Don’t you just love how your home smells when baking gingerbread?
Who doesn’t love cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg? These spices and flavors definitely signify the holidays. Honestly, I love to add them to everything – especially cinnamon.
Making gluten-free gingerbread is a MUST!
We are all about making everything gingerbread at our house – gingerbread cookies, muffins, bites, and of course, gingerbread houses.
If you love gingerbread as much as we do – you’re in the right place!
Let’s get in the kitchen
A few years ago we finally hit the gingerbread cookie mark – it tasted great, had great form and held up well.
Those of you who bake, or are learning to bake gluten-free know what I mean.
Gluten-free baking has its challenges – and when you make cookies that are delicious and wonderful, it’s easy to get excited! You need the right balance of taste, form and function.
Having the right ingredients and additives to create a gluten-free version is a must. (Grab my Free Gluten-Free Baking Cheat Sheet to get started!)
Our gingerbread cookies are easy to make and super fun to create, especially if you have kids in the house. Decorate them however you want – using gluten-free frosting, melted chocolate, and lots of toppings like dried fruit and chocolate chips.
Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cupcakes
Being hooked on gingerbread, we had to move on to gingerbread cupcakes. And they do not disappoint!
Simple ingredients whip up into an explosion of taste in every bite. These are the perfect addition to your holiday breakfast.
Enjoy these darlings alone or add a topping of your favorite frosting. (Cream cheese or coconut frosting would go well here.)
Gingerbread Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup applesauce (no sugar added)
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup + 2 T organic brown rice flour
- ½ cup millet flour
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- 1 ½ t. cinnamon
- ½ t. ground ginger
- ¼ t. ground cloves
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 t. baking soda
- ½ cup boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Line muffin tins with paper liners (muffin cups).
- Combine all of the dry ingredients and whisk together until blended.
- In another bowl, combine the molasses, eggs and coconut sugar. Melt the coconut oil and add into this mixture.
- Boil water, measure out one cup.
- Combine the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, slowly adding in the hot water as you mix everything together. Make sure you do not end up scrambling the eggs by continuing to mix as you add in the hot water.
- Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full. Bake for 25 minutes, until a knife/toothpick comes out clean in the center.
- Enjoy plain or top with your favorite coconut frosting.
Gluten-Free Gingerbread Bites
Recently I held a Virtual Healthy Holiday Treats Cooking Class at the local library. We made gingerbread bites and they were a huge hit.
Check out what one participant had to say:
These are a small bite with big flavor – a healthy treat when you want gingerbread and don’t want to pull out all of the ingredients or turn on the oven.
Give them a try and get your kids in the kitchen to help roll them out.
Gingerbread Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup dates
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
- ½ t. ground ginger (can use 1 t. for a bigger "kick")
- 1 T Molasses
- 1 T pure maple syrup
- 1 t. cinnamon
- Pinch of sea salt
- 3-5 T water (more as needed)
Instructions
- Soak the dates in hot water for 5 minutes.
- Place the dates in a food processor. Blend to smooth.
- Add in all other ingredients and blend together. Stop in between blending to wipe sides down. Mix until all combined. Add water as needed.
- Roll into bite sized balls. Place in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes.
- Keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Gingerbread Houses
Being gluten-free does not mean giving up on gingerbread houses. You just need to take a few extra steps.
Last year, my youngest was invited to a holiday birthday party where they were going to make gingerbread houses.
At first, my thought was to send along all the items he needs being gluten-free and corn-free. (If you are new here, I am a GF mom with three GF kids! Learn more here).
I quickly found out that the venue did not allow any outside food. I thought he might not go. Being a mom, I didn’t want him to get sick just from having fun with his friends!
I was shocked at my thought as I know that this was NOT empowering our gluten-free children. If I hadn’t let him go – I’m basically saying, “When gluten is around, you’re not allowed to participate”.
This is NOT a message we want to give our children. We need to empower our gluten-free children to rise above it, and learn how to handle these situations.
He did attend the party. He had a blast and shared his gingerbread house with others.
Later on, he made his own gluten-free gingerbread house at home with his brother and sister.
Teach your gluten-free children the steps they need to stay safe, and they CAN participate in all activities.
Grab some gluten-free graham crackers (We like the Kinnikinnick brand) or bake our gluten-free gingerbread cookies to cut out in sizes to make the house. Add in your dried fruit, chocolate chips and small candies – checking that they are all gluten-free.
My kids like to use Simple Mills Vanilla frosting, yet I prefer a homemade version. (But consider this OK for once a year!)
It is all about having fun!
Don’t give up on your gingerbread fun – got out there and make all the gingerbread gluten-free treats you love.
You will be glad you did!
Want to learn more about
gluten-free cooking and baking?
Join one of my upcoming
Virtual Gluten-Free Cooking Classes.
Click below for details:
