Holiday Gingerbread Just…Rocks!
Hello friends and Happy Holidays!
I hope you’re all having a brilliant time celebrating. Whether you’re home, away, or wherever this season takes you, I hope you’re doing something that truly brings you joy. Like for me? Well, I’ve been enjoying baking more and more. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll graduate to more complex gluten-free pastries. But now now…we have cookies. Delicious, spiced, holiday cookies.
When I think of the flavors and scents of this season, gingerbread most definitely comes to mind immediately. Those delightful spices that tickle the nose and comfort your heart with each taste.
For this season, I wanted to try making crinkle cookies. They seemed simple enough, so let’s talk about it.
I decided to follow a recipe by The Loopy Whisk for Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies. You can find the recipe right -> here!
Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies!
Making The Batter/Dough For The Gingerbread Cookies
The recipe for these cookies is pretty straight forward. You have your wet ingredients and your dry ingredients. Combine them and you have a sticky, thick batter. Not quite a dough…but not quite loose like a batter, ya know?
With this being a gluten-free cookie, obviously we’ll be using a gluten-free flour. Normally, I’d use the home made mix that I’ve referenced from Kat’s book (Baked To Perfection) that includes millet flour, tapioca starch, and buckwheat flour. This time I decided to follow the recipe and used a store-bought one-to-one all purpose flour. I had the Trader Joe’s brand gluten-free flour, which already included xanthan gum in the mix.
So, as long as you have all the listed ingredients, you should have no issue with throwing this together.
Now…the fun and SUPER IMPORTANT part of this recipe is what comes after: waiting.
Can You Make These Cookies Right Away?
Aha…haha..well…no.
This isn’t a dough that you’d roll out and use cookie cutters on. Crinkle cookies need a batter-like consistency that can be scooped and rolled in sugar. There is a chilling requirement to this.
Since I was on a bit of a time crunch, I decided to let the batter rest for a solid hour before I started working with it again. The recipe does call for a minimum of 1-2 hours in the fridge, or ideally…overnight. I’m honestly thinking overnight should be the requirement. Of course you may also be in a time-crunch, so we’ll talk about the results of that.
The batter definitely thickens up to a scoopable consistency, but I think the room temperature may also play a big factor in this…hence, chilling overnight may buy you more time to actually work with this.
My cookies certainly turned out, but they didn’t rise upward. They spread and had a hint of that crinkle design I was looking for. I actually ended up making another batch of crinkle cookies (lemon, actually) and had the same thing happen.
I thought perhaps it was the size, how the cookie was scooped, or maybe even the sugar? I assure you each of those little batter balls was covered thoroughly in sugar.
My remaining theory is that my batter didn’t chill long enough. Once the heat hit the cookies, they spread rather than rising up than out. I feel that if you let the batter chill properly overnight, then you’ll be able to get those picture-perfect looking crinkle cookies!
If you only have an hour to chill, are these…a fail?
NO!
They do spread out more, but the flavor and texture is still very delightful!
So whether you have 1 hour or 12 to let your batter chill in peace, you can still have delicious cookies to enjoy and share.
Grey’s Grade: 4.5/5
I sincerely enjoyed making these cookies. I think they are very easy to make and yield a delicious result. What I do enjoy about this recipe is that despite not having the full evening to chill the batter, I was still able to get a great batch of cookies that will be perfect to bring with me for Christmas at my family’s.
I think the only downside is that I had to make these first and infer that the batter needed more time in the fridge to achieve that lovely crinkle pattern. It’s just one of those things that will make me want to make these again in order to test my theory.
Would I still recommend this as a quick recipe to throw together? Errr, if you’re looking for picture perfect, then I’d suggest a different type of cookie to make. These clearly need a bit more time. But if you’re looking for overall good flavor and not too strict on the look of the cookies? Go for it–I’m sure you’ll enjoy them!
Overall= Great cookie, but needs more time in the fridge 😉
I hope you enjoyed this week’s review! Going up a little earlier than normal! Wishing you and yours a wonderful Holiday!! See you next week!
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