There are three holidays that you cannot go without making sugar cookies. Sure, there are pretty much sugar cookie cutouts for almost every holiday or special occasion, but the three holidays I think of most are Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter.
Santa would be just plain old mad if you didn’t leave him a plateful of imperfectly decorated sugar cookies with mounds of sprinkles. Valentine’s Day is just so simple (with hearts being the only shape you need) to pass up on the messy fun decorating with the kids. And Easter…well Easter is where you can get really creative, making frostings in every pastel color imaginable and cutting the dough in a million different shapes ranging from eggs and bunnies to flowers and butterflies. Yep, nothing beats decorating Easter cookies…well, except for someone else cleaning up my mess.
This year we missed out on decorating Christmas cookies. Braelyn had just been diagnosed with celiac and I was entirely not ready to tackle gluten free baking along with the hustle and bustle of the holidays. When Valentine’s Day started creeping up I promised her that I would create a recipe for sugar cookies. She was so excited! Needless to say, Valentine’s came and went without a single sugar cookie crumb or stitch of frosting.
So here we are a few days before Easter and this mama has finally made her little sugar plum’s dream come true! These Simply Sugar Cookies were a hit with Braelyn. She was in all her creative glory meticulously decorating each and every cookie. I tried to keep some for myself to decorate “perfectly” for photos, but she was snatching them from me so fast that I could hardly keep up. Turns out her hodge podge of frosting and sprinkles cookies turned out cuter than mine anyway. Sometimes you just have to embrace the beauty that comes with the chaos, right?!
Not only did Braelyn love these cookies, but Ben, myself and our neighbors gave them a stellar two thumbs up. My biggest hesitation when beginning the recipe was whether or not the dough would be pliable enough to work with, since gluten free goods can be quite crumbly. By adding an extra egg and chilling the dough, it was very manageable to roll and they baked up perfectly without over spreading. Since I used some coconut flour, there is a slight undertone of coconut flavor which I love. Even if you aren’t a fan of coconut, I think you will enjoy these cookies immensely. They are soft and tender just like a sugar cookie should be.
And there you have it, Happy Easter and happy baking!
Simply Sugar Cookies with Perfect Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1/4 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup white rice flour
1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 recipe Perfect Vanilla Frosting (6 tablespoons butter at room temperature, 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, dash of salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 3 to 4 tablespoons milk)
Directions:
1. In a mixer cream together butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy. Add vanilla and milk. Mix together.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together almond flour, arrowroot starch, coconut flour, white rice flour, xanthan gum, salt and baking powder.
3. Add flour mixture to wet mixture. Mix until fully incorporated. Mix one minute more.
4. Divide dough into two balls. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes, or until dough is firm enough to be handled.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
6. Lay out wax paper for work surface. Lightly flour wax paper. Scoop half the dough onto work surface and return other half to fridge. Lightly flour top of dough and rolling pin. Roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness.
7. Cut desired shapes, about 3 inches in length. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Roll scraps of dough together and flatten with rolling pin. Cut out more shapes. Repeat until dough is gone.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for second half of dough.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are barely browning, rotating pan after 7 minutes. (Bake one pan at a time for even cooking. Do not let cut out cookies sit on hot cookie sheets waiting to be baked. If your cookie sheet is still hot, place cutouts on parchment paper and then transfer to pan right before cooking. Do not use dark colored nonstick cookie sheets; they brown too fast.)
10. Immediately slide parchment paper off onto cooling racks for cookies to cool.
11. Prepare frosting by beating butter until light and fluffy. Add half of powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add salt, vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk. Mix until combined. Add rest of powdered sugar and beat for one minute. Add additional milk if needed.
12. Once cookies are completely cooled, decorate with frosting and sprinkles.
Makes 26-32 cookies
- ⅔ cup butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup arrowroot starch
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¾ cup white rice flour
- 1½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 recipe Perfect Vanilla Frosting (6 tablespoons butter at room temperature, 2¼ cups powdered sugar, dash of salt, 1½ teaspoons vanilla, 3 to 4 tablespoons milk)
- In a mixer cream together butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy. Add vanilla and milk. Mix together.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together almond flour, arrowroot starch, coconut flour, white rice flour, xanthan gum, salt and baking powder.
- Add flour mixture to wet mixture. Mix until fully incorporated. Mix one minute more.
- Divide dough into two balls. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes, or until dough is firm enough to be handled.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Lay out wax paper for work surface. Lightly flour wax paper. Scoop half the dough onto work surface and return other half to fridge. Lightly flour top of dough and rolling pin. Roll out to about ⅛ inch thickness.
- Cut desired shapes, about 3 inches in length. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Roll scraps of dough together and flatten with rolling pin. Cut out more shapes. Repeat until dough is gone.
- Repeat steps 6 and 7 for second half of dough.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are barely browning, rotating pan after 7 minutes.*
- Immediately slide parchment paper off onto cooling racks for cookies to cool.
- Prepare frosting by beating butter until light and fluffy. Add half of powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add salt, vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk. Mix until combined. Add rest of powdered sugar and beat for one minute. Add additional milk if needed.
- Once cookies are completely cooled, decorate with frosting and sprinkles.
