The Globe and Mail had a recipe for gingerbread a few weeks ago and it felt like the correct season to give it a try. Also, I was just finishing up my buckwheat cookies that I’d been eating daily with my roasted French chestnuts that my new roommate brought me from Burgundy. His mom makes preserves. We’re going to trade. She doesn’t know it yet. We’re also going to be friends forever. She doesn’t know that yet either.
I’m also sitting at the Montreal airport right now waiting to board my flight home to Newfoundland for Christmas. I have written about this annual journey, much more eloquently, I think, than I am right now. But the sentiment is the same, so if your heart strings tugged, please read this post. Especially if you think moose are hilarious. I clearly do.
I’ve also written about Quebec tarte tatin, but this recipe for gingerbread, adapted to make it gluten-free, is a fair bit lighter. And the gluten-free version is better in my opinion, because it makes the cookies softer and more like shortbread in texture. And I love using 1/2 cup of fresh ginger in anything. And I love NOT using candied ginger. Don’t skimp on the fresh, though, or you’ll crave the candied. Here’s the original recipe, and here’s the adaptation:
Gluten-free Gingerbread Cookies
1 cup Earth Balance shortening, room temperature
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh ginger, grated
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
3/4 tsp white vinegar
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups white rice flour
2 cups buckwheat flour
1/8 tsp guar gum or xanthan gum
1 tbsp ground white pepper (or black)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Directions
Beat Earth Balance, sugar and ginger on medium speed in a large bowl, until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes, until until your patience elapses). In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, molasses, and vinegar. Slowly drizzle into the butter mixture while beating, scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically (turning off the machine to scrape the sides is a very good idea).
Sieve the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. They need the lift. Then sieve into the Earth Balance mixture and either blend on low speed after stirring in a little with a spoon first (otherwise the flour will go flying) or mix with your hands. Don’t overmix. Just massage it all together until you can’t see any more flour.
You’re supposed to chill the dough here, but I say lets get on with the cookie making. So take 1/4 of the dough and shape the rest into a ball and put it in a bowl in the fridge while you work with the first 1/4.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Place the 1/4 of the dough between two very large pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper (this is in place of flouring your kitchen counter, and it makes it easier to pick up the cookies are you cut them out. Roll the dough between the plastic to 1/4-inch thickness (a little more of less won’t hurt, though). Remove the top layer of plastic or paper, dip your cookie cutter or knife into some rice flour to keep it from sticking (or not), and shape as many cookies from the dough as you can. Transfer to greased cookie sheet (or parchment-lined sheet to keep it lower fat) and bake 8-12 minutes, or until slightly pufed and just a little golden. They’ll darken on the bottom first, so definitely take them out after 12 to check the bottoms. While the first batch bakes, take another hunk of dough from the fridge, add it to the leftover ends of the first batch, and re-roll and cut. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This basically takes forever, so involve helping hands, friends and family if possible. Or involve a good radio program, podcast or music playlist.
I don’t own any cookie cutters, and certainly not Christmas-shaped ones. So I tried to cut out diamonds and stars and Christmas trees, but mostly I ended up with poorly aligned rectangles, bumpy trees and surrealistic suns. Fortunately, the beneficiaries of these cookies (mostly me…) were an apathetic lot, shape-wise at least.
Oh, and these freeze very well, and don’t even need to thaw when you take them out. This means you can just leave them in the freezer and, unless they get freezer burn, you can enjoy them one at a time for an entire winter season. Or a week. Whichever comes to an end first.
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