Gluten Free Gingerbread Pumpkin Cookies

Yep, it’s that time of the year when the taste of autumn is in the air, and in the kitchen, and the warm flavors of pumpkin and ginger start to sound like just the thing on a brisk afternoon or a cool evening. It’s funny how my tastes change with the seasons, is it that way for you?

GF Gingerbread Pumpkin Cookies

These are perfect Halloween cookies, easy to make, fun for the kids to decorate, and pretty darn guilt free too! They are gluten free, dairy free (casein free) cookies, with no added fat, and only sweetened with molasses – no refined sugar (unless of course you frost them, and I don’t want to discourage you from doing that!). Better yet, the sorghum flour – which makes up the majority of the flour  – is high in fiber and rich in nutrients.

Cut these cookies out in rounds, and let the kids attach stems and cut faces into them with butter knives, toothpicks or other kid friendly tools before baking.

OR frost them with the optional orange icing and decorate as desired.

These are deliciously soft cookies, very much like gingerbread, only in cookie form. Happy Halloween!

Gluten Free Gingerbread Pumpkin Cookies
Preheat oven to 400º

• 2 1/4 cup Sorghum flour
• 1 cup Tapioca Flour
• 1 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp. ground Ginger
• 1 1/2  tsps. Cinnamon
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin, or roasted mashed butternut squash
• 1 cup Molasses
• 1 egg beaten

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Mix the pumpkin, molasses, and egg in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients and mix together well. If too soft to roll out, add a tiny bit more flour, if too dry, a bit of water.

Roll out fairly thin (cookies will puff up) on a sorghum flour dusted board and cut into round shapes, or other shapes if desired. place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Lightly cut faces into cookies if desired. Bake 10-12 minutes at 400º.

If desired, spread with orange icing after cooling

• 1 tsp GF Orange Extract
• 1 TBSP Soy milk or other dairy free milk
• 1 1/4 Powdered Sugar
• (Optional – A few drops of food coloring to make an orange icing.) – I am not in the habit of using food coloring, but for Halloween, I sometimes make an exception.) 

Mix together well until of spreading consistency. If too thick, add a bit more milk, too thin, more powdered sugar.