Soft & moist gluten-free ginger molasses cookies with chewy middles and perfectly crinkled tops. Made with 20 minutes of active time! For best results, allow the cookie dough to chill at least 1-2 hours and preferably 1-2 days before baking.
Prep Time: 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 10 minutesminutes
Chilling time: 1 hourhour
Total: 1 hourhour20 minutesminutes
Servings: 24thick and chewy 2-inch cookies
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
1¼cupsgluten-free oat flour (such as Bob's Red Mill)(4 ½ ounces / 125 g)
¼cuptapioca flour (such as Bob's Red Mill)(1 ounce / 28 g)
1teaspoonbaking soda
2teaspoonsground ginger
1 ½teaspoonsground cinnamon
½teaspoonground allspice
¼teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
¼teaspoonfine sea salt
Wet Ingredients
8tablespoonsunsalted butter, melted and kept warm(4 ounces / 113 g)
⅓cupmolasses (I use dark unsulphured)(3 ½ ounces / 100 g)
⅓cuplight or dark brown sugar(2 ¼ ounces / 67 g)
⅓cuporganic granulated sugar(2 ¼ ounces / 67 g)
1large egg (2 ounces out of shell)
1teaspoonvanilla extract
To finish
⅓cupgranulated sugar(2 ¼ ounces / 67 g)
Instructions
Make the cookie dough
In a medium bowl, sift together the oat, sweet rice, and tapioca flours with the baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, and salt.
In a large bowl, stir together the butter, molasses, brown sugar, and 1/3 cup of the granulated sugar. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture with a sturdy wooden spoon. Once the flour is incorporated, stir vigorously for 40 strokes - this activates the stickiness of the flours and makes for chewy cookies.
Cover the dough and chill until firm, 1-2 hours or preferably 1-2 days.
Bake the cookies
When you're ready to bake, position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350ºF. Line 2 rimless cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the remaining 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl.
Scoop the cookies into 1" balls (a spring-loaded #40 ice cream scoop works wonders) and roll each ball in the sugar. Place the balls at least 2" apart on the cookie sheet.
Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until they are puffed and cracked, and the dough between the cracks looks underbaked, 7-10 minutes, rotating the pan after 5 minutes to ensure even baking. Repeat with the second sheet.
Let the cookies cool slightly on the sheet (or if they've been overcooked, whisk the parchment and cookies straight off the sheet and onto a cooling rack), then use a thin, metal spatula to remove the cookies to a cooling rack. Cool completely (the cookies will still be baking from residual heat), then store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
My original recipe called for 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum, but I've tested them without and didn't detect a difference, so I've removed it from the ingredients.
If you can, start these cookies a day (or even two) ahead; the dough benefits from a day of chilling, resulting in thicker, chewier, smoother cookies. If you must have cookies straight away, go ahead and bake some off; they will spread more, and will have a thinner and more brittle texture, but they will still be good.
Err on the side of underbaking, removing the cookies when they are puffed and cracked, with the dough between the cracks looks underbaked. For the craggiest cookies, bake the trays one at a time in the upper third of the oven.
I recommend weighing the ingredients for these (and all) cookies as slight variations in amounts can cause the cookies to spread too much or not enough. (Besides, measuring molasses into a cup and then trying to get it back out again is no fun).
I use a dark, unsulphured molasses here, but I'm guessing that blackstrap or light molasses will work, too, though blackstrap will have a more assertive molasses flavor, whereas the light stuff will yield a more mild, kid-friendly cookie.
Sweet rice flour is stickier than regular white rice flour and can be found with other gluten-free flours at health food stores, or at Asian grocers.
Nutritional values are based on one of twenty four cookies.