
I am so glad I found some recipes to try. We just found in May our son has several allergies and I am trying to do a gingerbread manhunt. Would I be able to use this dough for shaped cookies as well or would to much handling break them down? The other gluten-free recipe I found takes 8 hours, kinda wanted them before then :).
Jeanine says
Hi Ange, welcome here! This recipe will not work for rolled & cut out cookies, for that, I use this recipe here: http://onlysometimesclever.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/gingerbread-for-cookies-houses-gfcf/ (cut in half though, it’s a LARGE recipe).
For more holiday treats, check out the holiday round-up I posted last week: http://www.thebakingbeauties.com/2012/12/gluten-free-recipes-for-the-holidays.html
Carol says
Can I use an egg replacer in this recipe?
Jeanine Friesen says
You can try – I never have. If you do, please let us know how it works!
Brittanne says
These are so good!!
I used my melon baller and baked for 8 minutes instead; yield: 76
Jeanine Friesen says
Awesome, Brittanne! Thanks for sharing! 🙂 Hope you are enjoying the cookies!
Jeanie says
Just made these – they turned out fantastic! I modified them slightly, as I should not be having dairy (so I used a little). I used 1/4 cup each of butter, Crisco shortening, and Earth Balance Coconut Spread (coconut and palm). Next time, I’ll be braver and try all shortening.
Based on some other comments, I reversed the sorghum and rice flour measurements – using
1 cup sorghum and 3/4 cup brown rice. I used a Large egg, and my teaspoon of baking soda was heaping a bit (as well, my spice measurements were heaping a bit – I like spicy ginger cookies), I used parchment and a small cookie scoop – as per Jeanine’s recipe directions, and they turned out perfect! Did not go flat at all.
I baked them for 10 mins on convection, but altered after to 9 mins for bit more softness inside. (would even try 8 mins)
Then I tried the large cookie scoop… WOW. It produced those big soft ginger cookies I’ve looked for ever since the gluten free days began!
Thank you Jeanine for this wonderful recipe!!
P.S. Do you use bake or convection on your oven? I’m never sure.
Jeanine says
Who doesn’t want BIG soft cookies, right?? 🙂 SO glad to hear that you liked them, Jeanie! BTW – whenever I test recipes, I never use convect bake. I stink at using convect bake. 🙂 I’ll use it when I’m in a hurry and just want cookies, but the back of the pan always seems to get darker faster than the rest when I do that.
Jon says
My wife, mother and sister all like ginger cookies and are gluten free for different reasons so I like to make these for family get togethers. We all like them spicy so I supercharge them with 2 table spoons of the ground fresh ginger that comes in a tube. I add a few tablespoons of the flour mix to adjust for the added ginger moisture. Then, I top each cookie with a thin slice of candied ginger before they bake.
Cherie says
Made several times as written and they are wonderful and crisp. Made today using Xylitol to replace granulated sugar and they turned out soft. Still delicious, but sadly, not crisp.
So if substituting a non sugar to make these sugar free, they will be soft.
Jeanine says
Interesting! Thanks for sharing, Cherie!