This morning I was supposed to volunteer at CYDC’s #MakeADifferenceDay, but I’ve been sick since Wednesday and had to cancel my plans with my good friend Holley (she also started to come down with a bug).  I wanted to still have a great Saturday morning and decided I’d get in the kitchen for some gluten free baking experimentation.

When I dropped off Keith and our roommate Pat at the elementary school to work as coordinators of the service day, I was inspired by the leaves falling and the general rosy morning light and decided to bake something spiced to compliment the weather.

I followed this feeling to the grocery store on an impulse, where I purchased a cart full of flours, molasses, and other oddities… I’m one of those people that really needs a chaperone when there’s shopping involved.  Anyway.  I arrived home filled with the hope that I’d discover a recipe that would not require me to run back to the store for anything else.  So I set about searching Pinterest.  I happened upon what I think is a lovely and simple enough crinkle cookie recipe.  Here’s how they’re made:

Spiced Molasses Crinkle Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Refrigerate Time: 2 hours

Baking Time: 7-10 minutes | Yields: 24 cookies

Ingredients:

Wet

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Dry

• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur’s Gluten Free Baking Mix

Optional

• 1/4 cup Coconut sugar for rolling

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, add all wet ingredients.
2. Mix until well combined.
3. Add dry ingredients, and mix until a thick dough forms.
4. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours, and up to overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon baking liner.
6. Place 1/4 cup of coconut sugar in a bowl (optional).
7. Scoop out 1 tablespoon sized dough balls and roll in coconut sugar (optional).  Keep the cookies to a 1 tablespoon size because this dough tends to spread.
8. Place dough balls on baking sheet, evenly spaced.
9. Bake for 7-10 minutes, until the edges are golden and the center is firm.
10. Let cookies cool for 2-4 minutes on pan before moving to wire cooling wrack.
11. Store in an airtight container.

Finally, I made sure to set aside one spoonful of uncooked cookie dough as surprise treat for Keith after a long and successful service day.

I hope you enjoy making these spiced fall molasses crinkle cookies for dessert!

I followed and only slightly modified the recipe I found on Meaningful Eats for Grain-Free, Chewy Molasses Crinkle Cookies.