Gluten Free Xanthan Gum Free Gingerbread Man Cookies Recipe (Makes 20).
Hi everybody! To celebrate the fact that December 2024 is starting next week and Christmas season is steadily getting nearer, I decided to post this bonus article.
(Also, I have been itching to create another recipe after two weeks of reviews. These are my Gluten Free Winter Christmas Chocolate Gift Ideas/ Review 2024 and my Gluten Free Vegan Advent Calendars Review/ Gift Ideas 2024.)
With all my Christmas decorations up and around my house, and my tree lighted and dressed, I am feeling particularly nostalgic and Christmasy.
Along with my Gluten Free Vegan Advent Calendars Review/ Gift Ideas 2024, this week I am sharing my recipe for a Christmas classic, gingerbread man cookies. Out of all the cookies in the world, I arguably think that gingerbread men are the first to come to mind when I think about winter and the Christmas season. The warmth of the ginger is particularly welcome at this time of year, hence why I wanted to make gingerbread man cookies this week as a bonus treat.
Now… drum roll… onto the recipe…. 🙂
Recipe Sheet
Gluten Free and Xanthan Gum Free Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Gingerbread Dough
- ¾ teaspoon of baking soda
- 185 g of unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 350 g of gluten free rice flour
- 3 teaspoons of ginger root ground
- 195 g of brown sugar
- A pinch of salt optional
Decoration
- 35 g bar of gluten free white chocolate
Instructions
Stage 1 – Making the Gingerbread Dough and Baking the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/ gas mark 6).
- Beat the butter and the sugar into the mixing bowl ensuring the mixture is consistent.
- Next add the egg into the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients (baking soda, ginger root ground and rice flour) into a mixing bowl and make sure the mixture is evenly distributed. (You can also add a pinch of salt here, but this is optional.)
- Sprinkle your surface and rolling pin with about 1 tablespoon of flour and roll out the dough to about ½ cm thickness.
- Cut out the gingerbread men shapes in the dough using your own gingerbread cookie cutter.
- Transfer the shaped cookies onto baking trays keeping them at least 2 ½ cm apart.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
- Check to see if the cookies are fully cooked by placing a wooden pick/ cake tester into the middle of each. If they come out clean, then you are good to go onto the next step!
- Let the cookies cool in the baking tray for about 5 minutes and then transfer them onto a wire rack and leave them until they are fully cooled.
Stage 2 – Decorating the Gingerbread Cookies
- Melt the white chocolate bar in a microwave safe bowl.
- Use this melted white chocolate to decorate your cookies with eyes and buttons.
- Let the gingerbread cookies cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
- Next, enjoy!
Ingredients
Gingerbread Dough
- ¾ teaspoon of baking soda
- 185g of unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 350g of gluten free rice flour
- 3 teaspoons of ginger root ground
- 195g of brown sugar
- A pinch of salt (optional)
Decoration
- 35g bar of gluten free white chocolate
Method
Stage 1 – Making the Gingerbread Dough and Baking the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/ gas mark 6).
- Beat the butter and the sugar into the mixing bowl ensuring the mixture is consistent.
- Next add the egg into the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients (baking soda, ginger root ground and rice flour) into a mixing bowl and make sure the mixture is evenly distributed. (You can also add a pinch of salt here, but this is optional.)
- Sprinkle your surface and rolling pin with about 1 tablespoon of flour and roll out the dough to about ½ cm thickness.
- Cut out the gingerbread men shapes in the dough using your own gingerbread cookie cutter.
- Transfer the shaped cookies onto baking trays keeping them at least 2 ½ cm apart.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
- Check to see if the cookies are fully cooked by placing a wooden pick/ cake tester into the middle of each. If they come out clean, then you are good to go onto the next step!
- Let the cookies cool in the baking tray for about 5 minutes and then transfer them onto a wire rack and leave them until they are fully cooled.
Stage 2 – Decorating the Gingerbread Cookies
- Melt the white chocolate bar in a microwave safe bowl.
- Use this melted white chocolate to decorate your cookies with eyes and buttons.
- Let the gingerbread cookies cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
- Next, enjoy!
Tips and Tricks
- Bring the butter out of the fridge about 15 minutes in advance of its use in both respective steps. This will help to soften the butter to make the mixing process easier, especially if you don’t have an electric whisk, electric mixer or food processor.
- If you want to, you can sieve ingredients like the flour and the sugars to have a smoother batter. Really, it is up to you.
- If you want your gingerbread man cookies to have a stronger flavour, by all means add a little more ginger to your batter. I personally like a relatively subtle ginger taste, but feel free to strengthen the gingery flavour of the cookies by adding more! 🙂
- Cover your baking trays in parchment paper/ tin foil to prevent the uncooked shaped cookie dough from sticking to your baking trays.
- Remember this is a quick bake, so keep a thorough eye on the oven when cooking, as it can easily burn if you are not careful.
- If you want to add toppings or any other decorative elements in general (especially sprinkles like hundreds of thousands) to your cookies, that is more than fine. 🙂
To Add a Pinch of Salt or to Not a Pinch of Salt, That is the Question….
I know that some people love that sweet and salty combination, and feel like the salt really brings out the flavour of the other ingredients. However, it is completely up to you. I know a lot of people also hate the sweet and salty flavour combo, and just prefer sweet to be sweet. Hence why it is completely optional. Though I personally don’t add a pinch of salt when making my Gluten Free and Xanthan Gum Free Gingerbread Cookies Recipe.
Storage
- The gingerbread cookies can be stored for 2 days when left out at room temperature and stored in an air-tight container. If you store them in a fridge, they can potentially last up to a week.
- Additionally, this is just guidance. So, if it looks a bit dodgy, you don’t like the look of it or if it has been out for a while, then unfortunately, I think that is one for the bin. When it comes to cooking and baking a bit of common sense will go a long way. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Additionally, when storing always use an air-tight container, otherwise these times do not apply.
Thank You For Reading! 🙂
Thank you so much for reading my Gluten Free and Xanthan Gum Free Gingerbread Cookies Recipe. Hopefully, you will give my recipe a try and get to experience what it is like to eat the food of VIPs. Be sure to comment and tell me how the recipe went.
Gluten Free VIPs
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P.S. This recipe makes 20 gingerbread cookies, but feel free to double up the ingredients if you want 40 cookies etc… 🙂
P.P.S. I will be posting more Christmasy content over the coming weeks, as I am looking forward to the Christmas season. Feel free to make suggestions in the comments. Enjoy!