I've been doing a lot of gluten free baking lately, but because I'm not sure what the interest level is out there, I haven't posted many gluten free recipes. So if you are interested in gluten free recipes, let me know and I'll share more! For now, here's a recipe for Gluten Free Vegan Molasses Cookies. Aside from being super easy, they have a really nice flavor thanks to the gluten free flour.
Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free AP Flour
The gluten free flour I've been using is Bob's Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour. It's a little darker in color than King Arthur's gluten free flour (Which I also love) and a bit coarser, it has a pretty dark hue to it and as mentioned, a good flavor.
In addition to baking without gluten, I'm leaving out the dairy as well and using Nutiva shortening in place of butter. It took me a while to finally buy Nutiva since it's not exactly cheap and I haven't liked the flavor of most non-hydrogenated shortenings (icky palm oil), but Nutiva's flavor is quite pleasant and it performs VERY well. The only thing that drives me nuts is that on the side of the carton they say a tablespoon weighs 14 grams and all the tablespoons I've weighed are more like 10 or 11 grams. Sounds nitpicky, but when you bake by weight and are making conversions, it makes a difference. Still, I really like Nutiva.
So those are the only two specialty ingredients, but I think you'll like using them if you haven't already.
Here's the recipe. These are chewy, spicy and very pretty. The recipe only makes 12 cookies, so if for some reason you are not happy with them then you will not have wasted a lot of ingredients.
Recipe
Gluten Free Vegan Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Bob's gluten free flour 145 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup very tightly packed brown sugar or Muscovado sugar 99 grams
- 6 tablespoons non-hydrogenated Nutiva shortening
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1- 2 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
- Sparkly sugar for flair
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together gluten free flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt.
- In a second bowl, mix brown sugar, shortening, molasses and vanilla.
- Add flour mixture to brown sugar mixture and stir until mixed. Add 1 tablespoon of applesauce. If dough is dry, add a second. Otherwise, just use 1.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
- Place the balls about 2 ½ inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets and press tops down slightly.
- Sprinkle tops with sparkly sugar. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool for 2 minute on sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool.
If you like the Gluten Free Vegan Molasses Cookies, shoot me an email or leave a comment. I also have a Chocolate Chunk version.
Anna says
Bev, I always use the 1:1 -- blue bag.
Beverly Jones says
For the Vegan Molasses Spice cookies: which of Bob’s GF flours?
I have both his 1:1 in the blue bag and the one in the red bag that contains chick pea flour among other ingredients
Thank you
Topaz says
Thank you for sharing gluten free vegan baking recopies! I love to bake, and have learn to bake vegan pretty well, but it feels like gf baking is like learning a foreign language. I just haven't learned enough about how the different flours and starches interact to make things give the same end-result as conventional baking would.
Angie says
Thank you Anna! I'll pass on this info to her. She's a great baker and wants to bake for the holidays!!! Looking forward to your Holiday baking recipes!!!
Anna says
My first thought would be to grab a King Arthur book and buy some of their gf flour. You can't go wrong with anything by KA. Here's their book.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/gluten-free-baking-classics-cookbook
"Baking You Happy" is good, but she'll have to re-stock her pantry to use it. However, once she buys all the special ingredients it will be easy.
https://www.amazon.com/Baking-You-Happy-Gluten-Free-Recipes/dp/1441315713
The KA book probably entails fewer special ingredients.
Angie says
Thanks Anna. She's completely overwhelmed and not very happy with anything that she has baked! Is there a book you could recommend to bakegluten free??
Anna says
Angie, there are tons of things she can bake, so tell your friend not to worry. For this recipe I used non-hydrogenated shortening. Butter may work, but the cookies might spread a bit more. You might want to look for a butter-based recipe and just try substituting gluten-free flour. I've found it almost always works if I match the weights rather than the volume. For instance, if a cookie calls for 1 cup of flour (which is usually 4.5 or 5 oz by weight), you'd weigh out 4.5 or 5 oz rather than measure by volume. Or just follow a gluten-free recipe developed with the gluten-free flour.
Angie says
More gluten free recipes would be appreciated! A friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with celiac and is worried about Christmas baking!
Can I make these ginger snaps with butter?
Beverly says
GRAM WEIGHT for the Nutiva?
Did you use 6TBSP. x 14 grams or 6 TBSP. x 10-11 grams?
Anna says
Lately I've been buying the Nutiva off the Amazon Pantry, however it's also sold at Whole Foods, Jewel and Plum Market. In other words, it isn't hard to find in Chicago. Swanson also sells it on-line.
I saw the Miyoko's butter at Plum Market. Let me know what you think of it!
d says
I don't have a gluten issue, but I have been feeling so much better without dairy in my diet, so I appreciate your ideas about butter substitutes in baking. I haven't seen Nutiva in the stores. Did you find it in a regular grocery store or a health food store? I bought Miyoko's Creamery European Style Cultured Vegan Butter yesterday and I'm going to try that for baking. No palm oil. Thanks!
Sonya says
I don't have any desire to bake gluten free, but my first thought is that many people do, and if you're baking it then (if you have time) definitely always post about it!!!
Katrina says
Yum! I'm totally in favor of more gluten free! And vegan--my 15 yo is vegan right now. That's a bigger stress in baking to me than GF.
Sue says
I've had molasses cookies on my mind lately. These are very good looking cookies gluten free or not.
Since I don't have celiac disease and can eat butter I don't require my recipes for treats to be grain or dairy free. The rest of my diet mostly fits those parameters but when I have a treat I don't stress about it.
It's when I have a lot of any kind of treat that I stress.
Sheri says
Completely interested in gf recipes - have family members with celiac and prefer to live paleo muself - prefer nut flours over empty carb flours , for nutrition vs more white carbs (rice, tapioca ) some fine but nut flours are so easy to make or buy these days and often deals on Amazon