Gluten-Free Gingerbread Christmas Cookies

It has been a month of cold, colds, germs and viruses… more so than I can remember in a long time! I simply have not had the energy to keep up with everything and I apologize that the month has gone by with only one blog post! My newest book The Journey, Home from Autism has arrived and the response is amazing. I had a woman comment to me just yesterday that she had just read my book and she said to me, “Your book taught me how to understand my son and, even better, how to understand myself!” Interesting. Many more comments can be read on my new LinkedIn site here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rhondaspellman.

Yesterday my eight-year-old son Oliver wanted to make and decorate gingerbread cookies. I have yet to find a gluten-free gingerbread cookie for Tanner (my ten-year-old) so I started with Oliver’s recipe and (after mixing things up a bit) came up with this one:

Mix all together:
1 1/2 C Amaranth flour
1/2 C White Rice Flour
1/4 C Tapioca Flour
1/2 t Salt
3/4 t Ginger
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/2 t Cloves
1/2 t Cinnamon

Beat together in separate bowl:
1/2 C Margarine or butter
1/2 C Molasses
1 egg

Blend two mixtures together. Let sit in refrigerator for about an hour to firm up. We tried rolling the dough out on parchment paper (floured with rice flour) but when we used the gingerbread men and the Christmas tree cookie cutters the cookies wouldn’t hold together well. We might have had better luck adding a bit more flour or letting the dough cool for awhile longer. Oliver’s cookies were done and Tanner was ready so we came up with plan “B”:

We rolled small balls of the dough and flattened to about 1/3 inch thick. The boys decorated the faces after they cooked. Or, even better idea – with the ball idea – they made snowmen with three balls of dough.

Bake them at 350 for about 15 – 20 minutes. Because the dough is dark it’s somewhat difficult to see that they are browning. Watching near the edges of the cookies is a good indicator. Give them plenty of room to spread and let them cook on the cookie sheet (directly on the parchment paper). Let them cool for about 5 minutes before removing them. Decorate them after they’ve cooled and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy them and Merry Christmas to one and all!