Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies that are incredibly easy to make! This simple recipe can be used as drop cookies or rolled out for using cookie cutters. Decorate these fun cookies to your heart’s delight! Recipe includes a dairy-free and refined sugar-free option.
With spot on flavor and texture, this gluten-free version of classic sugar cookies can either be made into drop cookies or cutout sugar cookies.
They are undoubtedly the perfect gluten free sugar cookies!
My family always made ginormous batches of sugar cookies for Christmas and Valentine’s Day every year. While my cookie decorating skills weren’t always the finest, I enjoyed the process and loved spending time with family.
Even more than baking, I love giving away treats to those who enjoy them.
For those who are like me and are in need of delicious sugar cookies that you may or may not want to decorate, this recipe is for you.
It couldn’t be any simpler!
Simply make the cookie dough into drop cookies for normal cookie shapes, or refrigerate the dough and roll it out to use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, as you see in this post.
You can either buy pre-made frosting to frost cookies, make a basic glaze using powdered sugar, or make royal icing for decorating.
Or, you can go simple and just sprinkle the gluten-free sugar cookie dough with some sprinkles!
Let’s go over the list of ingredients. You can find the full ingredients list for this great recipe at any grocery store.
Ingredients for Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies:
Unsalted Butter: The iconic sugar cookie flavor is brought to you by the combination of butter and sugar. You can use a vegan butter spread like earth balance or softened coconut oil for a dairy-free option.
The butter is what makes for soft sugar cookies as it brings fat and therefore chewiness to the recipe.
Brown Sugar: I like using light brown sugar instead of regular granulated cane sugar because it helps with the chewy texture.
If you only have white sugar on hand, feel free to make the swap. The recipe as written isn’t very sweet, because we’re assuming the cookies will be frosted or iced using extra sugar.
Egg: We need a single chicken egg at room temperature.
Vanilla Extract & Almond Extract: The combination of vanilla extract and almond extract brings warm flavor to this gluten-free sugar cookie recipe.
Gluten-Free Flour: We swap regular all-purpose flour in classic sugar cookies for your favorite gluten-free flour blend. I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, which includes a combination of rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, and more.
It is the brand I use for all of my gluten-free baking. I’ve found this blend to yield the closest result to regular all-purpose flour.
If you use a different flour blend, be sure it is designed to be a 1:1 replacement for wheat flour.
Various gluten-free flour blends will result in slightly different textures due to their unique composition. For the best result, I recommend sticking with Bob’s Red Mill.
Baking Powder: The leavening agent here, baking powder helps the cookies rise and ensures they don’t spread out too far during the baking process.
Sea Salt: Salt is a flavor enhancer! Don’t skip it.
Sugar Cookie Frosting Options:
- Royal Icing: Follow the ingredients and instructions in the recipe card below for classic royal icing used to make the most beautiful sugar cookies.
- Frosting of Choice: Pick your favorite frosting for icing these gluten free cookies. You can use any store-bought frosting or homemade frosting, depending on the taste and consistency you’re going for. For gluten-free Christmas cookies or holiday cookies, add some food coloring to vanilla icing for the easiest way to decorate cookies.
- Classic Glaze: For a powder sugar glaze, combine 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of water or lemon juice. Mix well until a smooth glaze forms.
- Chocolate Buttercream: Make my Keto Chocolate Buttercream for chocolate frosting. If you aren’t sugar-free, use regular powdered sugar instead of sugar-free sweetener here.
Recipe Customizations:
- While the almond extract is optional, it adds a depth of flavor to the cookies which I really love.
- If you’re dairy-free, replace the butter with vegan “butter” spread or coconut oil – just be sure it’s softened, not melted.
- To make the cookies sugar-free, replace the brown sugar with your favorite sugar-free sweetener or sugar-free brown sugar. Use maple sugar for a refined sugar-free option.
Let’s bake a batch of the best gluten-free sugar cookies.
How to Make Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies:
Add the butter and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until fluffy. Note: you can use a mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer.
Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract until combined.
Add the gluten-free flour, baking powder and sea salt (dry ingredients) and beat until a thick dough forms.
For Drop Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll the dough into dough balls, then press into round disc shapes and place on the baking sheet 3 inches apart. You can also use a cookie scoop if you own one.
For Cut-Out Cookies:
Form a disc shape out of the dough and wrap it in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour (up to 3 days). Note: I often use cold butter to make sugar cookies (instead of room temperature), in which case the dough is firm enough and does not need to be chilled prior to baking.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Turn the cookie dough out onto a floured surface (I use a sheet of parchment paper on my counter with some GF flour sprinkled on top).
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a long thin sheet. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes. Gather the cookie dough scraps into a ball and re-roll them to make more sugar cookie cutouts.
Place the raw cookie dough shapes on the prepared cookie sheet.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. The bake time will vary slightly based on the temperature of the dough going into the oven and the elevation at which you bake.
Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Decorate the cookies to your heart’s desire using sprinkles or royal icing.
How to Make Royal Icing:
- Transfer all of the frosting ingredients (confectioner’s sweetener, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract) to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Start with 2 tablespoons of milk and increase until your desired consistency is achieved.
- If you’re using food coloring, separate the batch of frosting into smaller bowls then add drops of food coloring or gel food coloring until you get your desired colors.
- Transfer each frosting color to a disposable piping bag fitted with your tip of choice.
- Once the cookies are completely cooled, decorate the cookies with your homemade frosting. You can also use store-bought frosting and sprinkles for this process.
- Allow the decorated cookies to sit at room temperature for at least 3 hours or in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the frosting is completely hardened.
- Store cookies in an airtight container or on a plate wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
How to Store Sugar Cookies:
Cooked sugar cookies can be stored on a plate covered tightly with plastic wrap for up to 2 days at room temperature.
Beyond a couple of days, store cookies in an airtight container or zip lock bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Sugar cookies can be frozen in a zip lock bag for up to three months.
That’s it! Easy gluten-free sugar cookies with a dairy-free option.
I hope you and your family enjoy these cookies! Feel free to report back to tell me how you decorated them 😉
More Delicious Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes:
- Keto Pecan Shortbread Cookies
- Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Cookies
- 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies
- Crispy Rice Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
- Chocolate Dipped Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Enjoy making this easy gluten-free sugar cookie recipe for all of the holidays!
Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
- 12 Tbsp (170g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, softened *
- ¾ cup (150g) brown sugar packed**
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract optional
- 2 ¼ cups (280g) gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
Royal Icing:
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 to 4 Tbsp milk or water at room temperature ***
- 2 Tbsp light corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- gel food coloring optional
Instructions
- Add the butter and brown sugar to a stand mixer and beat until fluffy (note: you can use a mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer).
- Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract until combined.
- Add the gluten-free flour, baking powder and sea salt and beat until a thick dough forms. Form the dough into a ball or disc shape and wrap it in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour (up to 3 days). When you’re ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow it to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
For Roll Out Cookies:
- Remove the dough disc from the refrigerator and place it on a floured surface (I like sprinkling a large smooth cutting board with gluten-free flour.
- Roll the dough into a flat rectangular shape about ¼-inch to ½ inch thick. If the edges of the dough break, no sweat: you can easily press the dough back together.
- Use your favorite cookie cutter shapes to make cut out cookies. After cutting out as many shapes as you can, use any remaining scraps of dough to roll out again and create more cookies.
- Place the cookie dough shapes on the prepared baking dish and bake for 9-10 minutes or until the cookies have puffed out. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.
- When you’re ready to frost the cookies, prepare the sugar cookie frosting in this recipe, or use store-bought frosting and sprinkles.
For Drop Cookies:
- Roll the dough into individual dough balls, then press into round disc shapes and place on the baking sheet 3 inches apart.
- Bake for 11 to 12 minutes or until golden-brown around the edges.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely. Feel free to decorate the cookies to your heart’s desire using sprinkles or royal icing.
Frosting Instructions:
- Transfer all of the frosting ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Start with 2 tablespoons of milk and increase until your desired consistency is achieved.
- If you’re using food coloring, separate the batch of frosting into smaller bowls then add drops of food coloring or gel food coloring until you get your desired colors.
- Transfer each frosting color to a disposable piping bag fitted with your tip of choice.
- Once the cookies are completely cooled, decorate the cookies with your homemade frosting. You can also use store-bought frosting and sprinkles for this process.
- Allow the decorated cookies to sit at room temperature for at least 3 hours or in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the frosting is completely hardened.
- Store cookies in an airtight container or on a plate wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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These look fantastic! Do you have a favorite gluten-free all purpose flour?