Gluten-Free Gingerbread man Recipe

Looking for a fun recipe to make with the family? This gluten-free gingerbread man recipe is perfect! Easy to make, and fun to decorate. 

As my kids have gotten older, they love every opportunity they get to cook and bake.

I don’t blame them. I remember being the same way when I was a kid. And the more complicated and labor intensive the recipe, the better.

100% the opposite of what I look for in a recipe now.

Of course, when you’re making gluten-free gingerbread cookies, it’s hard to truly make is a fast and easy recipe, because no matter what you do, there’s going to be rolling and cutting, at the front end, and icing at the back end of the process.

But as it goes, this gluten-free gingerbread man recipe is pretty simple, and we bought icing (I know, *gasp*) to speed up the process.

Seeing the joy on my kids faces as they cut out gingerbread men, and later, did their artwork with icing, made the mess worth while.

When it comes to spices and molasses, gluten-free molasses cookies will always top my list, but believe it or not, gingerbread men are similar. Just a little heavier on the ginger, with a cakier texture.

You know, like a gingerbread man.

Let’s talk about gluten-free gingerbread men versus traditional.

Using a quality gluten-free flour mix like this one, or cup 4 cup, will result in delicious gingerbread men that hardly anyone will be able to distinguish from wheat cookies.

However, as you mix and roll them out, you will know the difference -after all, gluten-free gingerbread cookies are just that – gluten-free – which means they don’t have that sticky protein helping hold them together as you transfer them from your roll-out surface to the cookie sheet.

This simply means that you have to be extra careful, maybe using a spatula to list the whole cookie up, and gently place it on the pan, or roll your gingerbread dough right out on the pan, use your cookie cutter to cut out the gluten-free gingerbread man, and remove the scraps.

Both are easy workarounds, and totally worth it to give your gluten-free family members a treat!

Gluten-Free Gingerbread man Recipe

• Author: Elise

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Black Strap Molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 t. Sea Salt
• 1 t. Guar Gum
• 2 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix
• About 1 cup of your choice of icing (I like to use classic buttercream)

Instructions

1. Cream butter and brown sugar until light. Beat in molasses and egg.
2. In another bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients (except frosting).
3. Gradually beat creamed mixture.
4. Shape dough into a disk (you can cut the dough into two disks to make them easier to work with), and refrigerate until easy to handle – about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350º.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to about 1/8 inch thickness.
7. Cut with a floured gingerbread man cookie cutter.
8. Place on cookie sheet about an inch apart
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are firm.
10. Remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks.
11. Once cookies are completely cool, frost as desired.