Gluten-Free Valentine’s Cookies
It’s time for a cookie upgrade, Babes, and I’ve got a great recipe for you! These are the best simple sugar cookies, and now they’re gluten free! You can make regular round cookies and keep it simple, or cut them into shapes and decorate them so they are extra cute.
Supplies
Baking Sheets {2-3 large, approximately 12″ x 17″}
Large Mixing Bowl + Hand Mixer -or- Stand Mixer
Spray Oil, Coconut Oil or Ghee
Spatula
Cooling Racks
Cookie Cutters
Parchment Paper
Rolling Pin
Sifter
Icing Spatula or Dinner Knife
Cookie Ingredients
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 lb Butter, softened
2 Eggs
4 1/2 Cups GF Flour {I used Bob’s Redmill GF Baking Mix}
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Icing Ingredients
1 Stick Butter, softened
3 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2-3 Tbs Milk or Coconut Milk
Food Coloring
Sprinkles
Instructions
Mixing:
Mix butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer or countertop stand mixer. Beat on medium high speed until ingredients are mixed and butter is fluffy. {About 1-2 minutes}
Add baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar, then mix briefly.
Add flour a little at a time, until completely mixed in.
Refrigerate the dough before cutting:
Put 1/3 of cookie dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper, and roll it out to 1/4″ thickness. The shape doesn’t really matter, just make sure it will fit on one of your baking sheets.Place the first layer on your baking sheet, then repeat this process 2 more times with the remainder of the dough. Stack all 3 layers together on 1 baking sheet, and put into the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350*
Cutting and baking:
After 20-30 minutes, spray a layer of oil on your baking sheets, or use a paper towel to spread a thin layer of coconut oil or ghee on them.
Remove 1 sheet of the rolled out dough from the refrigerator, leaving the other 2 layers in there.
As you cut your shapes, place them on the sheets ASAP with 1/2″ of space between each cookie. If they are too soft to move without stretching or tearing them, leave them on the parchment, and put them back into the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes until firm.
Cut shapes as close together as possible. This will help you get the most cookies from your dough.
Once your sheet is full, bake cookies for 9-12 minutes. {smaller cookies won’t take as long}. If they start getting brown around the edges, remove them ASAP.
Once cookies are done remove them from the oven and use your spatula to move them to a cooling rack.
Repeat the cutting and baking process until you have used all the dough.
*Save the edges and leftover pieces of dough, forming it back into a ball. Roll it out again with the parchment paper, refrigerate, and cut it when it’s ready.
Making the icing and decorating:
Using your hand mixer or stand mixer, whip 1 softened stick of butter in a large bowl with 1 tsp vanilla. Add 2 Tbs milk or coconut milk into the butter and mix together until combined. Sift 1 cup of the powdered sugar into the butter, gently mixing to combine. Repeat with the remainder of the powdered sugar, mixing after each cup, until the consistency is where you want it–not too runny, but spreadable.
To color the icing, split it into different bowls, depending on how many colors you want. Tint each bowl with your colors.
Once cookies have cooled completely, spread the icing on your cookies, gently. If the icing is too thick, add a splash of milk or vanilla to thin it out. If it’s too thin, you can either refrigerate it for 10 minutes or add more powdered sugar to thicken it.
If you are adding colored sugars or sprinkles, add them immediately after you spread on the icing, before it dries. Hold the cookie over a small bowl or paper plate and use a spoon to add sprinkles. Let the extra sprinkles fall back into the bowl below, so you don’t waste any and you have enough to decorate all of your cookies.
Place each iced cookie back on the cooling racks for an hour, or so, until dry. But, of course, they are ready to eat immediately! Just not ready to stack yet.
Enjoy, Babes!
