Gingerbread Cookies – Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free & Egg-Free

Welcome to Day 5!  Are you inspired yet?

Here’s a look at what we have so far:

Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free’s Pistachio-Cranberry Biscotti
Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom’s Dairy-Free Fudge
Gluten-Free Life With Jen’s Chocolate Peppermint Wafer Cookies
The Mommy Bowl’s Peanut Butter Peck Cookies

And now it’s my turn!

This recipe for gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free gingerbread cookies comes from my friend Heather.  She’s been making gingerbread cookies since she was a little girl.  This is her family recipe (isn’t she awesome for sharing?), I just played with it so that I could make it gluten, egg, and dairy-free.

We’ve made it 4 times since the test-run and we just can’t seem to get enough of it.

To be honest, I am a little surprised that Callum likes gingerbread cookies. I didn’t like gingerbread as a kid, and he’s my picky little dessert eater (cupcakes and ice cream only Mommy). But both he and Liv love it.

By the way, we used this recipe to make our gingerbread house which I’ll be debuting later this month. We’re still in the decorating stage (despite Callum’s daily and hourly pleas).

Everyone needs a go-to gingerbread cookie recipe. And now you have one!

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free and Egg-Free Gingerbread

½ cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup coconut sugar (or a sugar of your choice)
½ cup maple syrup or agave or honey
1 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
2 ½ tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp warm water (the applesauce and flax replace 2 eggs)
1 ¼ cup teff flour
1 ¼ cup sorghum flour (plus more for dusting)
1 cup arrowroot flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
¼- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk (or the milk of your choice)

Combine oil, sugar, maple syrup, and molasses in a large bowl.  Add applesauce and flax-water mixture.  In a medium sized bowl, combine flours, baking soda, sea salt, xanthan gum, and spices.

Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir.  Add 1/4 cup of milk and stir in remaining flour.  Add more milk if necessary.

Your dough will be a little bit sticky at this point so use floured hands to roll into a ball and wrap in plastic, alternatively you could scrape down the sides of the bowl and chill the dough in the refrigerator in the bowl.  Refrigerate for at least 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking tray with parchment.

Remove dough from fridge and divide in half.  Roll each half on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into desired shapes.  Place shapes at least 1 inch apart and bake for 10-12 minutes (depending on your oven) at 350 degrees.  10 minutes will give you a slightly chewy gingerbread cookie, 12 minutes will give you a crispier cookie.

Yield: 1 Swedish-inspired gingerbread house and a few accessories,  Or 3 dozen cookies (depending on size).

Combine flour and spices - I just love this look

Wet ingredients - don't you love the dark colour?

The dough before chilling - couldn't you just dive in?

Chilled dough, ready to roll - I LOVE working with dough

Decorated by Callum and Livvie

A little peek at our gingerbread house

So that’s your recipe for Day 5 of 12 Days of Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies.  Make sure you head over to Cook It Allergy Free tomorrow to check out Kim’s Christmas cookie! I can’t wait to see what she’s created for us.

And don’t forget to come back here on the 12th to link up your own Christmas cookie recipe! You’ll automatically be entered in a giveaway to win 1 of 4 copies of Enjoy Life’s Cookies For Everyone and 1 two day ticket to the Gluten-Free Expo!

Speaking of gingerbread houses, have you heard about Kim’s gingerbread house contest? You don’t need to be a blogger, you just need to build your own gingerbread house and email Kim a picture. The winner gets an iPod touch. How cool is that?

One last thing!  The winner of the Today I Ate a Rainbow giveaway is Stephanie Sullivan her favourite veggie is broccoli – can ya believe it?  Email me at maggie@sheletthemeatcake.com by Friday, December 10th to claim your prize. I’ll draw another winner if I haven’t heard from you by then.

This cookie recipe is linked up to The Sensitive Pantry’s Calling All Cookies event, My Sweet and Savory’s Meatless Monday , and Jules Gluten-Free Cookie Swap – if you “like” my cookies I can win a prize!

You can find this and many more slightly indulgent recipes at Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

You’ll also find this recipe at Gluten-Free Wednesday which is hosted by Linda at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.