Soft Batch Apple Cider Gingersnap Cookies are soft, chewy, and perfectly spiced. They're the most delicious, gluten free fall treat!
Honey, I baked!
Chewy, gooey, apple cider and molasses-spiked, sugar-rolled, all-fall Soft Batch Apple Cider Gingersnap Cookies! Because:
- It’s finally baking season! Although the days haven’t become quite as nippy as I’d like, I’m still in that shuffling around the house in my slippers mode and the only thing I like making in my slippers better than chili, is cookies.
- I needed another recipe to use up the apple cider I bought for a batch of Sparkling Maple Bourbon Ciders (CHEERS).
- Since my Celiac Disease diagnosis I’ve barely baked a thing, and figured it was high time to change that. These cookies are the perfect reason to come out of my baking hibernation!
These Soft Batch Apple Cider Gingersnap Cookies are absolutely wonderful. Think of the softest gingersnap you’ve ever eaten then add a hint of autumnal flavor from adding both apple cider and unsweetened applesauce to the cookie dough. These babies warm the soul.
Bonus: the dough needs to chill in the fridge for 2 hours or up to overnight (or heck, even a day or two,) so you can make it ahead of time then bake when you’re craving a warm, chewy batch of cookies.
Let’s bake!
How to Make This Recipe
Start by creaming together 1/2 cup softened butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer, or in a large bowl if using a hand held mixer.
Next add 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/4 cup apple cider, and 1/4 cup molasses – plus an egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix until combined. FYI: the mixture may look curdled but it’s fine!
Finally, whisk together ginger, cinnamon, and cloves with 2-1/3 cups gluten free baking flour blend WITH a binder. I like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until just combined before adding the next batch. Cover the cookie dough then refrigerate for at least two hours, or up to one or two days.
Baking time! Scoop the cookie dough directly into a bowl of granulated sugar then roll to coat and place onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees then cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Be careful to not over bake these cookies so they land firmly in “soft batch” territory!
Sugar, spice and everything nice: that’s what Soft Batch Apple Cider Gingersnap Cookies are made of. I hope you love these soft and sweet gluten free cookies as much as we do – enjoy!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
- 1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup apple cider
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2-1/3 cups gluten free baking flour blend WITH binder, see notes
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Cream together butter and 1 cup sugar in a mixing bowl on high speed until light and fluffy. Add applesauce, apple cider, molasses, egg, and vanilla then mix until combined – mixture may look curdled. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients then add to the wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until just combined before adding the next batch. Cover then refrigerate for at least two hours or up to overnight (dough will be soft.)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees then line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop cookie dough by the Tablespoon into a bowl of 1/2 cup sugar then roll to coat and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes then let cool for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks. Do not overbake.
Notes
- Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days. and drained.
- I like Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour for this recipe.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
Like others experienced, these did not work. The dough even after 24 hours of chilling was impossible to handle and they never cooked. Even though they spread out and browned up no amount of extra time cooked them through. My baking soda was fresh, I am not at a high altitude (Southwestern Ontario), and my oven temp is accurate. I was so excited for these cookies so I am sorry they didn’t work out.
I’m sorry to hear this, Jennifer! Can you tell me what kind of flour you used?
This year marks my tenth year in a row making these fall cookies! Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe that I and all of my friends and family look forward to every year. This recipe has given me a decade of wonderful memories. Hopefully I’ll still be making them for years to come.
Oh my gosh, that just makes my day, Abigail! Thank you so very much for sharing!!
I would love to try this recipe, but I was born with a phosphorus intolerance, so unfortunately molasses is not on my list of allowed ingredients….is there something I might be able to substitute it with, or if I leave it out would it still be OK??
Hi Anna, I’m so sorry to hear that! Unfortunately this recipe relies on molasses both for flavor and texture to keep the cookies moist and chewy, so I wouldn’t replace it with anything, or couldn’t recommend what you might be able to replace it with without extensive testing!
Love all of your recipes…can I use regular flour and get good results? I need to make something for a bake sale at my church and this looks like a winner.
That should work, Joan!
Is the egg supposed to be room temp?
It can be cold. :)
How big do you make these? I used my pampered chef baller thing that is about a tablespoon.
Yep, the Tablespoon cookie scoop is what I use too!
I was SO excited to try these- yours look incredible! I’m not sure what happened because I followed the recipe exactly, including chilling for several hours. Mine spread and flattened completely. I chilled the rest of the dough longer but the same thing happened. I used fresh baking soda, I am not at high altitude- any other suggestions? The dough seemed to have a ton of air bubbles and tasted a little bit salty (despite using unsalted butter). Should I cut back on the baking soda? Otherwise the dough tasted great! I would love to try again but don’t love the idea of wasting all of these ingredients again. I’m planning to try to use this first mess of a batch in a trifle or something. ?
I’m so sorry to hear that, Annie! This is such a mystery to me – about half the people who make this recipe say the cookies are too soft to scoop, even after chilling completely, while the cookies turn out just like mine for the other half. The only thing I can think of is that maybe your baking soda might not be fresh?? I can’t figure it out for and it definitely drives me nuts!
Are they using the in-recipe feature to make bigger batches? If so, the double/triple batches are written weirdly and it’s very possible that folks aren’t putting enough dry ingredients in. (For example, 1 1/2 cups sugar “doubles” to 2-1 cup. Which could be easily misread as either 2 cups or 1 cup if you’re not paying close attention.)
These are amazing! I made them with Namaste gluten free flour and they turned out wonderful! My kids have a hard time with gluten free cookies but didn’t even notice they were gluten free!!