Molasses Cookies

Ingredients

1 C molasses
1 C shortening (I used Spectrum)
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
3 ¼ C + 1/3 C GF flour (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Coconut flour)
1 ¼ t xanthan gum
1 T baking soda dissolved in ¾ C boiling water
1 T cinnamon
1 T cloves
1 T ginger
½ t salt

Instructions

Sift or whisk together your flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt. Cream together the molasses, shortening, and brown sugar. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and baking soda mixture alternately in three batches starting with the flour. My mixer likes to splash the water mixture so start slow and be careful! Once it’s well mixed put it in the refrigerator overnight to chill.

Once the dough is chilled you can roll it out and cut shapes into it. Preheat your oven to 350 F, I used my convection option so I set the temperature to 325 F. Tear two 15 inch lengths of wax paper and take some of your GF flour and sprinkle it on one length of the wax paper. Put about 1/5th of the dough on the floured paper and then cover it with the second length of wax paper. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 1/8th inch in thickness then take a cookie cutter and cut out your desired shapes arranging them on a cookie sheet. These fluff up and don’t spread so you can squeeze quite a few on one sheet. I found it easiest to pin one end of the wax paper between my body and the counter top to hold it still while I rolled the dough out. Bake for 9-10 minutes and allow the cookies to cool before removing them from the cookie sheet.