Gluten free sugar cookies are a delicious treat any time of the year. You will love this simple gluten free sugar cookie recipe. It makes soft sugar cookies, perfect for holiday gifts, and it's the best gluten free sugar cookie recipe for Christmas cookie exchanges, too!
If you love buttery, melt in your mouth Gluten Free Sugar Cookies, I am happy to say this new gluten free sugar cookie recipe makes a delicious treat!
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do. If you are new to gluten free baking, don't forget to check out my Gluten Free Pantry Essentials to learn about the different gluten free flours and ingredients I use to make all of my gluten free recipes.
Click for Table of Contents:
Sugar cookies are one of those cookies that vary widely. Some are crispy, some are rolled and cut out and bake to finish crunchy, others are slightly crispy on the edges and soft and buttery on the inside. These are slightly crispy around the edges type of sugar cookie.
I am still on my holiday cookie baking binge! I love making cookies, especially if I can freeze them and enjoy them over the week. These Gluten Free Ginger Cookies also freeze really well!
This simple gluten free sugar cookie recipe is sort of a "blooper recipe." I started out thinking I was making one type of cookie, and I ended up with something totally different. Does that ever happen to you?
These cookies were an attempt to convert a Norwegian Butter Cookie recipe to gluten free. It was a total flop! The butter cookies I was trying to make were not supposed to spread. Look at my cookies and you can see this wasn't the case at all! I ended up with the perfect gluten free sugar cookies, so it ended up being an unexpected win!
If you prefer to use cookie cutters, you will want to try my Gluten Free Cut-Out Cookies recipe!
These gluten free sugar cookies are so good, you can even use them for ice cream sandwiches! I will keep nibbling on these delicious, soft gluten free sugar cookies until summer comes :-).
The gluten free sugar cookie recipe makes cookies good enough for gift giving, a cookie exchange, or any occasion! They make delicious Gluten Free Christmas Sugar Cookies! Just add some red or green sprinkles to the sugar cookies to make them festive! I honestly believe this is the best gluten free sugar cookie recipe I've made.
More Delicious Gluten Free Holiday Cookie Recipes to Try:
- Gluten Free Vanillekipferl Cookies
- Gluten Free Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
- Gluten Free Pfeffernusse Cookies
- Fun Halloween Cut Out Cookies
- Here is a roundup of the most popular cookie recipes on my blog!
Okay, I know we talked about the crispy edges...and the rich buttery taste. Let's talk about how to make this simple gluten free sugar cookie recipe. First, gather your ingredients.
Ingredients:
- Gluten free flour
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Baking powder and salt
Pulse the flour mixture and butter in a food processor until it looks "grainy" and crumbly.
I have tested two gluten free flour blends in this recipe. I liked King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour Blend. This doesn't mean other blends won't work, I just haven't tested any others. Try to avoid flour blends that are high in starch.
As always, if your blend does not contain Xanthan Gum, you will need to add 1 teaspoon.
Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Your dough should form a stiff ball. So far everything is going according to plan! Wrap the gluten free sugar cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Do you need to refrigerate the dough?
You don't have to refrigerate the dough, but it definitely makes the cookies better if you do. I refrigerated these for 30 minutes.
Use a cookie scoop to drop balls of cold dough onto a parchment lined cookie baking sheet. Press down in the middle of each sugar cookie and add thick baker's sugar to each middle. The recipe is still on track at this point.
Baking:
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. This is where my trouble happened. My cookies didn't stay shaped, they spread like crazy!
It is funny that I ended up with the best gluten free sugar cookie recipe by accident!
Fun variations:
- Add frosting and sprinkles
- Colored icings are a pretty way to decorate these gluten free cookies.
- Add sprinkles to the cookie dough for funfetti cookies
📋 Recipe
The Best Gluten Free Sugar Cookie recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- dash of salt
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 10 tablespoons butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons course baking sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Add dry ingredients to a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly.
- Pour flour mixture into a bowl and add eggs, vanilla and water and mix well.
- Wrap the dough ball in plastic and refrigerate for two hours.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a cookie scoop to drop balls of dough onto the cookie sheet.
- Press down in the middle of each. Add a little of the course sugar to each center.
- Bake for 12 minutes until done.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you love the recipes you are finding on my blog, I would love for you to sign up for my newsletter (and get my free chocolate e-cookbook!)
DEBBIE
I AM GOING TO TRY MAKING THIS, SINCE I HAVE ALL PURPOSE FLOUR, DOES IT WORK TO USE ALL PURPOSE FLOUR? THANKS.
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Debbie, when you say all purpose flour, do you mean non-gluten free flour, or a gluten free flour blend?
debbie
Yes, gluten free. cassava flour and it is called all purpose flour.
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Debbie, Cassava flour behaves differently and is not really an all purpose flour in context. It is mostly starch, which would behave differently in this recipe. Cassava is considered paleo and sometimes it can be substituted for a gluten free flour blend, but it absorbs more liquid and isn't a one to one substitution measure. I haven't tried it in this recipe, I am sorry I can't advise better on this.
RSBakes
My gf girlfriend said these were the best cookies I’ve made. Nice simple base and I used 1:1 gf baking flour with xantham gum and they came out perfectly soft and not too sweet. I’m going to try a slight variation with peppermint oil for a holiday spin. Thanks!
Sandi Gaertner
I am so glad she liked them. You are a pretty awesome guy to make cookies for her. My husband just gave a thumbs up 🙂
Debra C.
I wish I lived closer! Pretty sure I could sneak in and steal some cookies and you’d never know! 😉
Sandi Gaertner
OMG I wish you lived closer too!!! It would be so fun to brainstorm recipes, and share calories!