Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

These gluten free sugar cookies have crispy edges, chewy centers and are so easy to make. These cutout sugar cookies are perfect for all of your Holiday baking needs and can be made dairy free!

It’s officially cookie season and these gluten free sugar cookies are a must bake. They’re made with pantry staple ingredients and are so fun to make!

They’re buttery, perfectly sweet, have crisp edges and chewy centers and are topped with a simple three ingredient royal icing.

I opted to make these into cutout cookies, but you can easily make these into regular drop cookies with a few simple tweaks.

If you love this recipe, try my gingerbread cookies, almond flour sugar cookies or funfetti cookies next!

Before we get started…

• Make sure the butter is at room temperature. If you forget, you can cut into cubes, then microwave for a few seconds until soft to the touch but not melted.
• Be sure to spoon and level the flour to measure or you will end up with dry cookies.
• It helps to lightly grease and flour your cookie cutters so the dough doesn’t stick to the edges.

How to make gluten free sugar cookies

Add the room temperature butter to a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Cream together with the sugar until well combined.

Add in the egg and vanilla and beat together. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt and beat together until a dough forms. Switch to a rubber spatula as needed.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours. Don’t skip this! After 2 hours, preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes. If the dough is a bit too firm, just let it sit for a few minutes. I suggest rolling the dough on a floured piece of parchment paper to ensure nothing sticks.

Place onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the cookies look set. If you like them chewy, you don’t want to wait until the edges are too golden.

Keep in mind if you use different sized cookie cutters, they will have slightly different bake times. Try to keep similarly sized ones on the same cookie sheet!

How long they need to cook really depends on the cookie cutters you use and how big they are, so keep an eye on them!

Let cool completely, then prep the icing by beating the egg whites for 1 full minute, then slowly add in the powdered sugar and vanilla until well combined. Ice once cool and decorated as desired, enjoy!

Make drop style cookies!

If you aren’t feeling cutout cookies and want to just make regular drop sugar cookies, you can easily do that.

One, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to the dough. This will encourage the cookies to spread. Second, only chill the dough for 1 hour instead of 2.

Scoop the dough after chilling and place on a baking sheet with parchment paper, flatten slightly, then bake for about 10-14 minutes.

Ingredient swaps

Flour. I always use the Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour which I highly recommend for this recipe. You can try a different gluten free blend, but make sure it has xanthan gum!

Egg. Even though this recipe only have one egg, I don’t recommend a vegan substitute here. Cutout cookies can be tricky, and in order for them to retain their shape and not crumble, the egg is really key!

Butter. You can, however, make these dairy free by using dairy free butter in place of regular! I do not recommend coconut oil because the flavor will be much more bland.

Sugar. You need regular white sugar here and I don’t recommend any swaps. This recipe is not designed to be healthy, just a good old classic sugar cookie, but gluten free!

Do they keep?

Once prepared, these gluten free sugar cookies will keep at room temperature for about 5 days. I suggest storing them in an air tight container for best results.

You can also freeze these cookies before decorating. Just allow the cookies to cool completely, then transfer to a a freezer safe bag for up to 2 months. Reheat at 300 just until warm through the center.

Try these next!

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