Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
These Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies are just as chewy & delicious as the classic gingerbread cookies you remember, but made gluten and grain free using almond flour. They're so much fun for the whole family to make and are the perfect addition to your holiday season cookie exchange boxes!
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups almond flour sifted
- 1 ¾ cups tapioca flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground clove
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ⅓ cup molasses
- ¼ cup grass fed butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup monk fruit or white sugar
- royal icing/cookie icing for decorating
Instructions
- Prepare the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, sift almond flour and tapioca starch. Mix in baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, clove, allspice and salt using a whisk to fully incorporate.
- Prepare the wet ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, molasses, sugar or monk fruit, vanilla and egg until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Make the cookie dough. Slowly begin adding the dry ingredients mixture to the wet ingredients in the stand mixer and beat on medium speed to low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula until all ingredients are fully incorporated. The mixture will start to form a dough and may be easier to finish mixing with a fork or even by hand. Note, if the mixture seems a little sticky now, don't worry it thickens up in the chilling process, so refrain from adding more flour at this time. You can add a bit more to it after the chilling process if it still seems a bit too wet to roll out.
- Chill the cookie dough. Roll the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Prepare to bake. While the dough chills, pre-heat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
- Roll & cut the dough. Remove the dough from the fridge and place on a well floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is approximately ¼" thick. Be careful not to roll the dough too thin or the cookies will burn. If the dough is sticking to the rolling pin, sprinkle additional tapioca flour on the surface. Use cookie cutters to cut out the gingerbread men shapes and arrange on baking sheet, making sure to leave space between as the cookies will expand very slightly while baking. You'll need to repeat the process of rolling & cutting the dough until there is no dough left.
- Bake. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Once they're done, place the baked cookies on a wire rack to cool before decorating.
Notes
Can I make these dairy free gingerbread cookies?
You can use vegan butter to make these dairy free cookies. Note that certain brands work better than others, for example Miyokos Creamery vegan butter behaves more closely to dairy butter and is easier to substitute. I've found that Earth Balance is too oily and is not a perfect 1 to 1 substitute for butter. If you only have Earth Balance available, you can use it, but you will likely have to add more almond flour into the batter in order for a dough to form. Start by adding ¼ cup of almond flour and graduate up from there if needed.Can I use gluten free flour instead of almond and tapioca flour?
I find gluten free 1:1 flour to be a bit dense in certain recipes, and gingerbread is one of them. To achieve the perfect balance between snappy gingerbread and chewy gluten-free gingerbread cookies, use almond and tapioca flours.What if the dough is too wet and won't roll out?
If your gingerbread cookie dough is a bit too wet or sticky you can remedy that by adding a small amount of tapioca flour a teaspoon at a time until the dough is no longer sticky.Can I make these Christmas cookies ahead of time?
You can make these gingerbread cookies up to 5 days in advance for optimum freshness.How to store gluten free gingerbread cookies
Store your gluten free cookies in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days or at room temperature up to 3 days. Tried this recipe?Mention @prettydeliciouslife or tag #PDLrecipes!