Gluten-Free Oat Ginger Crinkles

I have long used this gluten-free ginger cookie recipe for my holiday baking. And yet, as the years have gone one, I have become less satisfied with it. The results are very cakey and sticky and would often cause issues coming off the baking tray or sticking together in the container. I was committed to a gluten-free cookie to make sure that my uncle in-law would have an actual cookie to eat, not just the myriad varieties of candy I make for the holidays. I tried a King Arthur Baking recipe last year and it was fine but more of a ginger snap. In addition, I have noticed that if a baked good that uses 1:1 gluten-free flour sits for a while, it starts to have a slightly odd flavor that I don’t love. I wanted to find a recipe that was more “naturally” gluten-free, using a base flour that wasn’t just pretending to be wheat. Finally, I decided to dip into Alice Medrich’s Flavor Flours cookbook that a dear friend got for me years ago. There I found the perfect ginger crinkle. Gluten-free or not, it’s the best ginger molasses cookie I’ve ever had. Not only that, it’s incredibly simple and doesn’t require a stand mixer. I am sold! My first-born has the most amazing college job where she gets paid to make cookies that are always available to students and this is an ideal recipe for that set-up, as well. I know I’ll be coming back to this recipe again and again rather than leaving it for the holidays alone.

Note that this recipe benefits from time in the fridge before baking, 1 hour to overnight. Keep that in mind when planning

INGREDIENTS (for about 2.5 dozen medium to large cookies)

1 stick (8 TBSP, 113-5 g) unsalted butter

175 light or dark brown sugar. I did a mix and I used our fancy light & dark muscovado sugar
2.5 tsp ground ginger
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
85 grams molasses (not blackstrap. I use unsulphured)
1 large egg
275g oat flour (I ground 275 grams rolled oats in a coffee grinder)
50-100g granulated sugar for rolling

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt the butter and let it cool slightly. It should be warm and fluid
2. Combine the sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, salt, molasses and egg in a medium bowl. I used a hand mixer but you could mix by hand
3. Mix in the melted butter and blend thoroughly
4. Stir in the oat flour and mix well. No streaks of flour should remain. Medrich advises beating the dough with a spatula or wooden spoon 40 times to aerate but as I used a hand mixer, I didn’t think this was necessary
5. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour or up to overnight. I took my dough out for an hour at room temp before I tried to scooop
6. When you’re ready to bake and while the dough is losing its refrigerator chill, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with two racks in upper and lower middle position
7. Roll or scoop the dough into about 1-inch balls and then roll in the granulated sugar and place on a baking tray. If using a half-sheet pan, you can fit 12 cookies per sheet without risk of them running into each other
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the trays about halfway through to get an even bake. The cookies will puff and then start to deflate. They are done when at least half have started to deflate. If you like crispy edges, leave them in a minute or two longer
9. Remove from the oven and enjoy