I have been fretting about turning our Christmas molasses cookie recipe gluten free. I’ve never swapped a cookie recipe on my own and there’s no way we could have Christmas without these cookies so I didn’t have an option. The kids were sick this weekend (again) so I had some extra time at home while we tried to not share our germs and figured it was perfect to try my hand at turning my recipe GF. I did some reading and comparing of cookie recipes I love and came up with a plan. I didn’t expect them to turn out but I was pleasantly surprised that they did. I tried variations in rolling them out and in bake times and below is what I found to work the best. These cookies are soft and yummy and the frosting is a must. The taste is great but they have a tendency to be a bit flaky and cake-like, it’s odd but the frosting helps to distract from its flakiness. I’ve subjected my co-workers to sample the cookies so I can get an objective opinion and the only comment has been that they’re very airy and light and not really like a cookie. My family is happy with them so I guess that’s what matters.
Becky’s Molasses Cookies
Adapted from my Mother-in-laws recipe
1 C molasses
1 C shortening (I used Spectrum)
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
3 ¼ C + 1/3 C GF flour (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Coconut flour)
1 ¼ t xanthan gum
1 T baking soda dissolved in ¾ C boiling water
1 T cinnamon
1 T cloves
1 T ginger
½ t salt
Sift or whisk together your flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt. Cream together the molasses, shortening, and brown sugar. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and baking soda mixture alternately in three batches starting with the flour. My mixer likes to splash the water mixture so start slow and be careful! Once it’s well mixed put it in the refrigerator overnight to chill.
Once the dough is chilled you can roll it out and cut shapes into it. Preheat your oven to 350 F, I used my convection option so I set the temperature to 325 F. Tear two 15 inch lengths of wax paper and take some of your GF flour and sprinkle it on one length of the wax paper. Put about 1/5th of the dough on the floured paper and then cover it with the second length of wax paper. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 1/8th inch in thickness then take a cookie cutter and cut out your desired shapes arranging them on a cookie sheet. These fluff up and don’t spread so you can squeeze quite a few on one sheet. I found it easiest to pin one end of the wax paper between my body and the counter top to hold it still while I rolled the dough out. Bake for 9-10 minutes and allow the cookies to cool before removing them from the cookie sheet.
Butter Frosting
2 ½ T softened butter
1 ½ C confectioners sugar
1 ½ T cream
¾ t vanilla
Cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the cream and vanilla until smooth and it has reached your desired consistency. I find that I always need to add more cream to get it to the consistency I want.
Frost your cookies and enjoy!
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