Gluten free gingersnaps are the ultimate crispy, spiced cookie. They make that snapping sound when you break them in half!
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What makes these the best gluten free gingersnaps?
As soon as the weather starts to cool, I no longer have to hide my obsession with making cookies of all sorts. I love baking anything and everything, but nothing beats cookies. They're portable, nearly always freeze beautifully, and make everyone happy.
These gluten free gingersnaps are so-named because they're super crisp and crunchy. So they make that “snap” when you break them.
Instead of using a spice blend like apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice, I really prefer a custom-made blend of plenty of ground cinnamon, a bit less ground ginger, and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper. The cookies taste warm and comforting, with a little kick.
If you prefer more of a kick, you can add more black pepper. Up to double the amount of pepper would be great if you know your eaters would enjoy that.
Tips for making perfectly crispy gluten free gingersnap cookies
There are plenty of ways to make cookies that are crispy—and maintain their crispness for days after baking. We'll go over all of them, but of course it all begins with the right recipe (scroll all the way down if you want skip to that!).
Use the right gluten free ingredients
If you want your crispy cookies to have that snappy texture, you also need to use the ingredients called for in that recipe. The “ingredients and substitutions section” that I have above the recipe card in every post is a guide if you must.
Remember that each swap you make changes the recipe. The more ingredients you swap out, the further you get from the recipe as written. I provide the alternatives as a courtesy since it's better to bake differently than not bake at all. But, differences make a difference.
Oh, and please measure by weight, not volume. Volume is entirely unreliable, for all of us. It's not a matter of skill; it's a matter of being human and prone to error. ✋?
Bake your gf cookies at the right temperature
It's very common to have an oven that runs hot. Mine does, and yours probably does. When you're seeking to create a specific texture like we are in this recipe, you need a simple oven thermometer more than ever (they're super cheap, and I ignore my oven's dial in favor of checking the thermometer—and replace them regularly).
These cookies are baked in a very low oven (300°F/150°C) for quite a while (about 20 minutes) for such small pieces of cookie dough. There are a lot of different sorts of sugars in these cookies (brown and granulated sugars, molasses, honey), and sugar does have a tendency to burn in baking.
We are baking them very, very slowly so that we can bake them all the way through to being solid and rather dry inside (in a good way!)—without burning them. If your oven is running hot, you will burn the outside of your cookies long before the inside is baked properly.
For the absolute crispiest, snappiest cookies, after you've baked them for 20 minutes at 300°F, lower the oven temperature to 250°F. Continue to bake for another 7 to 8 minutes but not longer so they don't burn.
How to keep crisp gluten free cookies crispy
Once you've gone through all that trouble to make your gluten free gingersnaps, well, snappy, you want to keep them that way. If they absorb moisture from the air in their environment or from their container after they cool, they will lose their snap.
Homemade crispy cookies don't have the preservatives of store-bought cookies. The best way to help them maintain their texture is to store them in a sealed glass container, at room temperature.
I have a penchant for mason jars, so I have many of them in my kitchen. They are perfect for cookie storage.
A plastic container like a Tupperware or a plastic bag (even a reusable one) will make your cookies chewy faster than you think. I do wonder if a classic ceramic cookie jar would keep them crispy, but I can't spare the counter space to test the theory.
If you love gingerbread cookies but you're interested in perfectly chewy ones, try our recipe for chewy gluten free gingerbread men. All the right spices, but with a soft and chewy bite.
Substitutions for gluten free gingersnaps ingredients
How to make gluten free dairy free gingersnaps
In place of the butter in this recipe, I recommend trying vegan butter. My favorite brands are Melt and Miyoko's Kitchen.
I don't recommend using all Earth Balance buttery sticks in place of butter, as Earth Balance has a lot of moisture and will cause the cookies to spread too much during baking. You could try using half (56 grams) Earth Balance buttery sticks and half (56 g) Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening, since the shortening doesn't have any moisture.
How to make gluten free gingersnaps without the egg
There is only one egg in this recipe. You should be able to replace it with one “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel).
A note about cornstarch in this recipe (and how to avoid it)
If you can't have corn, try replacing the cornstarch with arrowroot.
If you're using a higher starch all purpose gluten free flour blend, like Cup4Cup (or my mock Cup4Cup blend), instead of 1/4 cup (36 g) cornstarch, use an equal amount of your higher starch gluten free flour blend.
How to make crispy crunchy gluten free gingersnaps, step by step
Crispy, Crunchy Gluten Free Gingersnaps | they snap!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I used Better Batter)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- ¼ cup (36 g) cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (73 g) packed light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons (63 g) unsulphured molasses
- 2 tablespoons (42 g) honey
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg at room temperature, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, pepper, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well. Add the brown sugar, and mix to combine, breaking up any lumps in the brown sugar.
- Add the molasses, honey, vanilla, butter, and egg, and mix until fully combined. The cookie dough will be smooth and soft, and not too sticky.
- Scoop the cookie dough into teaspoon-sized portions and place about 1 1/2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Roll each gently into a ball between clean palms, and replace on the baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheets, one at a time, in the center of the preheated oven and bake until fully set and firm to the touch, about 20 minutes.
- For the crispiest, snappiest cookies, lower the temperature to about 250°F and bake for another 7 to 8 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheets. They will crisp as they cool.
- Once the cookies are completely cool, store them in a sealed glass container at room temperature to maintain crispness. If you leave them out, uncovered, for a long time, they’ll soften.
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Erica says
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Im also on the hunt for a gf recipe for gingerbread houses and I know it will be tough to get the same hardness with bigger cookie “walls”. Do you have any recommendations or possibly tips for altering this recipe?
Nicole Hunn says
Please use the search function, Erica. I have a complete recipe, along with a pattern, for a gingerbread house. No alterations needed!
Toni says
there is no egg listed in the ingredients, but the directions say add egg….hmmmm???
Nicole Hunn says
The final ingredient is … an egg, Toni!
Ilona says
The taste was amazing! I added 1/2 tsp. more of ginger and cinnamon and added 1 1/2 tsp of ground cloves. However, the texture actually fairly dry rather than chewy. Overall I love them and would probably bake a little longer to give it the “snap.”
Nicole Hunn says
If they were dry, but not crispy, I would have a look at any substitutions you made, including but not limited to the flour blend, and whether you baked by weight (volume is very unreliable), Ilona.
Erin Wingfield says
These are fantastic! What a hit. I am delighted to have a crispy, delicious gingersnap again! Thanks for the amazing recipe.
Nicole Hunn says
So glad you loved them, Erin. Thanks for taking the time to share that.
Fleur says
Dear Nicole,
This recipe is excellent! Love the crystal-clear instructions and accompanying videos – I always feel really confident that the end result will turn out well, even if I’m trying one of your recipes for the first time. In fact, I felt so sure of this one that I baked the first batch before my guests arrived (they went down very well!)
As I’m in Britain and we don’t seem to have Better Batter in this country, I used a popular GF flour called Dove’s Farm (I used the plain / all-purpose blend rather than self-raising) and it worked our really well.
Because I wasn’t sure if my guests would be keen on cinnamon, I also slightly altered the spice mix by adding a little more ginger and also swapping 1 teaspoon of cinnamon for Schwartz Mixed Spice (keeping half a tsp of cinnamon and a few twirls of Black Pepper).
The slow bake ensures a true crisp snap to the cookies and I found the remaining Gingersnaps kept well in an airtight tin (don’t have a glass jar – perhaps better invest in one for the next batch!). If they do soften (and I actually found them delicious that way, too!), popping them back in a cool oven on a baking tray for a few minutes soon gets them crisp again (once they’ve cooled down!) – 130 degrees Centigrade fan oven worked well.
Thank you so much for all you do – keep up the great work!
Best and warmest wishes,
Fleur
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Fleur, I’m so glad you had success using Dove’s plain flour in place of Better Batter. I’ve heard nothing but positive reports about Dove’s in my recipes that call for an all purpose gluten free flour, but it’s not available in the U.S. so I’ve never tried it. Thank you for the kind words!
Corrin Yep says
Hi! Could avocado or olive oil be used instead of butter/earth balance/shortening? hope so…
Nicole Hunn says
No, Corrin, you cannot use a liquid fat in place of a solid-at-room temperature fat. Please see the Ingredients and substitutions section of this post for complete information.
Ronel says
Thank you for this recipe. I am going to try it tomorrow and let you know about my result. I am from South Africa, and hope my all purpose gluten free flour will do!
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Ronel, I have recipes for make-your-own all purpose gluten free flour blends that mimic the store-bought blends that we have here in the U.S. I developed them specifically for people like you, and I link to them every time I call for an all purpose gluten free flour blend in a recipe (like this one). I’m afraid I really can’t promise results if you don’t use one of my recommended blends.
Jeannette Schieck says
when i made these today, i was happy with the texture but they are more sugar than spice cookies. next time i will add more pepper and try fresh ginger which usually ups the flavour. Thanks for the recipes.
Nicole Hunn says
For others’ benefit, there is quite a significant amount of spice in them Jeannette. If you prefer more, please feel free to make them your own.
Deirdre Henry says
I am looking forward to baking some of your delicious looking Ginger Biscuits. Very clear instructions and thank you for posting this recipie.
Deirdre
Nicole Hunn says
You’re very welcome, Deirdre! I’m very glad the instructions are clear. That’s always my goal.
Jeannette says
For Steve n who struggles with ads covering the recipe. You might try looking at the recipe on a different device. On my phone, the video, the icons for other social media and the ads block the recipe so I can’t see the amounts and the directions. (I don’t try to bake from this display.) On my ipad I can easily see the recipe details and can take a photo of the recipe details to use off line when I am baking. My surface/ tablet has another configuration of content and ads. You might see if you have a different computing device which works better for you.
Nicole Hunn says
He’s not reacting to ads covering the recipe, Jeannette. He’s reacting to ads at all, and having to scroll past them. I have no sympathy, and I offer no refuge from his particular problem.
Carol Jackson says
I love your site and your recipies are awesome. I feel like you are a member of my family giving me recipies and instructions that are great. It makes having a gluten allergy easier.??
Nicole Hunn says
Well I believe my work here is done, then, Carol. That’s precisely how I aim to help, by making you feel encouraged and like you’re in good company. Thank you so much for sharing that kindness.
Lisa Imerman says
Better batter now has an artisan baker blend with no rice and no gums. Have you tried it? Do you have suggestions for making a mock version?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Lisa, I do have the blend, but I haven’t tried using it in my recipes as written, yet. I’m hopeful about using it in some of my bread recipes, but I’m not sure yet how it will work out so I can’t offer any guidance. I’m afraid that I’m not optimistic about my ability to create a mock version, since they use a very specific type of psyllium husk, and I don’t have any info on how to source it (and doubt I even could). I generally can’t stand baking with psyllium, but Naomi apparently has found a way to use less of it by using that particular kind. If I can’t make a mock version, I won’t bother to create recipes specifically for it, since they’d be too limiting for readers. I promise to update readers as my perspective develops!
Steven Burton says
Honestly, by the time I find the recipes on this ( and most ) site(s) I am so aggrivated I no longer want to bake.
I get an ad or two, but honestly please tell me why I am wading through all the nonsense?!
This is BY FAR the best GF recipe site around. By far. And I can’t use it. Autistic people must throw their tablets just trying!
This is not your fault it just HAS TO STOP on ALL recipe sites. Add a jump to recipe button at the very least. Please. I am legit begging you.
Nicole Hunn says
Steven, I’m sorry you are frustrated but although I keep advertisements to a minimum, I absolutely must have them on the site. A jump to recipe button literally destroys all advertising revenue. I’m glad you find my recipes to be superior, but they are not free in the absolute sense. I make no apology for making a living off my hard work. And I don’t think anyone else should either.
Rebecca says
Will salted butter work OK?
Nicole Hunn says
I always recommend baking with unsalted butter except in one particular recipe that calls for very salty butter (sablé cookies), since it allows you to control the amount of sugar in a recipe, Rebecca. If you will only use salted butter, leave out the salt as an ingredient.
Genevieve Smith says
Can I substitute the brown sugar with maple syrup or more honey? I would normally just decrease a bit of liquid, but don’t see any in the recipe.
Nicole Hunn says
I don’t recommend making the recipe with substitutions unless absolutely necessary, Genevieve. You cannot use brown sugar in place of liquid sugars, no.
Sheri says
Can you use applesauce instead of butter or oil?
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid not, Sheri. That isn’t generally an appropriate substitute in my recipes, but especially not in this one!