Ginger Crunch Squares

Here is another recipe adapted from a classic New Zealand baking recipe. It makes sixteen buttery, gingery, crunchy cookies. I might fiddle with this recipe a bit more another time to perfect the texture, but this adaptation was certainly crunchy and good, a thin ginger shortbread with a chewy glaze. Next time, I might like a teensy bit of chewiness in the bottom layer, though. Maybe some almond flour to replace some of the sweet rice flour? Maybe a bit of brown sugar to make it softer and more molasses-y?

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 heaping tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp (scant) baking powder
3/4 tsp ginger
6 tbsp cold butter

Icing:
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp golden syrup
2 tsp ginger
1/3 cup icing sugar

Line an 8x8" metal baking tin with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flours, xanthan, baking powder, and ginger. Cut in 6 tbsp butter finely. Pat crumbs gently into lined baking tin. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt 2 tbsp butter with golden syrup and ginger. When melted, stir in icing sugar until smooth.

Spread warm icing over squares while hot. Spread evenly. Allow to cool about 30 minutes before cutting into 16 squares with a long, thin-bladed serrated knife.

Ginger Sparklers

Yes, more cookies. Is there such a thing as "too many cookies"? I used to make hundreds of these at a time. Now adapted for gluten-free. The many-flour blend in this recipe seems to preserve the texture better in these soft-doughed cookies than fewer-flour blends. Lining the baking sheet is an absolute must in this case.

3/4 cup shortening or lard
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
3/4 cups amaranth flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup soy flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
extra sugar (for rolling)

Cream shortening and sugar until light. Mix in eggs and molasses. In another bowl, combine dry ingredients. Mix well and combine bit by bit with the creamed mixture. When well mixed, roll into small balls. Roll balls in white sugar. Flatten lightly with a fork and bake at 350F for about 10 minutes (until they are no longer pale).

Ginger Crunch Cookies

Another adapted New Zealand-type cookies -- slightly short, not too sweet, and crunchy without being crumbly or too tooth-achingly crisp. These cookies will not spread much or rise much (they contain no baking powder or baking soda). They have a mildly gingery taste at first, but the ginger gives a pleasantly hot kick on the aftertaste. Custard powder adds colour and a small amount of flavour. Make sure your custard powder is made of corn starch and contains no gluten.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup potato starch flour
3 tbsp tapioca starch flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

5 tbsp custard powder
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup cornflakes, slightly crushed

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and egg until well blended. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, starches, and xanthan gum. In a small bowl, toss chopped crystallized ginger in custard powder until well coated.

Blend flour mixture into butter mixture, then blend in ginger mixture. Roll by the tablespoonful into 24 balls, and roll the balls in cornflakes to coat crunchily. Place balls on a parchment-paper or silicone sheet-lined baking pan. Flatten with your fingers or with a fork.

Bake for 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 375F, until firm and lightly browned. Allow to cool on the pans until cool enough to transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Makes 24 cookies.

Molasses Ginger Cookies

One of the best things about Rebecca Reilly's wonderful book, Gluten-Free Baking, is that the recipes hail from Maine and share heritage with the recipes of Atlantic Canada that my family grew up with and that we continue to crave despite dietary limitations. Her soft molasses cookies taste like my grandmothers' kitchens used to smell and are every bit as good as the wheatier variety, especially fresh out of the oven. This recipe is adapted, but not by much, from her book. But buy the book. You need it.

3/4 cup amaranth flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup soy flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 rounded tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar; mix in sugar, molasses, and egg.

In a small bowl, whisk together flours and starches with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and xanthan gum.

Add dry ingredients to molasses mixture alternately with the buttermilk, in three additions.

Refrigerate dough for an hour, if you have the time and patience. (I didn't, and no loss to the cookies' quality.)

Spoon rounded tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicon baking sheet. Bake for approximately 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When done, the cookies will spring back blithley from a light touch.

Allow cookies to cool on pans for five minutes, then transfer to racks to complete cooling.

Makes about 32 cookies.