Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
Gluten free ginger bread cookies are a must bake christmas treat! These cookies are also refined sugar-free. This is the best christmas cookie recipe there is, I tell you.
The sweetest scent of the holiday season is that of a gingerbread cookie dough. The spices will fill your house’s every corner when you are making the dough or baking the cookies.
That’s enough of a reason to have a batch of dough ready for baking at all the times. The dough keeps in the fridge at least for a week.
Gluten-free Gingerbread Cookies with Buckwheat Flour
Gingerbread cookies are easy to make gluten-free using buckwheat. Buckwheat doesn’t really taste in cookies, and the dough is pleasant to roll and handle, and it is firm enough to be used to make a gingerbread house.
My first attempt to make these didn’t really go as smoothly as described above..
The first ever gingerbread cookies I tried to make gluten-free smelt so awful I couldn’t even taste them.
The second batch made with almond flour didn’t smell, and the taste was quite nice, but the texture was far from perfect.
Then I tried to add starches, but the texture of the baked gingerbread was very dry, and therefore the eating experience wasn’t as pleasant as it should be.
After ditching the potato starch, I have played around with the number of eggs and the amount of flour, and after several successful batches and cookie trays, I can confidently say that I have developed the perfect gluten-free gingerbread cookie dough.
Choose the Right Flour for the Gluten-free Gingerbread Cookies
If you can’t tolerate any gluten, make sure the buckwheat flour you purchase is actually gluten-free. If the buckwheat is handled in the same production lines with grains, it’s not gluten-free anymore. It gets contaminated and therefore it will no longer be suitable for celiac people who need to follow an extremely strict gluten-free diet.
You also need quite a lot of flour to roll the dough; it sticks very easily and irritatingly. I find buckwheat too pricey for rolling so I use potato starch for that purpose.
My gingerbread cookies, pepparkakor, are obviously made in the Scandinavian way. If you haven’t ever tried them, you definitely should, just for the sake of the incredible scent of the dough making! Baking gingerbread men is also great fun to do with kids. Even my one-year-old likes to roll the dough a little before stuffing it all into her mouth. Eating the dough makes a big part of the baking fun, for adults too!
The traditional drink with gingerbread cookies is mulled wine, read how to make it sugar-free.
More delicious cookie ideas: Cookie Recipes
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Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 g cold butter
- 1 dl 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 dl 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4,5 dl 1 + 3/4 cups buckwheat flour
Instructions
- Put maple syrup, coconut sugar, and spices in a pot and boil for a couple of minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved.
- Take the pot off the stove.
- Cut the butter into cubes and add to the hot sugar mixture. Stir until the butter has melted. The butter has to be cold so that you don't have to let the batter to cool before adding eggs.
- Add eggs and baking soda and mix well.
- Mix in the flour. Let the dough to cool to room temperature, then place in a fridge for overnight
- Roll the dough to 2-3 mm thin and cut shapes with cookies cutters. Bake at 200 °C for about 5 minutes.
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Hi Veera, i have a question – what does the measurement ‘ dl ‘ stand for in this recipe ? ~ Zeenat.
It’s desiliters, one dl is 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp. Hopefully this helps!
Hi Veera,
Still a little confused as to how much flour to use, could you please advise in a simpler way?
Thanks!
Lily
Hi Lily! I added cup measurements in the recipe. Hope that helps!
So does that mean 1 cup plus 8 , tablespoons of flour?
It’s 1 + 3/4 cups.
Oh this measurement conversion is tricky! I really appreciate all the comments that help me to improve the recipes. Thank you! <3
Can it be made dairy free?
Use vegan butter. I think you’ll be fine with coconut oil too. 🙂
I’ve been gluten free for 10 years and this was the easiest dough to roll! I personally think the spices are a little conservative; I prefer them more gingery! Great easy recipe 🙂
I’m so glad to hear you found them easy to roll, it took some experiments and failure to finally succeed. 😀
I’m aware of the ginger issue. 🙂 I should try a batch of cookies with fresh ginger as I’m not a big fan of the dried ginger powder, that’s why it’s so few in the recipe.
I really appreciate you took time to comment!
Hi, I am wondering if I can substitute garbanzo bean flour instead for this?
Hi! I think yes, but you might need to adjust the amount of the flour.
We have just baked gingerbread cookies following your recipe. It was easy and funny. My little boy was sooo happy to make hearts. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment, I’m so glad to hear you liked them and found them easy. <3 I wish you all the best!
Hi Veera!
Thank you so much for the recipe! I’m very excited to find a buckwheat version for these amazing Christmas treats!
The only thing which is unclear to me is: Did you use potato starch in your recipe? You mentioned in the description about potato starch, but I couldn’t find anything among ingredients after. And if yes, how much did you use for this batch?
I have a sprouted buckwheat flour. Is it ok? Will the dough turn out the same?
Thanks a lot!
I’m not sure about the sprouted buckwheat, I’m not familiar with it.
I used the potato starch only to help to roll the dough. Use plenty, it sticks. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe.
Is the batter quite thin before chilling? I just made it, but accidentally added double the butter and only realised when it was very very thin after the flour was added. So I have made up a second lot to add into it, and it is thicker but still quite runny.
Will this firm up once in the fridge? Or has something else gone wrong? Should I add more flour if it is still runny in the morning?
The batter tastes yummy but I wanted to make a gingerbread train out of it, so really need it to roll.
Thanks!
For those following along at home, it firmed up so I could roll and bake.
I found the recipe yum, but a little doughy/thick for what I typically use for gingerbread houses – not an issue for a train I hope, but I doubt it would have the structural integrity for a house – or at least a big house. I’d also add more ginger/spice.
Thanks for a tasty recipe!
They were delicious, great texture and flavour (we did add some extra ginger and cloves!). We baked them for a bit longer (10 minutes) but that may just be my oven. My 5 year old was the main chef, I just read out instructions and helped with the hot bits 🙂
I’m about to make BUT I’d prefer to use Coconut oil not Butter, you’ve said it should work. I’m also wondering what happens if you leave the batter/dough out with Tea towel for a few hours it would work or definitely needs overnight for ‘proofing’ ? so to speak
Please advise Thank you Love Ginger Cookies
Thank you
Deborah
Coconut oil should work too, though I haven’t tested it.
You definitely need to proof the dough in the fridge and roll and cut the cookies of chilled dough. Especially if you use coconut oil, work with very small batches and keep the rest waiting in the fridge.