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An aerial view of gluten free gingerbread people atop a white speckled ceramic plate. The gingerbread are lightly decorated with white icing, giving them smiley faces and other small details

Gluten free gingerbread without eggs

Grain free, egg free, vegan option, xanthan gum free
Measures are in Australian tablespoons, use gram weights for accuracy
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill time 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Food Intolerance Friendly
Servings 12 medium gingerbread people

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g cassava flour or light buckwheat flour (see notes)
  • 6g (1 tablespoon) ginger powder
  • 2.5g (1 teaspoon) cinnamon powder
  • 2.5g (1 teaspoon) nutmeg powder
  • 3g (1/2 teaspoon) baking soda
  • 150 g salted butter (or use unsalted and add a pinch of salt to dry mixture) room temperature
  • 100 g light brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons (60ml) molasses, maple syrup or rice malt syrup

Instructions
 

  • Combine the flours, spices and baking soda in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
  • Cream the butter and light brown sugar in a stand mixer or with hand beaters until pale in colour and light and fluffy in texture. This can take anywhere from 2-20 minutes, depending on the season you’re baking in. Don’t rush the process or the gingerbread will be dense. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the butter is creamed and the mixture is uniform in its light airiness. This air is what will make the texture of our gingerbread lovely.
  • Once the mixture is light and creamy, add the molasses or rice malt syrup. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue mixing on a low-medium speed until incorporated.
  • Turn the mixer off and add the flour. Process on a low speed until the flour is mostly incorporated, then turn to a high speed until all the flour is incorporated and the dough begins to ball up.
  • The dough should be reasonably firm and on the borderline of being able to roll out immediately. If it is significantly drier than this, add 1/2 tablespoon milk and process until you reach the desired consistency. If the dough is softer than this, it will just need to chill for longer.
  • Wrap the dough in an airtight wrap then refrigerate for 30-60 minutes or until firm enough to roll out. You can also freeze the dough to speed up the process (I recommend this for the vegan option).
  • When the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 180C/356F. Line two large baking trays with baking paper.
  • Flour a piece of baking paper with tapioca flour and begin to roll out the dough. I roll mine out to 1cm thickness (1/3 inch). Don’t worry if the edges crack, just roll the dough out and cut the shapes around the cracks. Gather up the pieces of dough (dusting the bottoms if they have a lot of flour on them) then continue rolling and cutting until you have used all the dough.
  • Bake each tray for anywhere from 7-12 minutes, depending on how thick you have cut your gingerbreads.
  • Allow the gingerbread to cool before touching them – they will crumble if you attempt to pick them up while hot.
  • If you want to ice them, mix up around 1/2 cup of pure icing sugar with a scant amount of water until you reach a thick, pipeable consistency. I don't use a recipe for this - I just eyeball it. Keep extra icing sugar on hand in case you need to thicken it up or mix more up. How much you use will depend on how heavily you plan to decorate your gingerbread.

Notes

  • Cassava flour is the grain free option that yields a slightly chewier cookie. Light buckwheat flour is a suitable alternative. I haven't tested dark buckwheat flour as I don't have access to it here in Australia. 
  • I found the buckwheat version needed to be chilled for around 2-3 hours. 
  • Light brown sugar is the mainstay acidic ingredient to activate the baking soda and cannot be substituted. 
  • Maple syrup or rice malt syrup can be used in place of the molasses. The gingerbread will be lighter in colour and flavour. 
  • My ideal gingerbread uses a combination of maple syrup and molasses, but I didn't want to start involving too many extra ingredients. If you have them on hand, great.
  • I recommend using some molasses in the vegan version of this gingerbread. It helps disguise the vegan butter flavour.
  • Add spice according to your penchant for spicy gingerbread. I like spicy gingerbread, but you might not.
  • Add less spice if your spices are particularly fresh. This goes for freshly ground nutmeg especially.
  • See notes in the body of the post on how to bake the gingerbread according to your texture preferences.
  • I haven't included a recipe for the icing because I didn't use one. I simply use pure icing sugar, sifted, with a teaspoon of water added at a time to reach a thick, pipeable consistency. It sets up nicely without being overly hard once set. 
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