Recently I decided I wanted to attempt some gluten free vanilla and matcha checkerboard cookies for my Substack. In doing so, I realised that I’d need to perfect some sugar cookies. Because checkerboard cookies require two batches of dough, I decided I had some criteria. Firstly, they needed to be made by hand. I don’t have two stand mixers and I find creaming butter and sugar very cumbersome. Secondly, they needed to be cut out style with minimal spread and maximum ease. These gluten free sugar cookies without eggs fit both of those criteria and more!
Gluten free sugar cookies without eggs
These gluten free sugar cookies use two flours: tapioca flour and fine white rice flour. Together, they form a fluffy neutral base that has a little bit of chew in the middle. Xanthan gum holds everything together and ensures that the cookies spread minimally. However, the cookies can easily be made without xanthan gum as well.
Room temperature butter (regular or vegan) is rubbed into the flour to create a crumbly dough. To bring it all together, milk and flavourings of choice are added (I like vanilla bean paste and sometimes almond extract).
That’s it! All you need to make these delicious gluten free sugar cookies without eggs.
Can I use this gluten free egg free sugar cookie dough for cut outs?
Yes. This recipe is designed for cut outs. I actually haven’t tried any other style of sugar cookie, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable developing a recipe for a drop style sugar cookie.
This is quite a firm dough, so I daresay it would require a fair bit of tweaking to achieve a drop style cookie. As I haven’t tried one before, I can’t offer advice on how to make those changes.
I have to say, though, that this recipe is so easy and doesn’t necessarily require chilling time. It is as quick to make as any drop cookie recipe would be.
Ingredient notes
First and foremost, let’s chat rice flour. It is so important to get a good quality, finely milled rice flour here. Because cookies are quite pared back, you tend to taste every ingredient.
Some supermarket rice flours are gritty, musty and rancid. This flavour and gritty texture will shine through in your cookies. Make sure you buy a finely milled, fresh white rice flour for this recipe.
I haven’t tested any other starch in place of tapioca here. Tapioca is lovely and fine in texture, easy to buy and allergen friendly.
You can use salted or unsalted butter in this recipe. I love salted butter because it adds flavour through the whole cookie. However, unsalted butter also works. Add a pinch of salt to the dough if you use unsalted butter, though.
Also, in case sometime points it out: these are starchy, sugary, buttery treats. Not a health food by any stretch and not SIBO friendly at all. A holiday treat!
Dietary notes for your gluten free sugar cookies without eggs
- These cookies are gluten free, nut free (with caveats) and egg free.
- If you use pure almond extract, they will no longer be nut free. You can replace it with a synthetic version (which are generally nut free) but you need to confirm that with the manufacturer.
- As mentioned above, you can make these cookies without xanthan gum.
- These can easily be gluten free dairy free sugar cookies. Simply use a good quality plant based stick butter. Make sure you read the label to ensure it doesn’t contain any nuts if you need the cookies to be nut free as well.
- Of course, egg free dairy free sugar cookies are vegan sugar cookies. So, you can use plant based butter to make gluten free vegan sugar cookies.
- You can also make gluten free, vegan and xanthan gum free sugar cookies. They work nicely with a good quality vegan butter. I did find them to be a smidge more crumbly, but definitely not unpleasant. Try and choose a plant based butter with 80% fat to mimic the fat of regular butter.
- It has come to my attention that the way I have iced these cookies is often called a Lofthouse cookie. So, consider this your recipe for gluten free Lofthouse cookies, gluten free egg free Lofthouse cookies, gluten free Lofthouse cookies without xanthan gum AND gluten free vegan Lofthouse cookies. Phew.
Tips for the texture of your dough
The ideal consistency of your dough when bringing it all together is juicy and moist while still easily handled. If you pick up a piece of dough in your hands and squish it, the dough shouldn’t become craggy around the edges. It shouldn’t crack at all, even as you pull it apart. Of course, this means that the bowl should have no remaining crumbs in the bowl.
Add the milk gradually and work it through with your hands before adding more. I generally find I need a consistent 60ml of milk*, but this will depend on your flours. Flour absorbency varies dramatically brand to brand, country to country.
*A caveat to this consistent 60ml is if you omit the xanthan gum. I find dough without xanthan gum (I have tested both regular and vegan) to absorb less milk. Start small with the milk if you are not using xanthan gum in your cookies.
Although this dough should juicy and moist, it should still be handled easily. If you pick up a piece of dough in your hands and squish it, the ball should flatten without the edges cracking. If you roll a ball of dough in your hands, it should look a bit dewy and feel moist and plump. With that said, it should still be firm enough to roll out immediately – not a batter or a sticky dough.
Chilling your dough will help counteract any accidental extra moisture. It’s not an absolute necessity, but it does help with a number of different things which we will go into below.
Do I need to chill the dough?
You don’t need to chill this dough if you’re on an absolute time crunch. However, there are a number of different benefits to chilling the dough.
- This dough is designed for cut outs, but there is a tiny bit of spread (not enough to ruin a cut out, but still). Chilling the dough ensures absolutely minimal spread.
- I noticed that dough that was chilled tasted better as it had time for the flavourings to really take hold.
- I also noticed that chilled dough made cookies that had very pale bottoms once cooked. Dough that wasn’t chilled had slightly darker bottoms and sides once baked.
- This dough doesn’t need much flour to roll out. If you chill the dough, though, it’s requires even less flour.
- One thing to keep in mind is that the dough can firm up a bit too much. It will break apart in chunks and be too hard to roll out. Simply allow it to come to temperature before continuing on – a fairly standard part of butter based baking.
General tips for your cookies
- To prevent overly browned cookie bottoms, use a sturdy and thick sheet tray to bake your cookies on.
- These cookies do not have any leavening at all. This is to minimise spread. However, we are rubbing the butter into the dough. This will create little air pockets in the cookies as they bake and the liquid evaporates from the butter. As such, it’s important to use softened butter to rub into the flour. Melted butter isn’t what we want here.
- How long the cookies need to bake depends on the size and thickness you cut them. I used a 6cm cutter and rolled my dough to 1/2 – 3/4cm.
- In inches, that is 1/4 – 1/3 inch in dough height and a 2.3 inch cookie cutter.
- The longer you bake the cookies, the more crisp they become. Underbaked cookies should have a little softness in the centre and a crisp base.
- Cookies that are too thick will taste pasty. It’s important to roll the cookies relatively thinly.
- If you intend to serve the cookies the next day, wait to ice them on the day. Iced cookies can go a bit soggy after a while.
- I personally wouldn’t make the buttercream ahead. Bringing it to the right temperature to spread is almost as laborious as just making it fresh on the day.
- You can ice the cookies with whatever you like – royal icing is generally the icing of choice for decorating. My decorating skills are very grim so I stuck with this easy buttercream version.
More gluten free holiday recipes
- Gluten free vegan spiced pumpkin mug cake
- Gluten free vegan cornbread
- Roasted pumpkin salad with feta, pomegranate and kale
- Low FODMAP pumpkin risotto with sage
- Gluten free vegan brownie cookies
Gluten free sugar cookies (egg free)
Equipment
- 6cm cookie cutter
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 150 g tapioca flour/starch
- 125 g fine white rice flour
- 100 g caster/superfine sugar
- 4 g (1 teaspoon) xanthan gum (optional, see notes)
- 150 g softened butter (salted or unsalted) cubed
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- Splash of almond extract (optional, see notes)
- Pinch of salt
- 20-60 ml (1-3 tablespoons)* milk of choice, as needed to reach the described consistency
For the buttercream:
- 150 g sieved icing sugar (I used soft icing sugar)
- 75 g softened butter (salted or unsalted)
- 1-2 drops rose pink food colouring to reach your desired colour
- Splash of almond extract (optional, see notes)
- 20 ml (1 tablespoon)* milk of choice to reach a spreadable consistency
Instructions
To make the cookies:
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium/large mixing bowl.
- Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour. Completely rub the butter into the dough until you have a sandy textured mixture. Add the vanilla, optional almond extract, optional salt and 20ml (1 Australian tablespoon or 4 teaspoons elsewhere) milk. Use your hands to keep working the dough, squishing it through your fingers.
- Continue adding milk as necessary until the dough is smooth and all pieces of flour have been picked up from the bowl. It should look and feel juicy and moist. If you squish a ball of dough in your hands, the edges should not crack as you press on it. If they do, add a teaspoon or so more milk to reach the described consistency.
- Once you are happy with the dough, you can thoroughly wrap it and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes or you can roll them straight out. The dough should be moist but easy to roll on a piece of baking paper lightly floured with tapioca flour.
- When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180C/356F. Line two sturdy, thick bottomed baking trays with baking paper.
- Roll the dough out on your lightly floured baking paper until it is approximately 1/2 – 3/4cm thick. Use a 6cm cookie cutter to cut out your cookie shapes. If you roll them thicker (which I don’t recommend) or cut bigger shapes, you’ll need to adjust the cooking time.
- Continue until you have cut out all the dough – you should have approximately 20-24 medium sized cookies.
- Place the first tray in the oven for 10-12 minutes. They should feel firm to the touch and might have a slightly golden base. Repeat with the second tray.
- Once the cookies are baked, allow them to firm up for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. This will help create nice crispy cookie bases.
To make the buttercream:
- Use hand beaters to whip the butter until it lightens in colour just slightly. This should only take a minute or two with softened butter. Add ½ the sieved sugar and continue beating to combine. Add the remaining sugar and repeat.
- Add the food colouring, almond extract (if you are using it) and 20ml milk. Beat until the colour is uniform and the buttercream is a light, fluffy and spreadable consistency. If you’re using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt.
- If the icing isn’t spreadable, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until it is. Buttercream can split easily with too much liquid added, so try to use as little as possible (I added a little too milk to the icing I used for these photos).
To assemble:
- Spoon approximately 1 ½ teaspoons of icing onto each cookie and spread out evenly. You can use an offset spatula or just the back of a teaspoon. Arrange the icing into a swirl pattern you like, then top with gluten free sprinkles of choice. Repeat with the remaining cookies (if you are eating them on the day) and serve.
- You can make the cookies a day ahead and frost on the day of serving.
Notes
- These cookies work without xanthan gum. See the body of the post for other dietary notes.
- In inches – 1/4 – 1/3 inch in dough height and a 2.3 inch cookie cutter.
- The cookies without xanthan gum tend to absorb less milk than the ones with xanthan gum. I recommend adding milk slowly if you are not using xanthan gum. My batches without xanthan gum only needed 40ml milk, but yours might be slightly different.
- See the body of the post for tips and tricks for the best sugar cookies possible.
- I have successfully tested vegan butter in these cookies (without xanthan gum). I used Flora vegan stick butter which is new in Australia. We don’t have a good variety of vegan butter brands here in Australia.
- I buy gluten free sprinkles from Baking Pleasures in Australia. We also have a terrible selection of sprinkles available at supermarkets, so I buy American ones in bulk.
- I think the almond extract adds so much to both to the cookies and icing. With that said, almond extract is not (necessarily) nut free. There are nut free almond extract brands on the market, so use one of these if catering to a nut allergy. I’d recommend a brand that clearly specifies they are nut free.
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