Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies

Gluten free gingerbread cookies made with an almond flour base and sweetened naturally with maple syrup and molasses. These paleo gingerbread cookies are perfect for cut-outs, gingerbread houses, or snacking. This post is sponsored by Horizon Organic. 

Christmas is just a few days away and we are finally feeling the Christmas spirit. Admittedly, it was an unusual start to the holidays. The Thomas fire broke out, which cancelled school for all the kids in Santa Barbara, rained down ash, and sent us fleeing town in search of fresh air. Our home was in an evacuation zone, so instead of hanging stockings, we were packing up our most treasured things and putting them in storage. Firefighters from around the state, even around the country, came to help and did a completely amazing job of getting the fire under control. The evacuation warning was just lifted and the sky is clear once again. So today we put up our stockings, turned up the Christmas music, and jumped right into one of our favorite holiday traditions – cookie baking! A heartfelt thank you and bravo to all firefighters and firefighter families for sacrificing so much!

I’m excited to share these gluten free gingerbread cookies with you because we had so much fun making them and they are so tasty. These paleo gingerbread cookies are so tasty, and so much more nutritious than the average cookie, that I’m having a few with my morning coffee right now. My cutie is going to show you how it’s done. I know these warm gingerbread cookies will get you into the holiday spirit too.

Gingerbread cookies are my go-to for holiday baking. Sure sugar cookies are nice, and chocolate chip cookies are impossible to beat, but gingerbread cookies have those warm spices that let you know the holidays have arrived. And when else do we slow down enough to carefully decorate adorable gingerbread boys, girls, and houses? The thing I love about the holidays is that it’s a rare occasion during the year that everyone slows down, stops working, and just spends time together. The girls and I had so much fun making these gingerbread cookies. They are absolutely delicious and I love that they are gluten-free, paleo, vegan, and and have no food dyes. They’re made with real food ingredients that don’t leave us with tummy aches.

You may remember I made gingerbread cookies last year. In that version I used a combination of all purpose and whole wheat flours. I’ve been baking more and more with almond flour and arrowroot, so that’s what I used this year. We didn’t miss the flour at all in these grain-free gingerbread cookies! I could tell they were going to be great from the first bite of cookie dough, and sure enough they baked up just perfectly. To sweeten the cookies I used molasses, which is a traditional gingerbread cookie ingredient, and maple syrup, which isn’t. No white sugar was needed for this gingerbread cookie dough.

You can cut this gingerbread cookie dough into any shape you like, or even make gingerbread houses. We had a gingerbread house decorating party a few years ago, which was so much fun, and so much work. This year we went with a simpler approach and made gingerbread house cookies, rather than building actual gingerbread houses. I made a simple paper template of about 3.5″ by 5″ and cut around it with a paring knife to make gingerbread house shapes. We had to make some gingerbread boys and girls to go with the houses, of course. The houses don’t need to be perfect. In fact, I prefer them a little quirky and imperfect. This recipe makes a small batch of dough. We made about 4 houses and 4 people.

These gluten free, paleo, almond flour gingerbread cookies are tasty with or without icing. I know because I nibbled one several as soon as they were cool enough to handle. The stickiness of the maple and molasses held the almond flour base together so nicely.

As far as my kids are concerned, it’s the decorating of the gingerbread cookies that is the best part. To make the icing, I whisk together organic powdered sugar and almond milk until very thick like glue. I had a really easy time finding organic, dye-free decorations this year. We used Horizon Organic Fruit Snacks for the most adorable little welcoming cows. My kids love them and they are certified organic, and are free of any artificial colors or flavors. For “snow” we used unsweetened coconut shreds, for a little color we used organic sprinkles, and added a some mini allergy friendly chocolate chips too. Though this cookie recipe is paleo and refined sugar free, not all of the decorations here are. I did use refined sugar in the icing for that classic white gingerbread house look.

I think these gingerbread house cookies turned out so cute! The gluten free gingerbread cookie dough was as scrumptious as I’d hoped, which may be a problem because they may not last until Santa arrives. Gingerbread house cookies are so much easier than building gingerbread houses and just as cute, I think. I love this easy recipe for gluten-free almond flour gingerbread cookies. It works so well for gingerbread houses, boys and girls, or snacking. Happy holidays!

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Yield: varies depending on size

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 13 minutes

Total Time 43 minutes

This almond flour gingerbread cookie recipe is perfect for gingerbread houses, people, or snacking!

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Ingredients

Cookie Dough

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/4 cup arrowroot starch, plus more for rolling
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/8 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Icing

• 1 cup organic powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons Silk almond milk

Dye-Free Decorations

• Horizon organic fruit snacks
• shredded coconut
• dye-free sprinkles

Instructions

To Make the Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a mixer, add the almond flour, arrowroot, baking soda, salt, and spices. Whisk until combined. Add the vanilla, maple syrup, molasses, and oil, and beat with the paddle attachment of a mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined into a ball of dough. The dough should come together into a ball, but if it's too sticky or wet, add a little arrowroot. If it's too dry, add a little syrup.
3. Dust a work surface with arrowroot starch and roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut your shapes using cookie cutters or a hand-made template and a paring knife. If the dough is too soft to work with, place it in the freezer to firm up for 10 minutes. Transfer the dough shapes to the prepared cookie sheet and pop in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up. This will help the cookies keep their shape. Cook on the shorter end for a softer cookie, and longer for a crispy cookie.
4. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes and allow to cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before icing so that the icing doesn't melt.

To Decorate the Cookies

1. In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and almond milk together until the mixture is very thick, like school glue. Use a piping bag or zipper bag with a tiny corner snipped off to pipe the icing onto the cookies. If the icing is too runny, add more sugar.
2. Use the icing to draw details and glue decorations onto your gingerbread cookies.

Notes

Nutrition information is based on 1 tenth of the recipe without icing or decorations and is approximate.
The cookie recipe is paleo but the icing and decorations are not.

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size: 1/10 recipe
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 110

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon. The opinions and text are all mine.