Gluten Free Cut Out Sugar Cookies
A small batch of Gluten Free Cut Out Sugar Cookies that hold their shape and are perfect for decorating! The cookies are delicately sweet and made with an almond flour blend to make the cookies soft, yet sturdy. This is an easy sugar cookie recipe that also includes an easy cookie icing!
Servings: 1 Dozen
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie Cutters
Ingredients
Gluten Free Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- 3/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot starch/flour
- 2 tablespoons tapioca starch/flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 and 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar I use organic cane sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sugar Cookie Icing
- 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon meringue powder optional
- 3 to 5 tablespoons water or milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
Gluten Free Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, arrowroot flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar. Using a hand held mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light a creamy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Note - See Notes on using a stand mixer.
- Sprinkle about half of the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and mix on low until just incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms. Note - The dough starts off crumbly and may seem too dry. Continue to mix and a dough will eventually for - this may take a couple minutes.
- Pour the cookie dough into the center of a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a disc. Wrap the dough tightly in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or even overnight.
- When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Line a baking sheet with a piece of plastic wrap.
- Very lightly flour your work surface with arrowroot flour. Roll the chilled dough to your desired cookie thickness. I roll my cookies to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the cookies using cookie cutters and place on the baking sheet. Repeat as necessary. Note - The number of cookies you yield from the recipe will depend on how thick you roll the dough and the size of cookie cutters you use.
- Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges start to turn a light golden brown. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet set on a wire cooling rack for 5 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to the wire rack to cool completely.
Sugar Cookie Icing
- In a mixing bowl (or stand mixer), add all of the ingredients. I recommend starting with 3 tablespoons of water (or milk). Using a hand held mixer with whisk attachments, beat on medium speed until an peaks start to form in the icing. Add more water (or milk) to achieve your desired icing consistency. Note - The meringue powder is optional. It makes the icing sturdy, light and fluffy, and dry faster.
- Decorate cooled cookies as desired and Enjoy!
Notes
- Mixing the Cookie Dough - If you prefer to mix the dough with your stand mixer, I recommend a smaller mixing bowl to mix the small batch ingredients evenly. A regular size mixing bowl is more likely to push all of the ingredients to the side of the bowl without actually mixing them. I use a 3 quart mixing bowl on my tilt-head stand mixer. It works with the regular size attachments.
- Freezing the Cookie Dough – The cookie dough can be frozen – for up to 3 months. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap generously in plastic wrap, and place in a Ziploc bag to freeze. Defrost the cookie dough in the refrigerator.
- Freezing Baked Cookies – Baked and decorated cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months. Either in a Tupperware, or gently placed in a Ziploc bag. Defrost the cookies at room temperature – this may take 1 to 3 hours.
- Meringue Powder - The meringue powder is optional. It will make the icing fluffy, sturdy, and dry faster.