It is that time of the year again when we bring out our recipes for our favorite gluten free cookies!
Last night we participated in the Seattle Christmas Ships Parade on the Puget Sound. For those of you not from Seattle, the Christmas Ship festival is a holiday celebration that has been a Northwest tradition for 62 years.
Each night the Argosy Christmas Ship™ sails to different Puget Sound waterfront communities. Local boaters, like us, join in the parade behind the lead ship.
A choirs on board the lead ship sings 20-minute performances that are broadcast to the other boats and people who gather on the beaches to watch the ships.
It was very fun to be a part of the largest holiday floating parade in the world!
We invited some very good friends to join us - I served a big pot of Chicken and White Bean Chili and made our favorite Chocolate Decadence Cookies.
Today I am making the cookie dough for our Cut-Out Christmas Cookies. This year, I decided to use Jules Cut Out Cookie recipe.
Baking gluten free Christmas cookies can be tricky - if the dough is too warm, they will spread like warm soup in the oven and spill over the sides of your tray.
TWO TIPS for MAKING GLUTEN FREE COOKIES: Make sure your dough is cold! I refrigerate it over night and I make sure my kitchen is not hot when I am forming the dough.
Second, use parchment paper. Gluten Free cookies can be crumbly before they set. Using parchment paper not only makes clean up super easy, but also makes it easy to slip the cookies with the parchment paper onto a rack to cool.
If it is your first year making cut-out cookies, then you cannot go wrong with this recipe.
Jules Gluten Free Cut Out Cookies
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2/3 cup granulated cane sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup Jules Gluten Free™ All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 Tbs. water (as needed)
- food coloring (optional)
- colored sugar or frosting (optional )
Cream shortening, sugar and oil several minutes with an electric mixer, until very fluffy. Add egg yolks, vanilla extract and food coloring. Mix in the dry ingredients, adding in tablespoons of water only as needed to keep the dough together and avoid dryness (err on the side of this dough being wetter so that after refrigeration, it’s not too dry). Pat the dough into a disc shape, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough until very cold, at least 3-5 hours (overnight is best).
Preheat oven to 350º F (static) or 325º F (convection).
Lightly flour a clean surface or pastry mat with Jules Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour. Roll the dough to approximately 1/8 inch thickness and dust cookie cutters with flour before using to cut out shapes. You may also roll thin coils of dough of different colors and braid into candy cane or other fun shapes.
Place cookies onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and decorate with colored sugar, if desired. Bake approximately 8-10 minutes, or just until they begin to lightly brown at the edges. Cool on a wire rack and frost with gluten free flour.
Yield: approximately 2 dozen cookies (depending on size).
Here is another recipe that we have also used many times with great success!
Cut Out Christmas Cookies using Gluten Free Pantry Mix
Before we found Jules flour, we used the following recipe. It actually works really great as well. I don't remember ever having a batch that did not turn out.
- 2 ½ sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter (or Earth Balance for CF) at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 4 large egg yolks at room temperature
- 1 t grated lemon zest or lemon juice
- 1 t vanilla
- 3 cups The Gluten-Free Pantry Country French Bread Mix
In your electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and salt until creamy.
Beat in egg yolks, lemon and vanilla.
On slow speed, beat in the flour one cup at a time until just combined.
Divide dough into three equal parts, flatten into disc, wrap separately in wax paper and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Flour the work surface and your rolling pin with rice flour and roll out one disk at a time to 1/8 inch thickness. The dough will break up a little bit on the first roll, but then becomes very easy to work with. On the other end, the dough will be hard to work with after it warms up too much, so keep extras in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.
Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
With a metal spatula, transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Depending on the size, makes around 40 cookies.
Bake 10 – 12 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool on parchment.
Gluten Free Frosting:
- 1 pound box of powdered sugar
- ¼ cup milk (or almond milk for CF)
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 stick butter (or Earth Balance for CF)
Beat with an electric mixer until creamy, scraping the bowl often.
Separate into individual cups and add desired food colors.
