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!
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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! Try my lofthouse gluten free Christmas Cookies next!
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.
Do I need to chill the dough?
Yes, you definitely need to chill the dough for cutout cookies! I chilled the dough for about 2 hours, which I recommend.
It allows the flavors to marinate together and ensures the cookies don’t spread prematurely in the oven and hold the shape of the cookie cutters you use.
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!
- Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
- Funfetti Cookies
- Oat Flour Cookies
- Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Bars
Lastly, if you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. If you make this recipe, be sure to tag me on instagram and leave a comment below!
Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet
- ¾ cup room temperature butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Dry
- 2 ⅓ cups gluten free all purpose baking flour I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Royal Icing
- 3 egg whites
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- 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.
- 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!
Notes
Comments
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Made these last year and loved them. Is it possible to make the dough in advance and pause at the refrigerated dough step? I see freezing recommendations for baked but wondering of I can keep the raw dough chilled in the fridge for a few days before baking fresh. Thanks!
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Yes! I’d probably baked within 48-72 hours.
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These are the BEST. Exactly as written. I have very fond childhood memories of decorating and eating sugar cookies with my mom and these are identical in flavor and texture. It’s a lot of work, but worth it to be able to have the same experience with my kids.
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Makes me so happy! Thank you, Kim!
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Hi! Quick question. I saw your directions above for drop style cookies which is likely what I’ll do. I’ll add the recommended 1/4 tsp baking soda. Approx what size ‘scoop’ should I use? 1 TBSP, 2 TBSP etc? (I don’t actually have cookie dough scoop but can just use a big spoon and get it as close to your recommended as possible) Thanks so much 😁!
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I’d suggest about 1 1/2 tablespoons!
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These are literally the most perfect cookie in the universe. The only change I made was doing 1/2 t vanilla and 1/2 t almond extract. I think these would be perfect for Christmas and could easily be made into snickerdoodles!
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Love the addition of almond extract! I’ll have to try that.
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Made these for my kids and they absolutely loved them that I had to make another batch! I followed the recipe as exactly as written. Thank you for the delicious recipes! Love them all!!
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Perfect! Always happy when a recipe is kid-approved 🙂
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