Gluten Free Gingerbread

With this recipe for gluten free gingerbread, there's no need to miss out on building your own gingerbread house just because you're on a gluten-free diet!

I have a friend with celiac disease and I've learned (from vacationing with her) that living with a gluten free diet (no wheat, barley, rye,...) is NOT easy! So I've hunted down this gluten free recipe mostly for her. This gingerbread house recipe is gluten-free, casein-free, and nut-free!

Note: We have not personally tested this recipe! One of our site visitors wrote that it came out super-dry and we haven't had time to personally test it so PLEASE be warned that it may require some tweaking to get it just right. Please let us know if you've used this recipe and it worked for you OR if you tried something a little different that worked for you. We would love to share that information with our readers!

Gluten Free Gingerbread House Recipe:

• 1 cup amaranth flour
• 2 cups potato starch
• 4 cups brown rice flour
• 2 cups sweet rice flour
• 3 Tbsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp xanthan gum
• 2 Tbsp (or more for spicier gingerbread) ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp ground allspice
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups shortening
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp dark molasses
• 1 Tbsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flours, starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, and spices with a whisk until well-mixed and set aside.
3. In a different large bowl, mix together the powdered and brown sugars, shortening, eggs, molasses and salt until creamed.
4. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture a cup at a time, stirring until combined. Do not over mix.
5. Chill dough in the refrigerated for at least one hour so that it can firm up and be easier to manage.
6. Knead dough and roll out on floured surface.
7. If dough is far too dry, add water a Tablespoon at a time, until it is the right consistency.
8. Use template pieces from this site or your own designs (or cookie cutters) to cut the dough out in the desired shapes.
9. Bake the dough pieces at 350 degrees F for 19 minutes.
10. Place cookies on wire rack for cooling (don't allow the pieces to sit on the trays you backed them on as they will continue to cook there. Allow at least 6 hours for hardening if assembling into a house.