Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

I know it's bad timing to be posting a cookie recipe after the holidays. If you're anything like me, you ate waaaaay too many Christmas cookies. I love cookies. Especially cut-out sugar cookies. The ones shaped like stars and snowmen with icing and sprinkles get me every time. This year, I wanted to make a batch that were gluten free, so everyone in our family could enjoy them. But I wanted to make really good gluten free cookies. Not ones that tasted like cardboard or something you found in the backyard.

After doing an online search - who am I kidding, it was Pinterest, yet again - I found this recipe with good recommendations, at LivingWithout.com. It was a little complex, due to various special ingredients, but overall, easy to make and just as fun to roll out and use cookie cutters. AND I made royal icing for the first time and LOVED it. The lemon extract is what made these cookies so delicious. Maybe you have a birthday party coming up or you could make some Valentines cookies next month. I'm certainly not making another batch right now because I'd eat them all! 


Ingredients

1¼ cups Mary’s All-Purpose Flour Blend (See below for recipe)
½ cup tapioca flour/starch
1-⅓ cup potato starch (not potato flour) *I substituted Tapioca Flour*
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter or dairy-free substitute, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg or egg-free substitute
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon gluten-free lemon extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine first five ingredients. Set aside.

3. In the large bowl of a mixer, combine butter and sugar and beat for 3 minutes until mixture is a pale yellow.

4. Add in egg, vanilla extract and lemon extract.

5. Add dry ingredients, slowly mixing until dough forms. Place bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

6. Remove half the dough and roll out onto a lightly floured surface to ¼-inch thickness. Use star shapes or other cookie cutters to cut out cookies and place them on prepared cookie sheets. Reroll scraps of dough. If dough becomes too sticky, chill again. Repeat with second half of dough.

7. Bake in preheated oven 12 to 15 minutes until light brown. Remove and let cool thoroughly before handling and decorating.

Mary’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend

MAKES 6 CUPS

2 cups brown rice flour

2 cups white rice flour
½ cups potato starch (not potato flour) *I substituted Tapioca Flour*
⅔ cup tapioca starch/flour

Mix ingredients together. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until used.

Royal Icing

1½ cups confections’ sugar
1 large pasturized egg white or powdered egg white mixed with water to equal 1 egg white
½ teaspoon lemon juice *you can substitute water until it's the consistency you want*
½ teaspoon gluten-free lemon extract
- Food coloring

1. Beat sugar and egg white with electric beater.

2. Add lemon juice and lemon extract and beat until ingredients are incorporated.

3. Separate icing into small bowls and stir in a drop or two of different food coloring, as desired.

4. Chill icing until you’re ready to decorate cooled cookies. Spread icing on cookies, as desired.