Liana’s Gluten Free Gingerbread
I created this variation on an old favourite so I could make gingerbread houses with my grandhcildren and enjoy the treat with them. When pressed into a mould, this dough creates a moist chewy cookie with a great crumb and traditional taste. If you roll the dough thinner and bake it longer, you can achieve the drier, crunchier cookie, but its not as hard as a ginger snap.
1 1/3 cups sorghum flour
1 1/3 cups tapioca starch
11/3 cups quinoa flour
1 Tbsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup Fancy Molasses
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the brown sugar, butter, eggs, and molasses. (Use the paddle, if you are using a stand mixer.)
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and spices until well-combined.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, using the paddle on low speed (or stir by hand). Once the flour mixture is mostly incorporated, switch to the dough hook and knead the dough. If you are doing this by hand, in the bowl, slowly punch the dough down in the middle and folding the sides of the dough into the middle. Or, put the dough on a non-stick surface (such as a silicone mat, marble or granite slab) and knead it on there. Incorporate all the flour mixture until you have a moderately stiff, but pliable dough.
If you refrigerate or freeze the dough, bring to back up to room temperature before you begin to roll it out. When I did this, I had to add more flour to bring it back to its original condition. Working with about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll the dough 1/4″ thick. For the most uniform cookies, and definitely for the large sections required for gingerbread houses, roll the dough onto a large of parchment paper, using a rolling pin with a spacer ring. (You can buy the fondant rolling pins with the spacer rings wherever Wilton cake decorating products are sold: Bulk Barn, Michael’s etc.) When it is rolled out, pick up the entire piece of dough on the paper and transfer it to the cookie sheet. From this dough, either cut sections for your gingerbread house from a template, or use cookie cutters. (They even have cutters and pans for entire Gingerbread Houses) Trim away any excess dough and bake right on the parchment paper. I also used the Wilton Gingerbread House mould pan. I greased the moulds before I pressed the gingerbread into the mould.
Bake cookies for 6 to 12 minutes to produce a softer, chewier cookie, depending on the thickness of the cookie. Bake about 10 to 15 minutes for ginger bread house pieces. You’ll know it’s done when the corners of the cookies start to brown and the centres no longer feel spongy. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes. Lift the parchment paper and the cookies off the baking tray and set on a cookie rack until they are completely cooled. Now you are ready to begin decorating!
I decorated mine with royal icing and left them to harden over night.
ShareTags: Celiac Disease, food allergies, food intolerances, food sensitivities, gingerbread, gingerbread houses, gluten free, gluten free gingerbread, lactose free, legume free, Liana Brittain, wheat free