Living in France we find it difficult to buy molasses, so this gluten and dairy free ginger thumbprint cookie, was an invention born of that necessity. It turned out so well that both my husband and son requested sets of cookies to take to school / work, but it prooved difficult to resist eating them before they left the house.
This recipe made 40 cookies. That sounds like a lot, but with a household of 5, they were gone in a day.
Ingredients:
4 cups of of gf flour
1 tsp of psyllium
2 tsp of baking soda or leavening blend (in France this has both baking soda and baking powder usually and seems to work well).
3 tsp of ground dry ginger
1.5 tsp of ground cinnamon
5 finely ground cloves (about 1/4 tsp)
4 star anise – finely ground
4 or 5 pepper corns – finely ground
NOTE: Fresh ground spices are always better if possible. I keep a coffee grinder reserved for this purpose.
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup of melted dairy free butter
1/2 cup sunflower oil
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup of raw sugar
1/2 cup of creme de marron – (this is a sweet puree of candied chestnuts)
2 tsp of acacia or xanthum gum
2 table spoons of apple sauce
And these ingredients – to be set aside until the mixture is ready.
Brown demarara sugar for sprinkling on top
1/4 cup of flower for dusting your hands while you roll the dough into balls.
1/4 cup of ginger jam for the thumbprint depression – leave aside until the end.
Steps:
Mix chestnut, eggs and apple sauce and beat well
Combine the oil and melted butter
Slowly add the oil and melted butter mixture and beat well
The blend emulsifies creating a loose jell like substance.
In a separate bowl combine all of the other ingredients: The gluten free flour, leavening agent, psyllium, raw sugar, xanthum or acacia gum, salt and spices.
Note that you are excluding and setting aside the ginger jam, sprinkling sugar and dusting flour.
Chill the mixture for 20 minutes
Prepare your baking trays (3 or 4) with baking parchment –
Dust your hands with flour and then create 2 inch balls of dough, spacing them so that they have an inch or so around them on all sides. This dough is sticky… just go with it, it will be ok in the end. I had to wash my hands periodically and reflour them. Its messy work, but well worth it.
Refrigerate them for 20 minutes or so
Preheat oven to 170C
Remove from the fridge and create a ‘thumbprint’ in the top center surface of each dough ball.
You can use a flour dusted teaspoon for this if you find it easier.
Carefully sprinkle with the brown sugar.
Spoon a half teaspoon of ginger jam into each depression.
Put into the oven for 10 minutes. The cookies will rise, their surface will crack and brown slightly and the jam will settle into the depression.
Cool for as long as you can resist before devouring.
