Easy Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

These are the perfect no-spread, no-chill gluten free sugar cookies. They're soft and melt-in-the-mouth buttery, with slightly crisp edges, and they're super quick and easy to make.

192Min

36Servings

95Cal

EasyLevel

VegetarianGluten freeKid friendlygluten-freenut-freesoy-free

#gluten-free#cookies#christmas#baking#easy#no-chill

Equipment

Oven

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Mixing bowl

Whisk

Mixing spoon

Rolling pin

Cutting board

Knife

Stand mixer

Plate

Ingredients

Gluten free sugar cookies

plain gluten free flour blend (plus extra for flouring the surface)

360 g

caster/superfine or granulated sugar

200 g

xanthan gum

0.75 tsp

salt

0.5 tsp

unsalted butter (softened)

180 g

egg (room temperature)

1 piece

vanilla bean paste

1 tsp

Royal icing

powdered/icing sugar (sifted, plus more as needed)

240 g

egg white powder

15 g

water (room temperature, plus more as needed)

80 g

lemon juice

10 g

gel food colouring (of choice)

1 piece

Instructions

Preheat oven and prepare baking sheets

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 180°C and line two large baking sheets with parchment/baking paper.

0 min180°C

Mix dry ingredients for cookie dough

In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour blend, sugar, xanthan gum and salt.

2 min

You can prepare the cookie dough either by hand, using a wooden spoon, or using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on the lowest speed setting. I don't recommend using a hand mixer.

Work butter into dry ingredients

Add the softened butter and work it into the dry ingredients until you get a mixture resembling breadcrumbs. (If making the cookie dough by hand, use your fingertips to work the butter into the dry ingredients.)

5 min

Don't cream the butter and sugar together. It’s important that you incorporate as little air into the cookie dough as possible. Any trapped air pockets will cause the cookies to expand too much in the oven.

Add wet ingredients and form dough

Add the egg and vanilla, and mix well until everything comes together into a smooth, workable cookie dough that isn't sticky to the touch. It should be soft enough to roll out without cracking but also firm enough so you don't have to chill it first.

3 min

Use the reverse creaming method. Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together, you need to work the butter into the dry ingredients until you get a mixture resembling breadcrumbs, and then add the egg to bring everything together.

Knead and shape cookie dough

Give the cookie dough a knead to make sure it's perfectly smooth and shape it into a ball.

2 min

No raising agents. Just like creaming the butter and sugar, any raising agents in the cookie dough would make the cookies expand too much in the oven and lose their shape.

Roll out cookie dough

Roll it out on a lightly floured work surface until it's about 6-7mm thick.

5 min

Roll out the cookie dough to about ¼ inch (6-7mm) thick. This will give you satisfyingly thick, soft cookies that are sturdy enough to stand up to whatever decoration you fancy, but also have the perfect texture for eating.

Cut out cookies and prepare for baking

Cut out individual sugar cookies with cookie cutters of choice and transfer them to the lined baking sheets, spacing them about 2.5cm apart. Re-use any scraps by kneading them together and re-rolling. You should get about 36-40 cookies in total, but the exact number will depend on their size and thickness.

10 min

You don't have to chill the cookies before baking! That's the great thing about this recipe: you can bake the cookies straight away, without having to chill them in the fridge (or even the freezer) beforehand.

Bake the cookies

Bake at 180°C for about 10-12 minutes or until they're light golden around the edges. If you prefer crisper cookies, you can bake them a few minutes longer, until they're more deeply golden brown.

12 min180°Ctimer 12 min

Adjust the baking time to tweak the cookie texture. I like my cookies on the softer side, so I usually bake them for about 10-12 minutes at 350ºF (180ºC), until they're only very light golden around the edges.

Cool the cookies

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

10 mintimer 10 min

Prepare royal icing dry ingredients

In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer, if using), whisk together the powdered/icing sugar and egg white powder.

2 min

Add liquids to royal icing

Add the water and lemon juice.

1 min

Whisk royal icing to proper consistency

Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a hand mixer fitted with the double beaters, whisk the mixture on high speed for about 2-3 minutes until it's thickened and white in colour. To test the consistency, do the "figure 8" test: lift the whisk out of the mixture and create a figure 8 with the runoff icing. If the figure 8 disappears into the bulk mixture within 8-10 seconds, the icing is ready to be used.

3 mintimer 3 min

At this point, you can adjust the icing consistency as needed, by either adding more powdered/icing sugar (to make it thicker) or more water (to make it runnier). Make sure to add only small amounts of extra sugar or water at a time, as the icing consistency can change quite quickly.

Color and prepare icing for use

At this point, you can divide the icing into several batches and add food colouring, if you wish. Make sure to keep the icing tightly covered while you're not using it, to prevent it from drying out and a crust forming on top.

2 min

Decorate the cookies

Decorate the cooled cookies with royal icing. You can pipe it onto the cookies or just dip the cookies into it, allow any excess to drip away and then decorate with sprinkles.

15 min

Decorating the cookies: I decorated my cookies with an easy royal icing that I've included in the recipe below. But you can also make a simple icing from powdered/icing sugar and water, or just dip them into melted chocolate and decorate them with sprinkles.

Set the royal icing

Allow the icing to set at room temperature for at least 2 hours, until hardened and no longer sticky to the touch. Don't cover the decorated cookies while you're waiting on the icing to set.

120 mintimer 120 min

Serve the decorated cookies

Once the icing has set, serve and enjoy!

0 min

Original recipe

Websitehttps://theloopywhisk.com/2025/12/05/easy-gluten-free-sugar-cookies/

Storage

Reheat: Room temperature storage only

Undecorated, the gluten free sugar cookies keep well in a closed air-tight container at room temperature for about 1 week. Sugar cookies decorated with royal icing can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Any leftover royal icing can be stored in an air-tight container (or in a tightly sealed piping bag) in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

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