Chewy Gluten Free Ginger Cookies

These thin and chewy gluten free ginger cookies are rich in warm winter spices with a hint of pepper, and rolled in sugar crystals before baking for a sweet crunchy shell.

Made in a hotter-than-usual oven in just 10 minutes flat, these cookies are rich in molasses for quick browning and deep flavor.

Why this recipe works

These peppery ginger cookies have such a mix of textures: super chewy inside, lightly crisp outside, with those beautiful sugar crystals all over that adds an extra sweet crunch. They're similar to our gluten free snickerdoodles in their thin chewiness, but with a slightly spicy, peppery bite all their own.

The cookie dough is made easily in one bowl by whisking dry ingredients together first, then mixing in all the wet ingredients at one time. Then, the raw dough is rolled into a log and chilled for a super easy slice-and-bake cookie.

You can even store the cookie dough in the refrigerator and bake only as many cookies you need at one time.

Key ingredients explained

Rather than a pre-mixed blend of fall spices, these wintery cookies are made with a specific blend of ginger, cloves, and pepper. Learn more about the rest of the ingredients in these cookies, and the role each plays in a perfectly baked ginger cookie:

• Gluten free flour – Choose a blend with a finely ground rice flour base and enough structure to support the cookies and prevent them from overspreading during baking. I like Better Batter's original blend, Nicole's Best multipurpose (with added xanthan gum as directed by the recipe), or Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free in the blue bag (with 1/8 teaspoon additional xanthan gum because that blend has too little).
• Baking powder & soda – Add rise, and help the cookies brown quickly in the oven by raising the acidic pH level of the molasses.
• Salt – Balances sweetness and enhances the other flavors.
• Ginger, cloves, pepper – Add earthy, deep, warm flavor, pleasant bitterness, lightly cooling flavor, and a slightly sharp bite.
• Granulated sugar – Adds sweetness, and locks in moisture for added tenderness.
• Molasses – Adds a rich, earthy sweetness and rich color. We use unsulphured molasses (I use readily available Grandma's brand) for the least amount of bitterness.
• Butter – Adds flavor, moisture, and tenderness to the cookies.
• Egg – One egg helps to bind the cookies together and create structure without making them thick and cakey.
• Vanilla extract – Adds complex depth of flavor.

How to make gluten free ginger cookies (step by step photos)

The full ingredient amounts and instructions are in the recipe card below. Here are some step by step photos to guide you, and explanations of why the recipe instructions call for the steps they do:

1. Make the cookie dough

Whisk together the powdered dry ingredients (gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, baking powder and soda, salt, ginger, cloves, pepper, and granulated sugar) until well-combined to avoid any clumping that could create uneven cookies.

Add the softened butter, beaten egg, molasses and vanilla all at once on top of the dry ingredients. Mix first superficially to combine the wet ingredients, then slowly widen the movements of the mixing spoon to incorporate more and more dry ingredients. This ensures a fully combined, but not overmixed, result for a smooth cookie dough.

2. Shape and chill the dough

The cookie dough will be thick but soft and sticky. Place a large sheet of parchment or plastic wrap on a clean work surface. Place the dough on top in a rough 1 1/2-inch wide rectangle, enclose in the wrap and cinch the ends.

Rock the enclosed dough back and forth to create a rounded cylinder, and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or until firm. This is the easiest way to create cookie dough rounds without handling the dough too much.

3. Slice, shape & coat in sugar

Unwrap the chilled dough, and rock back and forth to round bottom edge, which will have flattened in the refrigerator. Compress the dough by pressing both small ends toward the center until the log measures about 24 centimeters, or about 9 1/2 inches, long.

Use a sharp knife to slice the dough by cross-section every 1 centimeter to create rounded slices, each slice in one swift motion, no sawing which will create unevenness.

Separate out the slices one at a time, and round the slice if necessary by enclosing it gently in the palm of your hand. Press each slice gently in a small bowl with coarse sugar crystals until completely covered on all sides and edges.

4. Bake and cool

Place the shaped and decorated slices about 2 1/2 inches apart from one another on a lined metal baking sheet. The cookies will spread to about double their size in the oven.

If the cookie dough is warm and very sticky to the touch, you can chill it again briefly on the baking sheet. Otherwise, it's not necessary. The chilling is so the cookie dough is easier to slice and handle.

Bake at 375°F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until set all the way in the center (not glistening wet) and evenly golden brown. If your oven tends to run hot, be sure you're using an oven thermometer to gauge temperature or watch the cookies carefully during baking. Molasses tends to increase the risk the cookies will burn on the bottom and sides.

Expert tips

Use room temperature butter

In this recipe, both the butter and the egg should be at room temperature. For butter, that means that a finger pressed into the center of the butter will make a dent but not come away feeling greasy. If your butter is too warm, even melted, the dough won't hold its shape properly.

If your egg is cold, place it in a bowl of very warm water (not hot) and let it sit for about 15 minutes before breaking the shell. Adding a cold egg will cause the butter to become clumpy, and resist proper combining.

Chill the raw cookie dough

The raw cookie dough begins as quite a soft, smooth dough. Chilling it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes makes it easy to slice with a sharp knife, but the bottom of the cookies will still become compressed and flat. This shape doesn't affect the way the cookies bake or taste, and can be reshaped into a round after slicing.

Slice the dough cleanly

After chilling, the slice-and-bake log should be firm enough to slice cleanly as long as you use a sharp knife and slice in a single motion, without sawing back and forth.

Reshape the dough after slicing

If you want perfectly round cookies, just press each raw slices a little here and there in the palm of your hand to coax it into a more perfect round. Then, continue to shape the dough as you press it gently but firmly into the coarse sugar on all sides.

Ingredient substitutions

Dairy free

Replace the butter Melt or Miyoko's Kitchen brand vegan butter. Avoid using Earth Balance buttery sticks, since they have a lot of moisture and your cookies will probably spread way too much.

Egg free

There's only one egg in this recipe, so you should be able to replace it successfully with my favorite egg-replacement, a “chia egg.” To make a chia egg, place 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds in a small bowl, add 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mix and allow to sit until it gels.

Ground cloves

You can try replacing the 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves with 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon. You can also replace it with pumpkin pie spice, which contains cloves.

Ginger

The ground ginger is what makes these ginger cookies. If you'd like a similar chewy cookie without ginger, try our gluten free molasses cookies. If you'd like to try using fresh ginger root, you'll need 1 1/2 teaspoons grated ginger, since ground spices are typically twice as potent as fresh.

Fresh ginger has a sharper taste than more mellow ground ginger. It will also add some moisture, so you may need to add another teaspoon or two (3 to 6 grams) all purpose gluten free flour to compensate.

Molasses

If you don't have unsulphured molasses, and won't go buy it, try replacing the granulated sugar with dark brown sugar by weight, and replace the 2 tablespoons (42 grams) of molasses with 1 tablespoon extra brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of honey. The cookies have less flavor, but the recipe should still work!

Storage suggestions

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

You can also chill the well-wrapped raw and unsliced log of dough for up to 1 week before baking. Then proceed with the recipe as written.

For longer storage of finished cookies, place them in a freezer-safe zip top bag, squeeze out as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn, and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature.

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