- 3.5 cups (455g) Western Family Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour for cakes and cookies
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp ground ginger (optional)
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 3/4 (170 g) cup butter, or dairy free margarine suitable for baking
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar ( I use Stevia brown sugar since I avoid white sugar! You will need 1⁄4 cup + 1⁄8 cup Stevia brown sugar)
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- zest of 1 clementine
- 1 tbsp clementine juice
TIP: Instead of measuring these different spices I bought a pumpkin spice that included all the spices (except ginger) and used 2 tsp. I’m all about making life quick and easy! 🙂 I didn’t use ginger just in case the taste was too strong for the gift recipients. But hey if you like ginger go for it since it’s great for inflammation!
Instructions
1. I recommend you weigh you gluten free flour versus using a measuring cup. Whisk the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, and spices together. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until smooth.
3. Add the molasses, egg, zest, and clementine juice, mix until well combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as you go.
4. On low speed add the flour mix a little at a time and scrape the bowl down as you go until it’s fully incorporated.
5. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-40 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment.
7. I cut the dough into 4 sections since I didn’t have a rolling pin remember? You can decide how much you want to roll at a time since you want to roll the dough out in to about 1/8th inch thick. You’ll end up with more than 25 houses for sure!
8. Place your dough on a parchment. Place another plastic wrap on top of the dough, large enough so that you can roll out the entire dough into 1/8″.
9. Press the dough with your cookies cutters. Make sure they are about 1/2″ apart, otherwise the cookies will stick together. Gently pull the excess dough. Cut excess parchment paper and place it on the cookie sheet. These houses are tiny. When the dough starts to cool off they are really soft so lift them gently with your fingers or they will not hold their shape. If you are a pro I’m sure you can probably think of an easier way to do it. But since I’m a beginner I’m literally figuring this out as I go through the steps.
10. Place cookies in the oven for 12 minutes. I would make sure you check the color after 10 minutes especially if the cookies are 1/8″ or less in thickness.
11. When cookies are done let it sit in the cookie sheet until it’s completely cool.
12. Next, it’s time to make the icing!
Royal Icing Recipe for Mini Gingerbread House Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 pound confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup/3 large pasteurized egg whites (room temperature)
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
How to Assemble and Decorate Your Gluten Free Mini Gingerbread House Cookies
1. Double check that your icing is stiff enough. I work slow so when the icing starts getting warm the icing somewhat expands on the cookie so I alternate between two my silicone bottles so I keep one cool in the fridge while using the other one.
2. I would decorate the cookies first and then glue them together to build the house. I found this to be the easiest. There are a total of 6 pieces for your mini house: the front and back of the house, the larger rectangular shape is the roof and the smaller squares are the sides of the house.
Once I determined the design I start icing all the roofs first, then the sides, etc. Obviously this will be a lot quicker if you did them in bulk versus doing one house a time. Wait for all your pieces to fully dry before putting the house together. I only waited one hour but if you want to play it safe wait at least 6-12 hours to fully dry.
3. I kept the decor simple and elegant which is why I didn’t use food coloring.
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