Gluten free graham crackers and gingerbread men are some of the most fun creations to ever come out of a kitchen!
Graham crackers make wonderful snacks on their own or in s’mores — of course!
Gluten free gingerbread dough makes adorable gingerbread men (or women!) and houses, of course!
This dough is also naturally vegan, so you can nibble some here and there as you’re baking (one of the perks of being the baker!).
The real difference between the dough is spices — add them or not — and whether you decide to use molasses for gingerbread dough or honey/agave/coconut nectar/maple syrup instead for graham cracker dough. Other than that, the base recipe (or mix) is the same. Either way, these gluten free graham crackers or gluten free gingerbread men are delicious!
The absolute easiest way to make them (or gluten free graham cracker pie crust, for that matter!) is to whip up my gfJules Graham Cracker/Gingerbread Mix. Of course you can always make my recipe from scratch as well, following the recipe card below. {To make a graham cracker crust for your favorite pie, hop to this recipe!}
Did I mention how versatile this recipe is? I mean, what other recipe can you also use to make an adorable miniature gluten-free gingerbread house for your tea cup?
Or a full-size gluten free gingerbread house for your table? (Both size house cutters are available in my gfJules shop along with my gfJules Gluten Free Gingerbread Mix!)
If you’re looking to make your own gluten free gingerbread house, hop over to my Gluten Free Gingerbread House how-to and template + videos!
Plus you can even make these fun stained glass cookies!
All you have to do is crush up some gluten free hard candies and put them into cut outs in the cookie dough before it bakes — pretty cool trick, huh? Come to think of it: what can’t you do with this amazing mix or recipe?! So. Much. Fun!
Get creative! Roll these cookies a little thicker and cut out little critters for Groundhog Day! (don’t throw any shade — I don’t have a groundhog cookie cutter, so I improvise and do the best I can, LOL!)
Halloween Gingerbread Skeletons, anyone?
And don’t forget about St. Patrick’s Day! These gluten free graham cracker Shamrocks are DELISH!
Iced or just sprinkled with some colored sanding sugar. MMMmmm I could much on these for good luck anytime!
With this delicious, forgiving and versatile dough, who knows what other cookie fun you can create? It’s definitely a year-round treat!
Don’t forget, the absolute easiest way to make these scrumptious cookies is just to grab one of my gfJules Graham Cracker/Gingerbread Mixes!
Gluten Free Graham Crackers and Gingerbread Men
Gluten free graham crackers or gingerbread men, gingerbread houses or graham cracker pie crusts -- so many fun treats can be made with this base recipe!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter or vegan butter (Earth Balance® or Buttery Sticks)
- 1/4 cup agave nectar or molasses or coconut nectar or honey (use molasses if making gingerbread men)
- 1 cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups gfJules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup white rice flour
- 1/2 cup buckwheat or brown rice flour
- dash of salt
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup cold water
- ADD 2 tsp. ginger + 1 tsp. cloves if making gingerbread men or houses
Instructions
Beat together the first four ingredients in one large bowl, and mix all of the remaining dry ingredients in another bowl. Slowly stir the dry mixture into the first bowl, adding water as necessary to create a consistency such that you could make a ball with the dough.
Preheat oven to 325º F for static ovens, 300º F for convection.
Roll one half out onto a surface dusted with gfJules All Purpose Flour. The dough should make a large 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick rectangle. You may roll it more thinly or more thickly, depending on how you prefer your cookies: the thinner the dough, the crispier the cookie.
Cut into shapes with cookie cutters or cut smaller rectangles like graham crackers and lift with a spatula onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Finally, prick each cracker with a fork in rows, as you would with a graham cracker. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture before baking, if you like. To make gingerbread men, simply cut with those cutters instead of cutting rectangles.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until they are lightly browned; the edges will cook faster than the middles, so keep an eye on the crackers lest they over-cook. Cook less time if the dough is rolled very thin.
Let them cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Notes
For even faster and easier gluten free graham crackers or gingerbread men, simply use my gfJules Gluten Free Graham Cracker / Gingerbread Mix!
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Just made the Graham’s for my 4 y/o and they are GREAT! We have a fire pit so now she can once again enjoy SMOREs…thank you!
Is it possible to make and freeze crackers or to freeze 1/2 of the dough for later use?
Hi Amy – that’s wonderful! There’s nothing like having s’mores back in our lives — it’s the little things, you know?
As for freezing, both ideas work well. I always seem to have homemade graham crackers in the freezer and dough, too. It’s really up to you. Super handy to pull the baked crackers out of the freezer already made, though! 🙂
~jules
Hi Jules :
Can I use Coconut oil as a substitute for vegan butter?
thanks! so excited I found your page !
Hi! I’m excited you found my site, too! Yuo may use coconut oil (solid at room temp) in this recipe. Enjoy!
~jules
Can’t wait to try this recipe this week. We are going camping and I hate buying the $7 box of yucky-tasting gf graham crackers for s’mores!
You’ll love it, Stephanie! I know how you feel about those sub-par store-bought GF grahams — they’re ridiculously expensive! You’ll get around 100 grahams out of this recipe! Have fun camping!
~jules
Can you make these without the buckwheat or rice flour?
Hi Sara, you absolutely can, it just won’t have the sort of grittiness that graham crackers are known for, and the dough may be a little stickier to work with, so be sure it’s nice and cold before rolling out. Enjoy!
How would i do it? Add extra flour in place of the rice and buckwheat?
Yes, Sara – use an equal amount of my flour in place of the rice and buckwheat, then generously flour you rolling surface and make sure the dough is chilled well.
We just purchased/used your gingerbread house kit and it was a disaster. Directions are poorly written and unclear. Nowhere does it state how thick or how many sections of the house you can get from 1/2 ball of dough. How think do you roll it? Worst yet, the directions included with the cutters are written for a generic recipe. Warning should be given that this kit is NOT for beginners and it assumes that one is familiar with the prep and baking of gingerbread. While the mix tastes fine, the finished pieces were spongy and fell into pieces when removed from the baking tray. Since no guidelines or hints were provided, there’s no telling what we could have done to prevent this.
Hi Mike, I’m sorry that you had trouble with the cutter set. I’m glad the gingerbread mix tasted good, but it sounds like maybe the dough wasn’t rolled out quite enough, so the pieces were too thick and maybe didn’t bake long enough to provide the solid structure the house would need. Most people just follow my mix directions for instructions on how to roll out the dough and bake on parchment so that the finished pieces can be removed without being so fragile. When baking a house, you definitely want the pieces to be more firm, so you’d want to bake them long enough that they would be crisp and stand up to support the structure of the house. We don’t supply the directions that come with the house, so I’m sorry if they were less than clear. At least you were able to eat the yummy pieces!
Hi Jules. I was wondering if you could answer this ASAP. I was wondering how you would make the cookies with your mix. The instructions on the bag are a little confusing… Do you make the graham crackers and then cut them into gingerbread men?
Hi Lauren, sorry for any confusion. You make the dough, chill it, then roll it out. Cut into graham crackers OR gingerbread men, or whatever shape you want. If you want to make a pie crust, just roll the dough out and bake it and when it’s cool, break it into pieces and process in a food processor to make crumbs!
Just made your Graham mix, instead if rolling out the dough. I baked them off in a pizzelle maker. They came out thin and oh so crispy. I know not everyone has this gadget but it works great.
Wow, Phylis! What a fantastic idea! Yet another reason I need a pizzelle maker!
wonderful dough… I am making the graham cracker crumbs..How would I store them for future use? Do they need to be kept in the freezer or can they be kept in the cupboard?
So glad you’re loving the dough, Bonnie! I would definitely keep them in the freezer so you don’t have to worry about them losing their crunch.
So excited about your new Gingerbread House making kit which I just ordered!!! I love making (and eating) your graham crackers/gingerbread men. I am already planning to use the recipe to make Gingerbread Hagrid’s Huts at my daughter’s Harry Potter themed birthday party. Now I will also be able to make traditional Gingerbread Houses with my kids. This is something they have always wanted to do, and never been able to. Thanks so much, Jules.
Alecia
Alecia – that sounds like so much fun! I just love making gingerbread houses with the kids (I’m not going to tell them about the Hagrid’s Huts idea – they’ll never want to go back to a plain ol’ gingerbread house again!
) and I’m so happy to be able to help others get to experience this wonderful activity again, safely, as well! Please post pictures of your Hagrid’s Huts! I can’t wait to see them!!!
Will you be offering the kit again this year?? This is my daughters first Christmas since her diagnosis and the Gingerbread House making Contest is always a highlight of our holiday. Would be great if she could still eat her creation! Thank you!
Hi Marianne, yes, I do believe we will be offering the gingerbread kit this year! We’ve already started looking into availability, so stay tuned!!! So glad it will be fun and useful for your family to have around — the contest sounds like a lot of fun!
Your graham cracker mix is so easy and tasty, I don’t think I would ever try making them from scratch!
I know, Lynda! I don’t like making them from scratch anymore, either!
When making the graham crust dough is it normal not to need all the water that the recipe states? I just made it for the first time and used only about a 1/4 cup.
The dough had a really soft texture but formed a nice ball so I was afraid if I added more water it would get too soft.
Michelle – sounds like you did the right thing. I err on the side of being wetter, since it needs to refrigerate for awhile before rolling out (and that tends to dry dough a bit), but not too wet. Conditions like humidity can even make a difference. Have fun baking!
I have been missing traditional ginger cake cookies such as the ones made by Colonial Williamsburg. I used to make them with whole wheat flour (I loved the texture of them) and underbaked them so they were soft and moist instead of dry and crumbly. Do you have any suggestions? Can this recipe be made with a thicker cookie and, if so, how long should I bake them?
Thanks for all you do to provide wonderful recipes and alternatives for those of us with celiac or gluten intolerance issues!
I went to Jules’ presentation at the New England Conference today. What great recipes and great, funny presentation. Thanks for your good work to benefit the Celiac Community. The website is great and I can’t wait to make the graham crackers. I plan to put more high-fiber flour in them. I’ll tell you how they turn out.
Thanks so much Sarah! I’m so glad you enjoyed it – I was thrilled to be able to be there! Can’t wait to hear how you modify the graham cracker recipe – keep me posted!
I have never really made crackers in the kitchen. This is really inspiring. I am definitely going to try this one.
This is a great Graham cracker recipe! I’ve made it several times already for my gluten-free and dairy-free kids. They love them! And so are the non gluten-free kids in the neighborhood. Thank you so much for creating and posting the recipe.
Hi Jules! I first want to say Thank You! I love your flour and your recipes. You’ve opened my eyes to a whole new world of gluten-free baking!
Did you use this recipe to make your pieces for your gingerbread house?? I’ve made gingerbread houses and even a train in the past, before my diagnosis, and would love to make one this year.
thanks again for all you do! Merry Christmas!!
Hi Karen, thanks so much! And yes, this is the recipe I use for my gingerbread house! More photos to come and I’m taking it on the news tomorrow, so video soon too! It’s a great recipe for so many things: gingerbread men and gingerbread houses + gingersnaps too! When made as graham crackers you can also use it to make cookies for s’mores and ice cream sandwiches and I even use this recipe for poptarts! It’s one of my all-time favorite recipes! Enjoy and Merry Christmas to you too!
Jules, Is it possible to make a grahm cracker crumb crust without making the grahm crackers first and crushing them? I used to make a dessert with store bought grahm cracker crumbs. You just added sugar and butter and pressed it into the dish. Is that possible with your mix?
Hmmm. You certainly could make the graham dough and press it into the pie plate and bake it like that – the crust would be like one big graham cracker, not the traditional crumbled then pressed crust, but why not try it?! If it suits you, be sure to come back and tell us about it so others can try it too! I love creative thinking in the kitchen!
THANK YOU Jules! You always have great timing. My son’s teacher told me late last week that a parent is going to be bringing in Gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate. Now I can make these and bring one in for him too!!!
Jules you have made things so much easier for me and have taken away a lot of stress!
Thank you.
I’m so happy to have helped! You’ll love this recipe, too!
These look fantastic! I am going to make some tomorrow. I will make your pumpkin cheesecake too…looks too good!
Thank you for sharing your yummy recipes with us!
Regatds,
Xintia