Happy Holidays - and Betty Crocker's Ginger Creams, Gluten Free

 Hope that everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday season with friends and family! I hope everyone eats a ton of wonderful food as well!

My husband and I made Christmas cookies last weekend - one of his requests was a cookie that he had fond memories of from childhood, but we'd never made (even pre-gluten free days). Ginger cream cookies. I dug out my mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook for the original recipe (if you don't have a Betty Crocker cookbook from the 60's, the recipe can be found online here). I only very slightly modified it to be gluten free, but it was delicious, and neither of us could tell it was gluten free - no chalky texture and aftertaste that I associate with many gluten free cookies.

Gluten free Ginger Creams

Anyway, here is the recipe that I ended up using.

Ginger Cream Cookies

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1 cup potato starch
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Mix shortening, white sugar, egg, molasses, and water thoroughly. Sift together flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, baking soda, and spices and blend in. Chill dough until firm.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
3. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake about 8 minutes, or until almost no imprint remains when touched lightly. While slightly warm, frost with icing. 

Frosting 
What Ginger Cream cookie would be complete without frosting? Here, I used what I had on hand and decided to use the frosting recipe from Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom. 

• 1/4 cup Butter, softened
• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Tbs. Milk (I used 2%)

1. Mix ingredients together with a hand mixer. Frost cookies when cool. 

Make sure to store them in the fridge to keep the frosting hard, and take them out a couple of hours before you eat them.