Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
These gluten free gingerbread cookies are filled with fresh spices, molasses and finished off with a dairy free cream cheese frosting. They’re vegan, made with almond flour, incredibly soft and perfect for the Holidays.
You guys absolutely loved my soft baked frosted pumpkin cookies this year, so I of course had to do a version for the Holidays! These gluten free gingerbread cookies are soft, chewy and perfectly spiced. They’re fairly healthy compared to other kinds of cookies since they’re made with almond and oat flour and coconut sugar.
These are definitely not crunchy cookies (never been a big fan!), but if that’s what you’re looking for, I’d recommend my vegan/gluten free gingerbread cookies. Just bake them for a few extra minutes for a slight crunch.
If you love this recipe and want to do more holiday baking, try my gingerbread loaf or gluten free gingerbread cake next!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Soft & chewy
- Vegan friendly
- Easy to make
- Rich flavor
- No chill time
How to make gluten free gingerbread cookies
MIX BUTTER AND SUGAR. In a medium mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and both sugars. Cream together for about 1 minute. Add in the molasses and vanilla and mix until combined.
ADD DRY. Mix in the dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour, don’t scoop right from the bag. Beat until combined, then use a rubber spatula to finish folding together.
SCOOP. Use a medium (2 tablespoon) cookie scoop and roll into balls. Place on a baking sheet, then flatten lightly with your fingers.
BAKE. Bake for 9-13 minutes (I always do 11 but all ovens are different). They will continue to harden as they cool.
FROST. To make the frosting, cream together the room temperature butter and cream cheese for about 1 minute. Beat in the powdered sugar for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. When the cookies are cool, frost and enjoy! Serve with my gingerbread latte for the ultimate treat!
Can I make these into cut out cookies?
No, this recipe will not work with cookie cutters. Instead, use my gluten free and vegan gingerbread cut out cookie recipe!
WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below & we’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!
Storage and texture tips
These cookies are SOFT. Almost a muffin type cookie. There really is not much of a crisp or crunch to these cookies (which I love). You can always bake them for a couple extra minutes if you do in fact like a crisp, but they are not intended to be made this way.
Thanks to the butter, molasses, almond flour and sugars, these gluten free gingerbread cookies will stay quite soft for a few days after baking. If you make them without icing, they can be stored in a container with a lid.
If you make them with icing, I find it best to keep the lid slightly ajar or store them in the fridge because of the cream cheese/butter in the frosting.
You can also make the cookies, then freeze them if you’re looking to do a little Holiday dessert prep! You can freeze them once baked (without icing), but I don’t recommend baking the cookies from frozen dough as it won’t spread properly.
Ingredient substitutions
FLOUR. These gluten free gingerbread cookies call for both almond and oat flours. I do not recommend subbing for all purpose flour or any other type of flour such as coconut. Please follow the recipe as written for best results!
FROSTING. For a healthier and lower sugar option, just leave off the icing! These cookies have plenty of flavor as is and are plenty delicious on their own.
SUGAR. You can sub both the brown and white sugar for coconut sugar if you prefer. Keep in mind the cookies will spread differently and have a different color than what is pictured, but they’ll still be delicious.
MOLASSES. These cookies cannot be made without molasses. It is key for the classic gingerbread flavor (in addition to all of the spices of course) and leaving it out will alter the recipe quite a bit.
You’ll also love…
- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Vegan Hot Chocolate
- Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Gluten Free Christmas Cookies
Follow along on on instagram and subscribe to my email list for more recipes and updates. Leave a comment and rating below if you try this recipe and let us know how it turns out!
Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet
- ⅓ cup room temperature butter dairy free or regular
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 6 tablespoons molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- 1 ¼ cup oat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Frosting
- ¼ cup butter dairy free or regular
- 2 ounces plain cream cheese dairy free or regular
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and both sugars. Cream together for about 1 minute.
- Add in the molasses and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour, don’t scoop right from the bag. Beat until combined, then use a rubber spatula to finish folding together.
- Use a medium (2 tablespoon) cookie scoop and roll into balls. Place on a baking sheet, then flatten lightly with your fingers.
- Bake for 9-13 minutes (I always do 11 but all ovens are different). They will continue to harden as they cool.
- To make the frosting, cream together the room temperature butter and cream cheese for about 1 minute.
- Beat in the powdered sugar for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. beat in the vanilla.
- When the cookies are cool, frost and enjoy!
Notes
Comments
-
I’ve made these a dozen times, people never believe they’re gluten free. So delicious! Hope you have a Merry Christmas.
-
Love it! Thank you, Elle!
-
-
I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I look forward to trying it out soon. Do you know if I could use this same recipe to make gingerbread men?
-
I don’t recommend that for this recipe! These are not designed to be cut out cookies.
-
-
this is the best gluten free gingerbread cookie recipe ever!! nothing else compares. 10/10
-
Thank you!
-
-
Would like to make these, but I do not have oat flour, I do have oats for oatmeal. Could I blend the oats until they are fine as flour?
-
Yes! If they are rolled oats or quick oats, just blend until finely ground.
-
-
This looks delicious! Is it possible to sub gluten free flour instead of using almond and oat flour?
-
I recommend sticking with the almond/oat for this recipe!
-
-
what is sprinkled on top of the frosting of your cookies?!
-
Sanding sugar!
-
-
These cookies had great flavor but they didn’t rise at all. They came out completely flat like lace cookies. Is it possible that the egg was left off the recipe? If not what did I do wrong?
-
These cookies are vegan, so there is no egg. I would recommend chilling the dough and make sure you measure the flour properly. They should not be spreading too much!
-
I had the same experience. the cookies taste delicious but they just flattened and spread out. I measured meticulously and ensured my baking powder and soda were not expired.
-
Sorry you had this experience! I would try chilling the dough before baking for about 30 minutes.
-
-
-
So good!
-
These were so so good. I can’t eat oats so I subbed half almond flour and half gf flour for the oat flour. They came out great! It’s noted in the directions but they really do continue to harden as they cool so trust the recipe and don’t over bake. Thanks for another perfect recipe!
-
Perfect! Good to know that substitution worked!
-
leave a comment and rating