These Molasses Cookies are a gluten free version of the recipe that my Mom made when I was a kid. They are nice and crackly on top and have a deep molasses and spice flavor.
If you do not have an issue with gluten, just change the flour to “regular flour” and omit the xanthan gum.
The dough for these cookies is very easy to make- you will just need to chill it for a few hours so it is firm enough to roll into balls and coat with sugar before baking.
I did find that I was only able to bake one sheet of cookies at a time, even when I rotated the 2 pans midway through the cooking time. The 2nd sheet that started on the bottom didn’t develop the crackly top when there was more than one sheet in the oven at a time.
I have not tried it yet, but I think these cookies would be great to use as part of a gluten free pie crust. You could break them up into crumbs and mix them with ground nuts, or just the cookie flavor itself. What about with a dried apricot chiffon pie? Yum!
I shared the link to this post on another gluten free blog called The Sensitive Pantry. Nancy put out a request for bloggers to share links to their GF cookie recipes because she is without an oven to bake with until the end of December. I can’t imagine being without my oven during this season!
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside:
2 cups GF flour mix*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cloves
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
Melt 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) and then beat with:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
Blend well then beat in flour mixture, a few tablespoons at a time.
When thoroughly mixed, chill dough in refrigerator for several hours. It needs to be firm enough to form into balls.
When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in white sugar. You will need 2-3 Tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl for this.
Place a sheet of parchment paper on each baking sheet and bake 16 cookies per sheet. You can only bake 1 sheet of cookies at a time because I found that the cookies on the sheet that starts on the bottom do not form a crackly top- they stay smooth.
Bake cookies for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
This recipe makes about 42 cookies (3- 1/2 dozen).
*GF Flour Mixture
The GF Flour Mixture that I use is pretty standard. I use Authentic Foods gluten free flours because they are ground more finely than commercial brand GF flours that you can buy off the shelf. This results in wonderful baked goods that do not have that “gritty” feel when you chew them like so many products that we all tried in the beginning!
GF Flour Mixture
2 cups AF Superfine Brown Rice Flour
2/3 cup AF Potato Starch Flour
1/3 cup AF Tapioca Flour
I make up several batches of this mixture at a time and keep it in a cannister. I keep all of my other GF flours in the freezer.
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I love molasses cookies, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t had one since going gluten-free. The recipe looks awesome!
Thanks for your comment Iris! I am working on converting or trying out 7 new cookie recipes this weekend! It is my favorite kind of recipe to play with because I can always give away the results (so I don’t eat quite so many!)