Soft & Chewy Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

Adapted just slightly from Gluten Free on a Shoestring

These sugar cookies are soft and chewy, like a little pillow of sugar.

I made them for my friend at work who has recently gone gluten free. He is really good at troubleshooting things, so I asked him if he would help me with a few glitches I’m experiencing on my blog. He loves cookies. I love having someone to help me with the side of my blog that baffles and befuddles me. I appreciate his help and I tend to express my gratitude with food. Therefore, cookies.

Besides that, I like a challenge. And gluten free baking is DEFINITELY a challenge! I totally failed at gluten free yeast bread and I’m not sure I’m willing to invest in another trial, but I think I’ve got the gluten free cookie thing pretty much down.

These cookies turned out so soft and wonderful. They aren’t cookie cutter sugar cookies (although I suppose if you chilled the dough, you probably could roll it out and cut it into shapes). But you don’t have to chill the dough before shaping these cookies. Just a quick 5 minutes in the freezer is all they need (or just put them outside, if you live in a deep freeze like we do here in the wintertime). There are a few advantages to living in the frozen tundra.

Thank you, Gluten Free on a Shoestring, for helping me make a great sugar cookie.

Soft & Chewy Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 14 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Yield: 20 - 30 cookies 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 6 tablespoons (84 g) butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (or trans-fat-free shortening)
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• 1 egg (60 g, out of shell)
• 1/2 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (210 g) all-purpose gluten free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF All Purpose Flour)
• 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your flour blend already contains it)
• 2 tablespoons (18 g) cornstarch (or try arrowroot if you can’t have corn)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• A few Tablespoons of raw (turbinado) sugar, for rolling the cookies in

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F. Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray or oil them (or use a nonstick silicon baking mat).
2. In a large mixing bowl, melt the coconut oil, then stir in the butter and sugar until fully mixed. Stir in the egg and vanilla.
3. Sprinkle the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt over the butter mixture and stir in until everything is all well blended together and it forms into a nice soft cookie dough.
4. Put the raw sugar into a small bowl. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in the raw sugar. Place the balls at least 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet and flatten slightly with your fingers or the bottom of a glass. I put 8 cookies on a sheet.
5. Set the prepped cookie sheets in the freezer (or if you live in a frigid climate like me, outside) for about 5 minutes or until the cookies are nice and firm.
6. Bake at 300 F. for about 12 – 14 minutes or just until they get just very lightly brown on the edges. Set the baked cookies on a rack to cool right away and start the next batch of cookies, leaving time to set them in the freezer to cool before they hop in the oven.

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Notes

My cookies didn’t spread all that much … it might have been the coconut oil or the difference in flours, but I would still recommend giving them plenty of space to expand, just in case. GF cookies that spread together make a big puddle of cookies that still taste good, but they don’t look very appetizing.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

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This recipe was shared at  Sweet & Savoury Sunday, Munching Mondays, Treasure Box Tuesdays, Tuesday’s Table, Cast Party Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Thursday Favorite Things, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Holiday Cookie Roundup and The Hearth & Soul Bloghop.