I never get excited about sugar cookies until I eat them, then I remember how good they can be. But I definitely never get excited about decorating them. Maybe that’s just me. Anyway, this recipe is from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s Joy of Vegan Baking, but I made it gluten free. They have a nice sweet flavor, a strong taste of vanilla and a great soft texture.
You have to make the dough in advance and chill it in the refrigerator. The dough needs to stiffen up before you roll it out. A few hours is good, but I just make the dough a day in advance. I put a sheet of parchment down on my counter (easier clean up) and sprinkled a tiny bit of white rice flour on top of the dough. Or you can just use rice flour on the surface you’re rolling out on and on top of the dough. Roll it out to about a quarter of an inch thick (I use the thickness of my pinkie to approximate it, because I’m not about to actually measure the dough). Chill the dough again before baking to reduce spreading. Ten to fifteen minutes in the freezer should be enough. Or put them in the fridge while baking other cookies. Whatever works for you.
As for the appearance, the dough isn’t as white as non-gluten free cookies because of the flour, and you might notice little dark speckles from the flax egg. You could use Ener-G or any similar powdered egg replacer if the specks bother you. I can live with them.
Decorate them with the royal icing of your choice. I also used the recipe from Joy of Vegan Baking (which uses Ener-G as an egg substitute in the icing). There are also a lot of recipes using aquafaba, which look good, but I wasn’t about to open up a can of chickpeas just for the bean water to decorate some cookies.
So make some dough, cut them out and make them pretty. No one will ever know they only took 90% of the effort they imagine these do!
Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup +1 tbsp sorghum flour 98 grams
- 1/3 cup +2 tbsp white rice flour 73.5 grams
- 1/2 cup +5.5 tsp tapioca starch 73.5 grams
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 "egg" 1 tbsp ground flax + tbsp warm water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Beat butter and sugar together until combined. Add flax egg and vanilla. Beat until incorporated.
- Add dry ingredients. Beat together on low until a dough is formed, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until dough is cold and stiff.
- Sprinkle surface you are rolling the dough out on with white rice flour, as well as the top of the dough. Roll out dough to approximately 1/4" thickness. Cut out desired shapes, combining and rerolling scraps until all is used up. Chill cut out cookies again until cold and firm.
- Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 12-14 minutes. Edges should be lightly browned and top of the cookie should look set up. Let cool completely before decorating.
