Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies
These soft gluten-free gingerbread cookies are the perfect holiday treat. Use this gingerbread dough to make gluten-free gingerbread men, snowflakes, ornaments, trees, and more!
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Servings: 24 cookies (depending on the cutters you use)
Calories: 186kcal
Equipment
- Cookie Cutters
Ingredients
FOR THE GLUTEN-FREE GINGERBREAD COOKIES:
- 3/4 cup butter or vegan butter, softened (170 grams/1.5 sticks)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (100 grams)
- 1/2 cup molasses (120 grams)
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups gluten-free measure-for-measure flour, like King Arthur Flour* (420 grams)
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- A few tablespoons additional flour for flouring the work surface + cookie cutters.
FOR THE COOKIE ICING:
- 2 cups powdered sugar (240 grams)
- 3-4 Tablespoons milk I use almond milk. You can use whatever you drink
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
FOR THE GLUTEN-FREE GINGERBREAD COOKIES:
- Combine Dry Ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine gluten-free flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Cream Butter & Sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, combine butter and brown sugar. Cream 2-3 minutes on medium speed with a paddle attachment or hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Finish Wet Ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add molasses, egg, and vanilla to the butter & sugar mixture. Mix on medium speed until evenly combined. (The mixture may start to look slightly separated--don't panic!)
- Gradually Add Dry Ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again. Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and carefully mix to combine. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir/mix until a soft dough forms (it should be a bit like play-dough).
- Divide & Wrap Dough. Gather the dough into a ball and divide in half. Shape each half of the cookie dough into a disc shape and wrap each disc tightly with plastic wrap.
- Chill The Dough 2 Hours. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours. (Don't skip this step! It will help your cookies hold their shape.)
- Preheat & Prep. When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper so you can alternate baking sheets with each batch of dough.
- Roll Out Dough. Place a piece of parchment paper down on the counter and very lightly flour. (You only need 1 Tbsp. flour or less!) Unwrap 1 of the dough discs and lightly flour the top. Cover with a second piece of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll dough out to about 1/4" thick. Carefully, remove the top piece of parchment paper.
- Punch Out Shapes. Dip your cookie cutter into flour and use cookie cutters to punch out your shapes. (Try to put the cutouts close together to avoid waste and to cut down on the number of times you'll need to re-roll the dough.) Transfer any cutouts to a prepared baking sheet. When you can't get any more shapes out of the dough, scrape together all the scraps and re-roll them out using the same steps above. Repeat with the second disc of dough.
- Bake Cookies 8-10 minutes in preheated oven. Let cookies cool 5-7 minutes on the baking sheet before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. For best results, cool cookies COMPLETELY before frosting or icing.
FOR THE ICING:
- Combine. To make the icing, add powdered sugar to a bowl or large liquid measuring cup. Add 3 Tbsp. milk and the vanilla. Whisk until smooth, adding an additional 1 Tbsp. of milk as needed.
- Check the Icing's Consistency. When you lift up your whisk and drizzle the icing back into the bowl/cup, you should be able to see the trail of icing clearly for a few seconds. If it immediately disappears into the icing, your icing is too thin. Add powdered sugar 1 Tbsp. at a time until it can hold its shape better. If the icing doesn't drizzle smoothly, it's too thick. Add milk a *tiny* bit at a time (1/2-1 tsp.), whisking well after each addition. You can also test the icing by adding a drop of icing to the tip of your finger. If it holds its shape when you move your hand around, it's probably just right!
- Decorate. Transfer the icing to a piping bag or squeeze bottle and decorate your cooled cookies as desired. Let the decorated cookies set completely on a wire rack before transferring to an airtight container. Store leftover cookies at room temperature 2-3 days or freeze up to 2 months.
Notes
- GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR. I highly recommend King Arthur Measure-for-Measure flour or Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour. Both mixes have xanthan gum and were tested in this recipe. If you use another flour blend, you may get slightly different results.
- MEASURE PROPERLY! Metric measurements will give you the most consistent results, but if you don't have a kitchen scale, make sure to spoon flour into the measuring cup rather than scooping WITH the measuring cup to avoid packing too much flour into the cookie dough.
- FREEZING. If you want to bake these ahead of time to decorate later, simply freeze in a single layer (or with parchment paper separating each layer) for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature, then decorate as desired.
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Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 186kcal | Carbohydrates: 32.2g | Protein: 1.4g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3.7g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 159.1mg | Fiber: 0.7g | Sugar: 16.7g
Nutrition facts are an estimate only and will vary based on brands and amounts used.
Find it Online:
https://www.onelovelylife.com/gluten-free-gingerbread-cookies/