Disclaimer: This is a sponsored recipe. I was compensated by the kind folks at Crosby’s Molasses for creating this recipe. However, like always, the opinions are entirely my own.
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It’s that time of year again. The leaves have all fallen, the daytime highs are rather low, and the ground is often dusted with snow in the mornings. Whether we like it or not, winter is quickly approaching. Within a week or two, the ground will be covered with a layer of white that will last until March or April. One of the things that I like to do with the kids during these cold winter days is bake gluten free gingerbread cookies. The kids enjoy cutting them out, and decorating them when they are cool. This year I added some fun new cookie cutters to our collection. I got these fun ABC cutters (Already Been Chewed, haha), as well as an 8-inch gingerbread man cutter. I think those will as fun for the kids to decorate as a gingerbread house would be.
This dough makes the perfect gingerbread men. Loaded with all the right spices, these cookies, which hold their shape well during baking, are also still soft and slightly chewy. Would they work to make a gluten free gingerbread house? A small one – Maybe. But for a large house, I don’t think these cookies would hold up to the weight – they are a little too soft for that.
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- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup millet flour
- 1 cup sweet rice flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- In a large bowl, whisk together the brown rice flour, millet flour, sweet rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in the molasses and egg, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Add the lemon juice.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Mix until the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated.
- Divide the dough in two, placing each piece of dough on a sheet of plastic wrap. Pat the dough into a disk, wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Lightly flour the counter with sweet rice flour. With a sheet of plastic wrap on top of the dough, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thick. Use your favourite cookie cutters and get creative. Although the cookies hold their shape pretty well, don’t use anything too detailed, since they do grow a bit.
- Place cut out cookies on prepared baking pan, leaving 2-inches between cookies.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Cool completely before using a simple frosting of confectioners’ (icing) sugar and milk.
- Repeat until all the dough has been formed. Off-cuts can be re-rolled and used again.
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Looking for another reason to use your cookie cutters? How about these Gluten Free Rolled Sugar Cookies?
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Love the molasses & ginger combination? Here’s more recipes to enjoy!
Gluten Free Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars
Gluten Free Gingerbread Cake with Chocolate and Coffee
Crisp Gluten Free Gingersnap Cookies
Big, Soft Gluten Free Ginger Cookies
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Bridget says
I love these!
Soft and slightly chewy is perfect when it comes to gingerbread cookies. Can’t wait to try them…
Jeanine Friesen says
OH, these cookies were really, really good, Bridget! What I love about spicy cookies is that they actually get better as time goes on. Give them a day or two, and they have a deeper flavour. Yum!
Wild Child says
These look so good. I loved making gingerbread men with my preschoolers, always so much fun! Might just have to make some and reminisce a little. Besides, they always smell so good while baking, and deciding which part to eat first adds extra holiday cheer. Run, run my gingerbread man, I’m baking you up as fast as I can!
Jeanine Friesen says
😀 Run! Run! As fast as you can! You’re right, they do smell fantastic when baking. 🙂
Lori says
Looking forward to trying this. The recipe I made last year turned out so hard they nearly broke your teeth.
Jeanine Friesen says
Oh, you’ll like these ones then, Lori! They are nice & soft, a little chewy. Perfect, in my opinion. 🙂
Cindy says
These are super cute, Jeanine!! I always love gingerbread during the colder months, dipped into my hot chocolate.
Jeanine Friesen says
Mmm.. dipped in hot chocolate is perfect, Cindy!
Heather says
If anyone subbs out the butter can you post your results please? Thanks:)
Jeanine Friesen says
Hoping someone tries it, Heather! I think that something like Earth Balance Baking Sticks should work. Be nice to hear from someone that tries it though.
http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/product/natural-shortening/
Maile says
The Earth Balance sticks work splendidly. These were a hot in our gluten free, dairy free family.
Some tips for success:
1. Work the dough in smaller batches and rotate them in and out of the fridge
2. Roll out dough on parchment paper, cut your shapes and remove the excess dough, this way your cookies don’t get smoothed if you try to move them
Thanks so much for the recipe!
Jeanine Friesen says
Wonderful! Thank you so much for the great feedback & tips, Maile! Merry Christmas!
Heather Porrill says
You ate his head!!!
Jeanine Friesen says
Haha, no, well, yeah, but not that ones. 😉 The kids loved the new cookie cutters I got. 🙂
Laurel says
mmm…mmm I love, love, love gingerbread cookies, well gingerbread anything. I’m really glad you included that comment about gingerbread houses though. You must have read what remains of my mind.
Jeanine Friesen says
I love all things gingerbread too, Laurel! The combination of spices & molasses is just so warming. I have used a gingerbread recipe that worked great for houses in the past… I’ll find the link.
This one: http://onlysometimesclever.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/gingerbread-for-cookies-houses-gfcf/ (and it is also dairy free!) Here’s what I made with it: http://www.thebakingbeauties.com/2010/12/christmas-time-is-here-gluten-free-gingerbread.html
Michelle @ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
These are just adorable Jeaninie! I’ve been wanting to make some of gingerbread men and your recipe looks great!
Jeanine Friesen says
Thanks, Michelle! I think your boys would love these cutters, or the Ninja cutters, those were my boy’s choice. 🙂 All kinds of fun we can have now.
Erika says
Thank you Jeanine! I can’t wait to try these. Gingerbread men have been a holiday tradition for us and I have been sturuggling to make them gluten free. ( We end up piping gingerbread man-esque shapes unto baking sheets because the cookie dough is so sticky). It will be wonderful to use the cookie cutters again…after a good washing of course. My kids will be more than thrilled.
Jeanine Friesen says
Oh, these definitely roll out nicely, so you can get the cookie cutters out again! 🙂 Hope you guys have a great time continuing your holiday tradition! 🙂
Tish says
These look great and I’ve been hoping to find a good GF version of gingerbread cookies. But, I can’t find millet flour. Would it work to use more of one of the other flours?
Jeanine Friesen says
I haven’t tried making them any other way, but I’d think that either sorghum or gluten free oat flour would work well as a substitute.
Tish says
Thank you for your quick reply. I will try one of these and let you know how they turn out. Happy Holidays!
Kim says
Has anyone tried this recipe with a standard gluten free flour blend? If so, how did they turn out? Thanks!
Beth says
Bought a Ninja cookie cutter set yesterday, and since today is a snow day we decided to make Ninjamen! The dough was a bit sticky but poping it into the freezer between rolling it out worked great. I always sandwich my dough between plastic wrap when I roll it out. That way they don’t stick to the counter, and you can pick up the sheet of dough to help remove your cut out shape. They baked up perfectly and my kids are excited to decorate! They are soft and chewy but hold togehter well. Thanks for yet another great one!!
Jeanine Friesen says
Glad that you love the recipe, Beth! Your ninjamen are SOOO cute! 🙂 Thanks for sharing a pic on FB!
Nancy says
I’m wondering if I can sub out the millet flour for something else. I can’t find millet anywhere!!!
Jeanine Friesen says
I haven’t tried making them any other way, but I’d think that either sorghum or gluten free oat flour would work well as a substitute.
Nancy says
Thanks!! I’ll try sorghum and let you know! Do you get millet in Winnipeg? If so…. where!
Jeanine Friesen says
I actually get my millet flour in Steinbach, at Stony Brook Pantry, they carry a wide variety of gluten-free Bob’s Red Mill flours at a great price. Maybe a health food store would have it? I’m not sure…
Adelaïde says
Hi!
These look delicious. I was in search of a GF refined sugar free recipe for gingerbread cookies and yours looks fabulous. I was wondering if these would be stable enough to hang on my christmas tree? I would use 3-4 inch cookie cutters and make a pencil sized hole in each cookie for the twine. Should I bake them a little longer? Or would they be too soft? Ideally I wanted a recipe that we could enjoy eating as well as hanging on the tree, rather than making two kinds of gingerbread cookies:). Thank you!
Adelaïde
Jeanine Friesen says
What a neat idea! I think it would work to hang them on the tree. Just roll the dough a little thinner, and use a straw to put a hole at the top to run a string through after baking. I’m not sure how they’d last in the long term though.
Yuko says
Would this recipe work with blackstrap molasses?
Jeanine Friesen says
Yeah, I think that would work without a problem, Yuko!
Carol Speight says
Can these OR any of you recipes be made subbing out the sugar for a sugar substitute? Thank you.
Jeanine Friesen says
I’ve never tried baking any of them using any other kinds of sweetners or substitutes, Carol. Sorry!