Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookie Bread

This gluten free gingerbread cookie bread is everything you love about gingerbread cookies, but in soft, tender loaf form. It’s warm, spiced, and topped with a cream cheese glaze that makes it hard to stop at one slice.

The bread is packed with cozy spices like ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Your kitchen will smell incredible while it bakes.

And yes, it’s 100% gluten free. You honestly can’t tell the difference. It’s that good.

The texture is moist and rich, almost like a quick bread version of your favorite holiday cookie. It works perfectly as a breakfast treat, afternoon snack, or dessert.

If you’ve been looking for a gluten free baked good that actually feels special, this one is it. Let me show you how to make it.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Tastes Like a Gingerbread Cookie in Bread Form – The warm spices and molasses give you that classic gingerbread cookie flavor but in a soft sliceable loaf.

The Cream Cheese Glaze Takes It Over the Top – That tangy cream cheese drizzle balances the warm spices perfectly and makes every slice feel special.

You Would Never Know It Is Gluten Free – The almond flour adds moisture and richness so the texture is soft and tender with zero grittiness.

Ingredients

For the Bread

• 2 cups Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
• 1/2 cup Almond Flour
• 2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
• 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
• 1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/3 cup Unsulfured Molasses
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup Buttermilk

For the Cream Cheese Glaze

• 3 oz Cream Cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup Powdered Sugar
• 2 tbsp Whole Milk
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

How to Make

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.

Step 2

In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten free baking flour, almond flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Step 3

In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and dark brown sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the molasses and beat until incorporated. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla extract and buttermilk until smooth.

Step 4

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients using a spatula until just combined. The batter will be thick and deeply aromatic with warm spices.

Step 5

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is domed and set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Step 6

Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 7

While the bread cools, beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until completely smooth and thick but drizzleable. Drizzle generously over the cooled bread, letting it drip down the sides. Let the glaze set for 10 minutes before slicing.

My Tips

Don’t Overmix the Batter

Gluten free batters can get gummy fast if you overwork them. Once you fold the dry ingredients into the wet, stop as soon as you don’t see any dry flour pockets left.

The batter will be thick and that’s totally fine. Resist the urge to keep mixing until it’s “smooth” because that’s not the goal here. A few small lumps won’t affect the final bread at all.

Overmixing will make the bread dense and gummy instead of soft and tender. Just fold gently with a spatula and you’re good.

Make Sure Your Butter and Eggs Are Actually Softened

“Softened butter” means you can press your finger into it and leave a dent, but it shouldn’t be melty or greasy. If your butter is still cold, the brown sugar won’t cream into it properly and you’ll get a heavier bread.

Pull your butter and eggs out of the fridge about 45 minutes before you start. Cold eggs won’t blend smoothly into the creamed butter and can cause the mixture to look curdled.

If you forgot to take them out early, you can cut the butter into small pieces and let it sit for 15 minutes, and place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.

Use Dark Brown Sugar, Not Light

This recipe calls for dark brown sugar specifically because it has more molasses in it than light brown sugar. Combined with the unsulfured molasses already in the recipe, it gives the bread that deep, warm gingerbread flavor.

If you swap in light brown sugar, the bread will taste milder and won’t have that rich, almost caramel-like flavor that makes gingerbread so good. It’s worth grabbing the dark kind for this one.

More Tasty Recipes

• Gluten Free Cinnamon Swirl Loaf
• Gluten Free Maple Pumpkin Bread
• Gluten Free Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies
• Gluten Free Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls
• Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Loaf

FAQ

My toothpick still has wet batter on it after 60 minutes – what should I do?

Gluten free breads can sometimes take a bit longer to bake through, especially if your oven runs a little cool. Just tent the top loosely with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning and continue baking in 5-minute increments until the toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs, not wet batter.

Also make sure you’re testing the very center of the loaf, since the edges will set much faster than the middle. A few sticky crumbs are fine, but raw batter means it needs more time.