Fall is in the air, so it's the perfect time to make a batch of these delicious Gluten Free Halloween Cut Out Cookies! The secret is that eating these soft Halloween Sugar cookies is only half the fun! Decorating them is the really exciting part.
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Many holidays are spent decorating gluten-free cut-out cookies at my house. It's something that is relaxing and gives us time to hang out as a family. You can use any cookie cutters you like, and this recipe is also great for any holiday!
If you are looking for a creative way to have some fun, this is the cookie recipe to make. Plus, delivering a batch to friends or the kids' classmates is fun. It's impossible to eat one of these Halloween cookies without a smile on your face.
If you love to bake, be sure to check out my Gluten Free Baking Tips so that your baked goods turn out great.
Why These Gluten Free Halloween Cookies Are Great:
- This cut out sugar cookie recipe is easy to work with and tastes scrumptious.
- These cookies are perfect for Halloween parties, class parties, and cookie exchange parties.
- I have many photos of every step of decorating cookies with royal icing so that you can decorate them easily.
If you love cookies as much as we do, you will want to check out all of my incredible gluten free cookie recipes! These Gluten Free Halloween Cookie Mix Jars are also perfect as hostess gifts.
Ingredient Notes:
- Gluten Free Flour Blend - I tested this recipe using Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour Blend and King Arthur's Measure for Measure Gluten Free Blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours, and I can not guarantee the recipe will work if you use other mixes.
- Xanthan Gum - If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or guar gum, please add one teaspoon.
- Cream of Tartar - This is important to use in royal icing.
- Sugar - Be sure to use regular white sugar and not coarse sugar.
- Powdered Sugar - This is for the royal icing.
- Butter - Use unsalted butter. To make these gluten free Halloween cookies dairy-free, use vegan butter.
- Egg - Use size large.
- Pure Vanilla Extract - This is a recipe where you want to use real vanilla extract and not imitation.
- Food coloring - You can use regular or more natural food coloring. Use liquid or gel food coloring.
Recipe Step-By-Step Directions:
Are you ready to make these delicious gluten free soft Halloween cookies? First, grab some awesome Halloween cookie cutters. I used this 5 piece Halloween Cookie Cutter Set. Next, gather the ingredients you need.
I will walk you through both the gluten free sugar cookie recipe used to make these cut out cookies. Then I will show you how to make the royal icing and use it to decorate these gluten free Halloween cookies.
Step 1: Add the gluten free flour blend, sugar, and salt to a large
Step 2: Mix your softened butter, vanilla, and egg together in a smaller bowl, then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix well into a thick cookie dough. (It should not be crumbly, though!)
Step 3: Here is where I tell you I am a bit remiss and didn't get photos of the rolled-out cookie dough. I am going to list out the steps:
- Take the sugar cookie batter and wrap it in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for 45 minutes until cool. This will also help to remove any grittiness from the flour blend.
- Remove the gluten free Halloween cut out cookie dough from the refrigerator. Place on wax paper and place another piece of wax paper on top.
- Use a rolling pin to flatten and spread the gluten-free sugar cookie dough. Roll to ½ inch thickness.
- Grab your Halloween cookie cutters and press the cookie cutters down into the cookie dough.
- Place the cut out cookie dough shapes onto a parchment paper-lined
cookie sheet and bake at 350º F for 9-10 minutes. - Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
How To Decorate Cookies With Royal Icing:
Step 1: First, you want to trace the areas you will use the royal icing and the areas where you will use different colors. Use an edible cookie marker to trace your designs out on the cut-out cookies. (That marker will be the best $2.89 you have ever spent if you love to decorate with royal icing!)
Step 2: Add the royal icing ingredients to a standing mixer with a whisk attachment. Whip up your homemade royal icing by starting on low speed. Gradually increase the speed. You want your royal icing to be firm and not runny to hold its shape well.
Step 3: Grab some of these ramekins. I use them to make lots of colors of royal icing.
Put a small amount of royal icing into a bunch of different containers. Add the food coloring you want to each and mix.
Step 4: Add each colored icing into a piping bag. You do not need a frosting tip. You only want to snip a tiny bit off the corner, so a small amount comes out.
HINT: Do not cut too much off the end of the piping bag, or your royal icing will come out too thick and fast.
Step 5: This is where those lines you drew on the cookies come in handy. Pipe the icing onto a section of the cookie. Use a toothpick to spread the icing to fill a section. The lines help you know where to put the royal icing.
Step 6: Allow the icing to dry. Royal icing dries pretty quickly. Then you can start the next section. This gives you textured areas like the sections of the pumpkin.
Use your colors to decorate each cookie. My daughter is making a green icing leaf for her pumpkin cut-out cookie here.
Here is a close-up to see how icing in sections works.
Adding more layers of royal icing of decoration to the Halloween cut-out cookies.
Someone had a little too much fun decorating the cat-shaped Halloween cookies :-). Here are answers to questions you may have about making these Halloween cookies:
How To Prevent Cut Out Cookies From Spreading:
There are many reasons why gingerbread cookies spread. There are a few things you can do to remedy this issue. Take a look at these tips to prevent this from happening:
- 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 a disaster.
- Chill the dough when possible. I know you are probably ready to eat your cookies right now, but taking a few minutes to chill the batter makes them less likely to spread.
- Your oven temperature may be off. Periodically, check your oven temperature to make sure it's right. Otherwise, the cookies will, for sure, spread if it's not accurate.
- Use a cooled
cookie sheet when baking. Don't take a hotcookie sheet and put the batter on it, or I promise the cookies won't turn out. They start baking immediately, and it messes with their shape of them. Use a couple of sheets and rotate them out when making large batches of cookies. - Don't let the cookies sit on the pan too long. After they have baked, only let them sit on the baking sheet for up to 5 minutes. The pan will still be hot, and continue baking them otherwise.
Tips and Recipe FAQ:
They say royal icing can last up to 3-4 days in the refrigerator. I haven't had any leftovers to test this out yet.
Yes, absolutely, you can freeze gluten free sugar cookies! You can frost them beforehand and then flash-freeze them.
After they are frozen to the touch, the cookies can be placed in an airtight container lasting 2-3 months. Then you can just grab a gluten free cookie here and there as needed.
Whenever you bake cut out sugar cookies, spreading can be a huge problem if you cut and bake them right away. You will have a lot better results if you place the gluten free Halloween cut out cookies on the baking sheet, then put them in the freezer.
I recommend just letting them sit in the freezer for around 10 minutes. This will help them stay in the shapes that you want, and they are less likely to spread.
I have found that dipping the cutter in flour is the easiest and most convenient way to keep the cookie dough from sticking to the cookie cutters.
Just use the gluten free flour blend you have on hand and dip the cutter in the flour, then cut some cookies and repeat. This will keep you making uniform-shaped cookies and allows you to keep your sanity.
These cookies will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator or up to 4 months in the freezer.
This post was updated from an older October 2019 post with more detailed directions.
More Gluten Free Halloween Recipes:
- Fall Time Gluten Free Pumpkin Madeleines
- Halloween Candy Gluten Free Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Gluten Free Black Velvet Cupcakes
- Gluten Free Mummy Wrapped Hot Dogs
Recipe
Gluten Free Halloween Cut Out Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend
- 1 egg
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅔ cup butter softened a lot
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Royal Icing
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 egg whites
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- pinch salt
- Food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- In a bowl, add your dry cookie ingredients and whisk to blend.
- Put the wet ingredients into a smaller bowl and whisk to blend.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for 45 minutes.
- Remove from the refrigerator and place the dough on wax paper. Place another piece of wax paper on top.
- Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is ½ inch thick.
- Take your favorite cookie cutters and cut out cookies.
- Place the cut out cookies on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack.
- Make the icing!
- Using a standing mixer, add powdered sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar and salt.
- Turn the mixer on SLOW. (If you turn it on too fast, it will explode sugar everywhere!)
- Slowly mix the icing for 9 minutes until it becomes somewhat fluffy and thick.
- Decorate your cookies, don't forget to let each color icing dry before adding another color, otherwise, the colors can run together.
Notes
- I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF, Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend, and Authentic Foods Multi Blend in this recipe. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
- These cookies will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
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.
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This post was updated from an older June 2015 post with more details and easier-to-follow directions.
Kimberly
The dough would not come together at all for me until I added 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of water ...
With only the butter and dry mix it was the consistency of almond meal and would not bing
Sandi Gaertner
Can I ask what gluten free flour blend you used? Did you scrape the top of the measuring cups to make sure the flour amount was exact? I haven't needed to add an egg so I wanted to brainstorm with you.
Patti
Only liquid ingredient is butter? No eggs or milk?
Sandi Gaertner
That is correct Patti 🙂
Patty
Thank you for the recipe posting. These look wonderful!
Sandi Gaertner
You are very welcome Patty 🙂