When it comes to gluten free baking some things convert really well! Things like slices and brownies! Of course, not everything is quite that simple or easy. And some recipes are just plain tough! Take my Gluten Free Melting Moments for example. This classic Australian biscuit came down to the difference of 4 grams of butter. Too much butter and they were a puddle in the oven, too little, a crumbly mess. So it came as no surprise that when I started trying to create the perfect Gluten Free Sugar Cookie it was a bit of a struggle. BUT! As I’ve said before, nothing is impossible and if there is a will there is a way. (and dammit but will for Gluten Free Sugar Cookies is strong!)
Naturally they took a lot of trial and error. But once nailed I found myself with what I consider to be the perfect Gluten Free sugar cookie. Minimal spreading, perfect for decorating, these cookies make the ideal gift. And even more so, make the perfect Christmas cookie! Hell, even plain, these babies are delicious and I truly struggle to stop at just one.
You Use What Now?
I can’t tell you the amount of times I see a gluten free recipe with the oddest of ingredients. Like almond meal in a melting moment! Can you say “what the!!”. Sometimes I think people automatically presume they HAVE to use strange ingredients to convert something to gluten free. When in reality it really isn’t that hard. Especially these days. Now, 7 years ago when I was first diagnosed I may have said something completely different. But in these last few years we have seen such an incredible array of gluten free products come out. And not just clever products made by people who actually understand, but these products have become main stream and easy to find. Making it even easier for us gluten free home bakers to whip up our favourite treats.
So it really comes as no surprise then that my Gluten Free Sugar Cookies are not only super tasty but easy to boot. I always try to keep the home baker in mind when I convert recipes. So I always try to use easy to find store bought gluten free flours. My favourite at the moment has to be Well and Good’s range of plain and self raising gluten free flour available from IGA. But the Orgran plain flour also works well in these! Throw in some butter, sugar and eggs and wollah! Super simple.
The Key To Perfect Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
To be honest, the key to any perfect cookie, gluten free or not, is to rest the dough in the fridge. As I’m sure you’ve read on my Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, it really does make a difference. In this case though, it’s a non-negotiable! As is an accurate oven temperature. So yes, I won’t lie, these cookies do take a little bit more time than usual. But they are ohhhhh so worth it!
All you have to do is whip up a standard batch of cookies, like you would almost any other basic recipe. Then instead of popping them straight onto a tray and into the oven, you wrap your dough up in cling wrap, flatten it into a disc and pop it in the fridge for 45 minutes or the freezer for 20 minutes. Once chilled, your dough will be so much easier to deal with, and your shapes will cut out beautifully. Another quick 15-20 minutes in the fridge to harden up and your divine gluten free sugar cookies won’t spread once in the oven! It’s as easy as that.
So whether you need a basic cookie to ice, or a scrummy cookie to gift at Christmas. My Gluten Free Sugar Cookies should be your go-to recipe! Give them a try today and let me know in the comments below how you plan on using your cookies!
For more easy and delicious Gluten Free Christmas recipes check out my new eBook, A Very Merry Gluten Free Christmas!
Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 200 grams Salted Butter softened
- 1 cup Icing Sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 3/4 cup Gluten Free Plain Flour see notes for brand
- 1/4 cup Rice Flour
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl place the butter and icing sugar. Beat on high until you have a creamy, light and fluffy mixture.
- Add your egg and vanilla extract and beat again until they incorporate fully and return to a fluffy mixture.
- Pop your salt and flours in on top and bring together with a spoon. You will need to make sure all of your flour is mixed in thoroughly. Your dough will be quite sticky still at this stage.
- Transfer your dough to a large piece of cling wrap and cover well. You don't want any pieces bare otherwise they will dry out once chilling. Smooth your dough out in the cling wrap and flatten slightly into a disc shape. Leave in the fridge for 45 minutes or 20 minutes in the freezer to chill.
- Once your dough has finished chilling, you can heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Pull your dough out and leave on your bench to come back to room temperature just so that it is workable. Approx 10 minutes (though this can vary depending on how hot or cold your home is at the time).
- Unwrap and place your dough onto a well floured bench. Sprinkle a little extra flour on top and flour your rolling pin well. Begin to work your dough out. If the dough is tearing or cracking too much it's still too cold. Allow it to warm up a little and try again.
- Keep rolling your dough out until you have an even 1cm thickness. Using floured cookie cutters cut out your shapes and transfer them to a prepared tray covered in a piece of baking paper. An egg slicer or off set spatula can be handy here if they are a little soft to move still.
- Your cookies won't spread, so you can place them quite close together on your tray! Once your tray is full, pop it into the fridge for a further 15 minutes. This is just to solidify the butter in your cookies and stop them from spreading!
- Once hard, transfer them straight into the oven for 8 minutes. They will not colour on top, though you might find a corner or two goes just a light brown on the edge. Once the 8 minutes is up, pop them out and leave them to fully cool on the tray before transferring to a wire rack.
- Finish with royal icing decorations or enjoy as is! These babies will keep for over a week in an air tight container.
Notes
- Well and Good Gluten Free Flour blend is my go-to for these cookies! But any store bought GF blend will do the trick!
- The key is definitely to chill your dough - TWICE!
- As is ensuring your oven is actually at 180 degree. I highly recommend using a thermometer within your oven to check it's sitting at the correct temperature when you transfer your cookies.
- To get the pretty patterns in the biscuits pictured above, I used a rolling pin with etching in it to finish off each slab of dough, then cutting out my shapes with cutters!
Hi,
Just a query, why do you use salted butter? Most recipes I have seen use unsalted, is that because these are gluten free?
Hi Kate,
Thanks so much for stopping by.
The addition of salted butter has nothing to do with gluten free and everything to do with flavour. Originally there was not such thing as unsalted butter, all butter was salted. Recipes use unsalted butter more these days because people believe it’s healthier for you. Which if you’re watching how much sodium is in your diet, it certainly is (but let’s be honest you probably shouldn’t be eating sugar cookies if you’re wanting to be healthy haha). If you look back at older recipes (which is where I often take my inspiration from) they use simply butter, which is actually salted butter.
Salt also plays many different parts in baking. Salt enhances flavours first and foremost which is why it’s added in all types of cooking, it also can play a large part in the moisture levels of a finished item (as salt draws moisture to itself). In yeasted products like breads it also helps to strengthen the product and give you more lift.
The reason I use it, comes down to like I said above, flavour. I’ve made these cookies with unsalted butter and salted butter and I can tell you they are by far tastier and more melt-in-your mouth with salted butter! If you want to make them and have no salted butter in the house, you will need to add approx 1/4 tsp of salt during the beating stage to get the same level of flavour.
Hope this answers your question!
Happy baking!
Stacey x
Hi, I’m baking these today for my daugher’s b’day party and just wanted to check…. you mention to roll them to 1-2cm thickness – do you mean cm or mm? I was just thinking that would be quite a thick cookie if cm?
Also, I have a thermomix so can mill my own rice flour – assuming that would be fine compared to store bought?
Many thanks
I have some of this dough in the fridge right now! Am making it with vanilla bean paste instead of extract (because I ran out) and margarine instead of butter. It comes pre-softened!
Hi Shannon,
Thanks for stopping by and that’s great to hear. However you’ll likely find your biscuits will spread and not hold their shape due to using margarine. Due to the “pre-softened fact” and the fact margarine is made with oil and not butter means they won’t harden. When you chill the cookies you’re setting the butter to hard, so that when they hit the hot oven the cookies have time to cook and hold their shape. Margarine means they won’t harden and so instead are already too soft when they go in the heat = spreading. I would recommend next time you use hard block butter instead. This is also why cookies don’t convert to dairy free well either. Remember they’ll still taste nice even if they’re wonky!
Thanks and happy baking,
Stacey