It seems like just yesterday we were sitting outside for a summer barbeque and sipping cocktail slushies, but those days are behind us for the year. We are now deep into holiday cookie baking season! Not that this is a bad thing – it just shows how much time does fly by us. So, settle in, pour yourself a hot cup of apple cider or mulled wine and get ready for some Gluten Free Molasses Cookies!
Every year, Kyle makes the same lineup of holiday cookies (Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal White Chocolate Cranberry, Chocolate Fudge and Brown Sugar). In addition to this delicious holiday cookie menu, he adds one or two new recipes to the mix. These cookies make it to the probationary period, awaiting their time to be added to the Big Cookie Stage.
Last year, Kyle made the Molasses Spice Cookies from the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook. They were such a hit (super yummy!) that they instantly earned a spot in the permanent holiday cookie lineup. They made it to the big show! The sad part is, though Kyle’s family and friends got to enjoy them the week before Christmas 2018, it was just too late in the game to get a post ready to share the recipe with all of you. He has been patiently waiting for the 2019 holiday season to arrive – it is finally here!
Loaded with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves AND black pepper, these Molasses Spice Cookies are packed with holiday flavor, very reminiscent of gingerbread – without all the pesky rolling, cutting and decorating. Not that we will diss anyone who enjoys the rolling and decorating process; there are cookie baking favorites for each and everyone of us (we just prefer the simpler, drop-and-bake cookies).
The dark molasses provide a rich sweetness, which balances all the spices, and they give the cookies a chewy and moist texture. For those that love the aggressive spice flavor of Ginger Snap cookies, but not the texture, these soft and chewy sweet delights are for you!
Cook’s Illustrated had a few alternative flavor suggestions, one being to add some orange zest to the batch of cookies. The sweet citrus notes of the orange zest really play nicely with all of the spices, amplifying the holiday flavor.
Cook’s Illustrated instructs you to blend your orange zest with the coating sugar in the food processor. To Kyle, this seemed like one too many steps – and yet another bowl to clean. He instead added the zest to the dry ingredients. The results were delicious!
Our tried-and-true Gluten Free Cookie Flour Blend, adapted from Alton Brown many years ago, is the way to go when making your GF holiday cookies. Seriously, make a huge batch to always have on hand – you’ll be glad you did it! Kyle has been using it for the better part of a decade, and I have used it for about 4 years now; it never fails! Batches and batches of soft and chewy cookies that hold their shape await! Gone are the days of dense and crumbly GF cookies, which was so the norm before using this GF Cookie Flour blend.
These cookies also have a longer shelf life than most gluten-free cookies (most likely due to the molasses), so if you can keep your hands off them (not likely), they may last well into the holiday season. Happy Baking!
Adapted from The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook.
For the Gluten Free Cookie Dough Flour, click here.
- 3 ½ ounces (⅓ cup) granulated sugar, plus 2 ⅓ ounces (½ cup) for dipping
- 11 ¼ ounces (about 2 ¼ cups) Gluten Free Cookie Dough Flour
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest (optional)
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks), softened
- 2 ½ ounces (⅓ cup) packed dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 ounces (½ cup) dark molasses
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place ½ cup sugar in a shallow bowl; set aside.
- Whisk GF cookie flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, spices, salt, and orange zest in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined, set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, and remaining ⅓ cup granulated sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add egg yolk and vanilla. Increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses. Beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
- Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down again as needed. Give dough a final stir with a rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom of bowl. Dough will be soft.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie, Roll half of dough balls in sugar and toss to coat. Place dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone) approximately 11 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.
- Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes; transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool to room temperature.
custom Elearning Development says
To сope with thіs, many BBC web sites would be cⅼosed together with BBC Switch, BBC Blast, 6-0-6, BBC uncooked, Video Nation, and рlannеd
to promote the Douglas Adams created webpage h2g2, as effectively
as thｅ automation of many programme web sites.
qalm solutions says
Thе site’s гeport included nineteenth century physician James Marion Sims using Bⅼack ѕlaveѕ foｒ
research experiments and the Tuskegeе Institute and tһe public Health Sеrvice, which within the title of ѕｃience alⅼowed
tons of of Black men with.