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| My Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Recipe (No rolling out needed at all!) |
What Christmas goodies make Christmas special for you?
For us, it's soft and fluffy, cut-out sugar cookies with buttercream frosting and sprinkles, maple-frosted molasses cookies, coconut macaroons with a maraschino cherry in the center, and creamy homemade fudge loaded with chopped pecans.
That's what I used to make for Christmas Day for just the two of us!
I don't do all of that anymore, but I do pick one or two goodies to make for the holiday week between Christmas and the New Year. Usually two recipes, because hubby loves the coconut macaroons best and I have to limit the amount of coconut I eat, due to the fiber.
When I was growing up, Christmas dinner was never a big deal for us. Christmas meant a Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christ's birthday, cinnamon rolls for breakfast because they were super easy to make ahead, and lots of Christmas cookies.
We always had tons of cookies left over from the Christmas plates that mom put together for us to give out to the neighbors and her friends at church.
Going gluten free doesn't mean you have to change all of your holiday traditions.
Chocolate cake, molasses cookies, sugar cookies, and even fudge can all be made gluten free. It just takes a little patience, time, and the right recipe.
In my experience, Christmas isn't the time to experiment. I do that throughout the year, so I'll have some fail-proof recipes to use for the holidays, such as these deliciously easy gluten-free sugar cookies.
However, I've already done the experimenting for you, so you don't have to worry about that. Go ahead and give these a try for the holiday.
To save time, these cookies are rolled into balls and flattened with the bottom of a glass, making them a great project to do with the kids. You don't have to mess with cookie cutters unless you want to.
A word of caution:
If you change any of the ingredients in the following recipe, you might get different results. Gluten-free baking is just that picky. While this recipe is quite forgiving, the texture of the cookies will change dramatically, depending on the brand of gluten-free flour mix you use.
Since I always use a homemade mix for all of my recipes, I have linked to the recipe for our homemade flour mix in the list of ingredients below.
Easy Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:- 1-1/4 cups gluten-free flour mix
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 cup soft butter
- 1/8 cup shortening (2 tablespoons)
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
In another bowl, cream the butter, shortening, and cream cheese together until it is nice and fluffy. You can do this with an electric mixer or just with a fork. I did it with a fork, but if you do that way, don't rush this step. It needs to be well combined.
Add the sugar and continue creaming it together until the sugar is well absorbed into the butter mixture.
Add egg and vanilla, and stir vigorously, until smooth.
Gradually, stir in the flour mixture until it comes together into a dough. Don't over beat the batter or your cookies will come out tough.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
Once the dough is well chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or non-stick foil. You can also use a silicone mat like this one if you have one.
I use these silicone mats quite a bit because they are very easy to clean and keep the cookies from over baking. You simply place them inside the lip of your cookie sheet as you would parchment or foil.
Roll the chilled dough into walnut-sized balls, about 1-inch to 1-1/2 inches in diameter, and place a good 2-inches apart on your prepared cookie sheet. I made mine 1-1/2 inches or so, for a total of 13 cookies.
You need plenty of room to flatten out the cookies.
Dip a glass in tapioca flour and then press down on the dough ball until it flattens into a circle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick, or more. The thicker you make the cookies, the softer they will be, once baked.
If you want them crispy, go for the smaller sized dough ball and flatten to 1/8 of an inch thick.
Making them this way gives you perfectly round sugar cookies without having to mess with cookie cutters.
Bake for 6 to 8 minutes.
You want them to puff and just barely begin to turn brown underneath. They should also not look raw at all.
Where you put your pan in the oven really matters with these, as well as the size of the flattened cookie. I have an electric oven, so I use the lower rack and bake them for 6 to 8 minutes since I make them a bit larger.
Do not over-bake, or your cookies will be too crunchy.
Allow the cookies to sit on the hot cookie sheet for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. This will continue to cook the cookies a bit firmer. Remove to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.
Cookies stiffen up during the cooling process, then soften again once frosted. Place the cookies on a plate or platter, and tightly wrap the platter in plastic to store.
Do not use foil to wrap or the cookies will come out hard.
*For Cookie Cutters:
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| This gluten-free sugar cookie recipe can also be made by rolling out the dough and shaping with cookie cutters |
This dough does roll out after chilling if you'd rather do it that way. Sprinkle your work surface with tapioca or corn starch. Don't use potato starch for this step because your cookies will come out too dry.
Divide the chilled dough into two pieces and place the unused portion back into the refrigerator, so it stays cold.
Sprinkle your rolling pin with tapioca or corn starch and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch, or more. The thicker the dough, the more tender and softer the baked cookie will be. For crisp cookies, roll to 1/8 inch thick instead.
Cut into your desired shapes and place on the prepared cookie sheet, arranging them at least 2 inches apart. Bake and cool as in the above instructions.
Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Gluten-Free Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream, or more
If you do this in a stand mixer, you need to use the "whip" attachment, rather then the beater attachment. Since you want to whip air into the frosting, the beater won't get the job done properly.
Mixture will still be a bit crumbly and dry.
Add whipping cream and continue to beat until the texture changes.
The beating process whips in a lot of air and enables the cream to form whip cream that mixes into the frosting, hence the name "buttercream."
This will take several minutes. Don't rush it or the frosting will come out too thin to spread. Add more whipping cream, as needed to give you the proper texture, during the beating process.
I had to add an additional tablespoon of heavy cream for the frosting on the cookies in the Pinterest pin above.
It's difficult to know exactly how much cream you're going to need because it depends on your altitude, humidity, and whether you're using an electric mixer or a stand mixer.
Final Notes
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| If you store these gluten-free sugar cookies properly they will last for 3 or 4 days on the counter |
Frost cookies and decorate once they have cooled completely.
Cookies will stiffen up during the cooling process, then soften again once frosted. Arrange on a platter, and wrap the platter tightly with plastic wrap to store. Do not use foil to wrap the platter or the cookies will dry out.
Gluten-free baked goods have to be kept air-tight. But do not place them in the refrigerator. The refrigerator will also cause them to dry out.
When stored properly, these cookies will last 3 or 4 days.
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