Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Cooling & Assembling Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes
Servings: 15 sandwich cookies
Ingredients:
For Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
2 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free flour, spoon & level
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. iodized salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
9 Tbsp. (1 stick + 1 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, cold and cubed into tablespoon chunks
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
2 Tbsp. milk (I recommend whole milk)
about 3/4 cup sugar (for rolling)
about 1 cup powdered sugar (for rolling)
For Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. whole milk or heavy whipping cream (I prefer heavy whipping cream)
1 tsp. gluten free vanilla bean paste (I prefer Rodelle Paste- I’ve linked it below!)
Directions:
For the cookies
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, stir together the dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda, and cloves) until thoroughly combined.
2. Using a fork, your fingers, or a pastry cutter, cut in cold butter until small pea-sized pieces of butter remain and the mixture resembles the texture of wet sand or a fine streusel.
3. With the mixer on low speed, slowly mix in the molasses and milk. Mix until the dough is evenly moistened and no dry spots can be seen. Increase speed to medium and mix until well combined. The dough may appear crumbly.
4. Turn dough onto counter and shape into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or overnight. You can also freeze it for 30 minutes if you are in need for speed!
5. Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350°F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside. If you don't have parchment paper, you can also use silicone mats or grease your sheet pans.
6. Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop dough and roll into 30 even-sized balls. If you choose to do 2 Tbsp. cookie scoop, you will get less cookies (around 15 cookies).
7. Fill a small bowl with sugar and another small bowl with powdered sugar (look at the amount in ingredient listing). Then roll each ball in granulated sugar until fully covered followed by powdered sugar until fully covered.
8. Place on sheet pan about 1½ inches apart so that way they don't bake together.
9. Bake until the centers are set, about 10-12 minutes (each oven might bake different times so make sure that you check your oven!) If you chose to do bigger cookies, they will bake for longer- about 15-16 minutes. You'll know when they are done because the tops will be more matte colored. Let cookies cool on pans for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
10. Pipe or spread vanilla bean cream cheese frosting onto the flat side of one cookie. Place the flat side of another cookie on top to make a cookie sandwich. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. If you want to feel super fancy, I did my Wilton 1M piping tip.
For the Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and cream cheese on high speed until the mixture turns light, smooth, and fluffy.
2. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste and beat on low speed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute (that way powdered sugar doesn't explode everywhere).
3. Increase speed to high and beat/cream for 2 additional minutes until it is light and fluffy. If you mixture is too thick, add another 1-2 tsp. of milk or whipping cream.
4. Frost cookies and enjoy!