These gluten free funfetti cookie cups make a fun and festive dessert that is perfect for birthdays, holidays, or any special occasion. Each little gluten free sugar cookie cup is filled with vanilla buttercream frosting, and topped with more funfetti! There is also a dairy-free option.
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Funfetti cookie cups are a fun and colorful dessert that is made from my soft and chewy gluten free sugar cookie dough. The cookie dough is then baked in a muffin tin and the middles are pressed in to create cup shapes. I loved mixing the cookie dough with rainbow-colored sprinkles, which gave them their festive look.
If you love chocolate, I also have a really good Gluten Free Chocolate Cookie Cups recipe too!
Why This Recipe Is Great:
- They are bite-sized desserts that are really great for parties.
- Nobody can tell this dessert is gluten free so they are great to serve to everyone.
- You can customize them for any holiday or birthday party theme.
- You can make the cookie cups ahead and then fill and decorate them when you are ready to serve them.
If you love baking cookies, I have 100s of yummy gluten free cookie recipes for you to try.
This is one of my favorite gluten-free flour blends for cookies, cakes, pie crust, biscuits, and muffins! (Do not use this flour blend for yeast recipes.)
Ingredient Notes:
- Gluten Free Flour Blend - I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend. That doesn't mean others will not work; I just have not tested other flours. Note you may need 1-2 additional tablespoon if you use Bob's blend.
- Xanthan Gum - If your blend does not have a binder like xanthan or guar gum, you will need to add one teaspoon.
- Baking Powder - Use aluminum-free.
- Sugar - I used organic white cane sugar. If you use coconut sugar, your cookies will turn brown.
- Salt - I used kosher salt, but sea salt is also fine.
- Butter - Use unsalted butter.
- Eggs - Size large.
- Vanilla Extract - Use pure vanilla extract.
- Powdered Sugar - If your powdered sugar has clumps, I recommend sifting them out.
- Sprinkles - There are a lot of brands of sprinkles. Check my Gluten Free Sprinkles List to be sure your sprinkles are gluten free.
Baking Tips:
- Use room-temperature butter and eggs. I know that it sounds crazy to use butter and eggs at room temperature, but it dramatically helps how your cookies will turn out. You'll thank yourself later if you try it.
- Take special care to measure correctly. If you add in too much gluten free flour or other ingredients, it can mess with the cookies as they bake. If they don't have the proper ratios of ingredients, you may end up with dry cookie cups.
- To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
If you love to bake, be sure to read all of my Gluten Free Baking Tips so you can bake gluten free like a pro!
Recipe Step-By-Step Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350º F and set the oven rack to the middle position.
Step 1: Add the dry ingredients to a large
Step 2: Add the wet ingredients to a bowl. Warm the butter so it mixes well.
Step 3: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and add the sprinkles. Mix them into the funfetti cookie dough.
Step 4: Spray non-stick oil in a mini muffin pan and add some cookie dough to each cup. As you can see, I made a variety of colors, including the funfetti.
Step 5: Bake the gluten free rainbow sprinkle cookie cups for 11 minutes. Remove them from the oven.
Step 6: Press the middle down in each cookie section with a small glass or jar. You want to do this while the cookies are hot.
🔑 Sandi says: Do not try to pull the cookie cups out of the pan after baking. They will fall apart if you remove them too soon. Press the middles down and then let the cookie cups sit in the pan for 5 minutes to slightly firm up.
Step 7: After waiting 5 minutes, carefully remove the cookie cups and place them on a wire rack to cool. Do not fill the cups until they are completely cooled.
Step 8: Mix up your frosting. I share the frosting recipe below, but I have a lot of fun tips to add flavor and color to your frosting in this Gluten Free Frosting tutorial.
Step 9: Use a piping bag with a frosting tip to pipe frosting into each cookie cup. I used a small star tip, but you can use any decorative frosting tip. You can use a small ziplock baggie if you do not have a frosting tip and piping bag. Cut the tip off and pipe gently into the cookie cup.
You may also love these Gluten Free Black Forest Cookie Cups.
Tips and Recipe FAQ:
Mix up your gluten free cookie dough. From here you can refrigerate or freeze the dough. You can also make the cookie cups and freeze the cups until you are ready to fill and serve them.
If you are short on time, you can easily make this recipe using any store-bought gluten free cookie mix. If you use a chocolate chip cookie mix, I would make sure to look for one with tiny chocolate chips. Large chips will leave potential holes in your cookie cups.
Store these cookie cups in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Piping your frosting has a little bit of a learning curve, but many frosting patterns are really simple to pipe! This tutorial by Wilton has a lot of easy videos to show you how to make all sorts of designs with frosting.
Yes! These cookie cups are easy to make dairy-free. Use a plant-based butter of your choice.
Make Gluten Free Cookie Cup Flavors:
You can make cookie cups from any of these delicious gluten free cookie recipes!
- Gluten Free Red Velvet Cookies - They would be gorgeous for Valentine's Day cookie cups.
- Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies - These are the best filled with peanut butter or chocolate frosting!
- Gluten Free Snickerdoodles - Mr. Fearless Dining's favorite cookie.
- Gluten Free Gingerdoodles - These would be fun for the Christmas holiday!
📖 Recipe
Easy Gluten Free Funfetti Cookie Cups
*As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend * see note
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder aluminum-free
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup funfetti sprinkles
Frosting
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup softened butter unsalted
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Add all of your dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Use a wire whisk to blend them all together.
- Warm the butter in a small glass dish for 25 seconds to partially melt it. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk to blend.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the funfetti sprinkles, and mix well.
- Note that you can use a standing mixer with a paddle attachment if you prefer. If you use a stand mixer, you will need to add the wet ingredients first, then gradually add the dry ingredients.
- Spray a mini muffin pan with coconut or another non-stick oil. Use a small cookie scoop to drop cookie batter into each cup. Press it flat with a small spoon.
- Bake the mini muffins for 12-15 minutes until done. Remove the cookies from the oven and quickly use a small jar to press the middle down in each cookie.
- Let the cookie cups cool before trying to remove them. If they are too hot, they will fall apart when you try to lift them out. Let them sit for about 5 minutes minimum.
- Gently remove the cups to a wire cooling rack. I use a knife to lift each out of the pan gently. Let them cool completely before filling.
- Mix up the frosting by adding the ingredients to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Start on low and gradually increase the speed.
- See the Notes section for ideas on how to color and flavor your frosting.
Notes
- I tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure and Bob's Red Mill 1:1 GF Blends. Other blends should work, but I have not tested them to verify the results will work.
- If your blend doesn't have a binder like xanthan or guar gum, add one teaspoon.
- If you want to flavor or color your frosting, here are awesome frosting tips.
- Verify your sprinkles are gluten free on my Sprinkles List.
- Store the cookie cups in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Freeze unfilled cookie cups in a zip-style storage bag.
SPECIAL NOTE
Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn't test, you may need to adjust your moisture levels in your baked goods.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
Fearless Dining
Simplifying the art of baking and cooking gluten-free recipes.
Judy Tobin
I love the idea. Can you freeze the cookie cups? if so would you fill them before or after?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Judy, I would fill them after freezing. To prevent them from getting crushed, you will want to flash freeze them on a small tray and then put the frozen cookie cups into a freezer-safe container or zipper bag.