Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies Recipes

1-BOWL GLUTEN FREE VEGAN SUGAR COOKIES (GLUTEN, DAIRY & EGG FREE)

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven to 355 ºF (180 ºC) and line a baking sheet with baking/greaseproof paper.
• In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt.
• Add the coconut oil and cream, and mix well until the dough starts coming together. Knead the cookie dough briefly until it's smooth, with no flour clumps and only very slightly sticky.
• Roll out the cookie dough (easiest between two sheets of greaseproof paper or cling film) and refrigerate the rolled out cookie dough briefly, for about 5 minutes. This will make it easier to cut out perfectly shaped cookies.
• Using a cookie cutter of choice (I used a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter), cut out the sugar cookies and transfer them onto the lined baking sheet.
• Bake in the pre-heated oven at 355 ºF (180 ºC) for 10 - 12 minutes. (Note 3)
• Allow to cool. In the mean time, prepare the vegan frosting.
• In a bowl, mix together the coconut cream and powdered sugar until smooth.
• Divide the frosting "base" into two equal parts.
• In a small saucepan, cook the raspberries with 1 tbsp water on medium-high heat until they have released their juice and part of the liquid has evaporated.
• Pass the raspberry mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and skin.
• Return the raspberry juice to the saucepan and cook further until it has decreased in volume to about 2 tbsp.
• Allow the raspberry reduction to cool and then mix it into 1/2 of the vegan frosting "base" until evenly distributed.If the frosting gets too runny, add a few tsp of sifted powdered sugar until it reaches the right consistency for frosting (see picture above).
• Mix 1/2 of the vegan frosting "base" with the cocoa powder until homogeneous and smooth. The cocoa powder will significantly thicken the frosting - add non-dairy milk of choice, 1 tbsp at a time, until you get the right frosting consistency.
• Frost the cooled vegan sugar cookies with the vegan frosting, using a small offset spatula (a small spoon works too).
• Decorate with sprinkles of choice.
• Enjoy!
• The gluten free vegan sugar cookies keep well in a closed container in a cool dry place for about 3 - 4 days (but are usually gone within the hour).

GLUTEN FREE VEGAN SUGAR COOKIES (OIL-FREE!)

Steps:

• Be sure to bake these cookies shortly after making the dough. Do not store in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Chilling it for a long time causes it to really dry and and break apart. Use it fresh.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
• To a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly mixed and no lumps remain.
• Add the syrup, cashew butter and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir together until it comes together into a ball. It will be a bit shaggy at first. Pressing the dough together with the back of a spoon will help it come together.
• Once it's in a rough ball, pick it up with your hands and knead, press and mold it together several times so it completely comes together and is smooth and NO more visible flour remains. Form into a very smooth ball. It should not be sticky and be very easy to work with if measured correctly. Refer to photo of dough in post. If for some reason you cannot easily form a ball and it's sticking too much to your hands, scoop the dough into plastic wrap and wrap into a ball and place in the fridge for just 1 hour.
• After forming the ball, if you have time, place the dough wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for 30 minutes to make rolling slightly easier. Although, I didn't even do this and found the dough easy enough to work with to bake right away. However, if your cookie cutters are sticking too much, chill it briefly or else you will have messy cookies.
• Place the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and place another sheet of paper on top of the dough. Roll the dough out continuously starting from the middle to ensure even rolling. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick, NO less, or they will bake up really thin and too crispy and become more dry.
• Use desired cookie cutters to make shapes close together using all the dough. Make sure to use similar shaped cookie cutters so they bake evenly. Carefully peel away the unused portion of the dough around the cookie shapes Gently pick up the cookie shapes and place them on the lined pan.
• Form the dough back into a ball and repeat the process until all the dough is used. I got 20-24 cookies using the size of standard cookie cutters. You may get less or more depending on the ones you use. Just keep the cookie cutters to similar size so they bake evenly.
• These cookies are meant to be frosted with the icing, as we all know, that is traditional. You can choose to fully ice like I have in the photos or just do stripes or minimal icing decorations. If you really want to skip icing, then just sprinkle the cookies with sprinkling sugar before baking.
• Bake 1 pan at a time for just 7 minutes (6 minutes if using the no almond flour version) and set your timer! Sugar cut-out cookies bake very fast so stay close. They are done when you look through the oven window and see the bottoms forming a golden brown color and the tips may just beginning to turn golden brown. Obviously, ovens can vary, so yours may take slightly longer, but look for the description noted. The tops won't change much color, but be very light. Do not overbake these or they can really dry out.
• Cool just 5 minutes on the pan and transfer to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
• Mix the icing ingredients with a whisk until completely smooth. This icing should be the consistency of toothpaste. This is used to outline the cookies so it hardens quickly and doesn't run off the cookie. Test outlining one cookie with a piping tip and if it's not running off, you are good. If it's too runny, add a bit more sugar. Please note that if you don't use a milk listed, yours will be runnier and may require more sugar.
• If just drizzling the cookies, you don't need to divide the icing, but if you want to flood the cookies (fill the outline) you need a bit of runnier icing so it's easy to fill in. You will add a tiny bit of milk, start with a teaspoon and it should be more easily runny, but not watery. Fill in a cookie with another piping tip to test. Don't worry if your icing ever turns too runny, just always add more sugar.
• Do this same process if wanting to use colors. I made several different bowls of icing to do this.
• Place all the cookies on wire racks to cool. The icing will take several hours to fully harden. I let mine sit overnight to harden on the racks uncovered. Don't worry about them drying out. Honestly, it kept them crispier this way and the icing helps to keep them moist!
• If you just did the cookies with sprinkling sugar and no icing, once they are cooled, place them on a plate covered with foil or a glass container to store them. I wouldn't use plastic, as it will make them become soft.

VEGAN GLUTEN FREE SUGAR COOKIES FOR CUT OUTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or reusable silicone baking mats.
• In a large bowl, using either a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer, beat together your butter, sugar, and light brown sugar until well blended.
• Combine your baking soda and a Tablespoon of hot water in a small bowl or cup. Stir until the baking soda is dissolved.
• To your butter and sugar mixture, add in your baking soda and water mixture, pure vanilla extract, and almond extract. Continue to mix until well blended.
• In a large bowl, whisk together your gluten free flour blend, baking powder, cornstarch (or arrowroot powder), and fine sea salt until well blended.
• Gradually mix in your flour mixture a little at a time until just mixed.
• Add in almond milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together and forms a silky smooth dough.
• Place one of your balls of dough on a lightly floured surface, using additional flour as needed to avoid sticking.
• Lightly flour the top of your dough.
• Roll out to ¼" thick between two pieces of parchment paper.
• Cut out cookies using your favorite festive cookie cutters.
• Carefully place your cookies spaced 1" apart on the lined baking sheets.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on thickness of cookies).
• Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 20 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
• Allow cookies to completely cool before decorating them with your favorite icing designs!

VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until blended and creamy, about 3 minutes. Stop to scrape down the sides of your bowl when needed. Add milk and vanilla extract, blend again.
• Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed with your electric mixer or with a wooden spoon until a soft, sticky dough has formed. Form the dough into a ball.
• Place the dough ball on a piece of plastic wrap and pat down into a disk. Wrap the dough disk and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 3 hours.
• Remove from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes (it may be too hard to roll out right away, especially if it has been in the fridge for longer than 3 hours).
• Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
• Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.
• Dust a piece of parchment paper with a little gluten free flour and place the chilled dough on top of the flour. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and using a rolling pin, roll dough out until it is ¼-inch thick.
• Cut out shapes and place them on the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1-inch of space between the cookies.
• Gather dough scraps and repeat rolling and cutting until all of the dough has been used.
• If using, sprinkle the cookies with the sanding sugar.
• Bake cookies. For softer cookies, bake for 11-12 minutes, for crisp cookies, bake for 13 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Fully cool before decorating.