Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies from HeatherChristo.com

So, I got through my week (ahem, 4 days) of cleansing and then capped it off with two Christmas Cookies. I had to. I mean, it’s all about balance, right?!

So now I can button my jeans and I am back in the Christmas Season Saddle! Which means that is it is obviously time for Sugar Cookies.

I have a life long love affair with sugar cookies. My Grandma Grace had a wonderful recipe that we baked and loved for my childhood. It was our one and only staple recipe until I went away to Culinary School. When I worked as a pastry chef in San Francisco I learned about Sable, the sugar cookies, tender, more delicate sister and I was hooked. So then that recipe had a 15 year place of honor right up until the Holiday season that we found out about our allergies. That was three years ago.

We have not had a sugar cookie in all of that time, and I thought that they were probably never to return to our Christmas traditions. But this year, I took extra time and after about 6 recipes, found the most perfect sugar cookie recipe ever. Complete with really easy rolling out and it’s cookie cutter friendly! I honest to God was about to ditch my huge box of cookie cutters before Christmas, and I am so grateful that I decided not to. The girls and I had so much fun cutting out the cookies and did multiple batches- some with icing, some with colored sugars and sprinkles. They all are adorable and it was so much fun!

Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies from HeatherChristo.com

In the recipe, you will see that you could use either vanilla or almond extract. We did batches of each and they were both wonderful, although my kids like the almond extract better. * if it is almond flavored or imitation almond extract than there is NO nuts in it. PURE almond extract would.

Also I have to make a note about all-purpose gluten free flours. I use Bobs Red Mill AP GF flour in all of my recipe development. I encourage you to experiment with other brands if they are more readily available to you- BUT please make sure that the flour doesn’t have xanthum gum in it. Or if it does, please do not add more per the recipe instructions. You will wind up with WEIRD and or GROSS results! I do not want that for you!

Ok. Also! I am excited for you to try the Vegan Royal Icing which worked just as well as the original version! So cool.

This weekend you can look for the Gingerbread Cookie Recipe on Sunday morning along with a 10am PT Cookie Baking Class on Facebook Live! I hope you will join me and the little girls for the tutorial. Have a great weekend!

Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies from HeatherChristo.com

Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups All Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour (I use Bobs Red Mill in the dark red bag)
  • 1 ½ cups powdered Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ cup Vegan Butter at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
  • ¼ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I prefer oat milk)
  • * FOR BEST RESULTS PLEASE DON"T SUBSTITUTE INGREDIENTS OR OVERBAKE!!!
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two sheetpans with parchment or silpats.
  2. In the bowl of a standing mixer combine all of the dry ingredients. Add the room temperature vegan butter in chunks and mix until you have a dry crumbly dough. Add the non-dairy milk and vanilla and beat until the dough comes together. It will be uniform but sticky.
  3. Transfer all of the dough to a sheet of wax paper and use the paper to form the dough into a disc. Refrigerate the dough in the wax paper for 30 minutes.
  4. Dust a work surface with powdered sugar and then roll out the dough with a little more and a rolling pin. You want the dough to be about ⅛ inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut the shapes and transfer them to the prepared sheet pans. The dough will spread slightly so leave the cookies a little room on the pans. If you want to add sprinkles to the cookies, do this now- otherwise you can ice them when they are baked and cooled.
  5. Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes, they will still be pale but they will firm up while they cool. Let the cookies cool for at least 10-15 minutes before transferring them with a spatula to a cooling rack.
  6. When they are completely cool, ice them with Vegan Royal Icing. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer.

 

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Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies from HeatherChristo.com

So, I got through my week (ahem, 4 days) of cleansing and then capped it off with two Christmas Cookies. I had to. I mean, it’s all about balance, right?!

So now I can button my jeans and I am back in the Christmas Season Saddle! Which means that is it is obviously time for Sugar Cookies.

I have a life long love affair with sugar cookies. My Grandma Grace had a wonderful recipe that we baked and loved for my childhood. It was our one and only staple recipe until I went away to Culinary School. When I worked as a pastry chef in San Francisco I learned about Sable, the sugar cookies, tender, more delicate sister and I was hooked. So then that recipe had a 15 year place of honor right up until the Holiday season that we found out about our allergies. That was three years ago.

We have not had a sugar cookie in all of that time, and I thought that they were probably never to return to our Christmas traditions. But this year, I took extra time and after about 6 recipes, found the most perfect sugar cookie recipe ever. Complete with really easy rolling out and it’s cookie cutter friendly! I honest to God was about to ditch my huge box of cookie cutters before Christmas, and I am so grateful that I decided not to. The girls and I had so much fun cutting out the cookies and did multiple batches- some with icing, some with colored sugars and sprinkles. They all are adorable and it was so much fun!

Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies from HeatherChristo.com

In the recipe, you will see that you could use either vanilla or almond extract. We did batches of each and they were both wonderful, although my kids like the almond extract better. * if it is almond flavored or imitation almond extract than there is NO nuts in it. PURE almond extract would.

Also I have to make a note about all-purpose gluten free flours. I use Bobs Red Mill AP GF flour in all of my recipe development. I encourage you to experiment with other brands if they are more readily available to you- BUT please make sure that the flour doesn’t have xanthum gum in it. Or if it does, please do not add more per the recipe instructions. You will wind up with WEIRD and or GROSS results! I do not want that for you!

Ok. Also! I am excited for you to try the Vegan Royal Icing which worked just as well as the original version! So cool.

This weekend you can look for the Gingerbread Cookie Recipe on Sunday morning along with a 10am PT Cookie Baking Class on Facebook Live! I hope you will join me and the little girls for the tutorial. Have a great weekend!

Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies from HeatherChristo.com

Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups All Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour (I use Bobs Red Mill in the dark red bag)
  • 1 ½ cups powdered Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ cup Vegan Butter at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
  • ¼ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I prefer oat milk)
  • * FOR BEST RESULTS PLEASE DON"T SUBSTITUTE INGREDIENTS OR OVERBAKE!!!
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two sheetpans with parchment or silpats.
  2. In the bowl of a standing mixer combine all of the dry ingredients. Add the room temperature vegan butter in chunks and mix until you have a dry crumbly dough. Add the non-dairy milk and vanilla and beat until the dough comes together. It will be uniform but sticky.
  3. Transfer all of the dough to a sheet of wax paper and use the paper to form the dough into a disc. Refrigerate the dough in the wax paper for 30 minutes.
  4. Dust a work surface with powdered sugar and then roll out the dough with a little more and a rolling pin. You want the dough to be about ⅛ inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut the shapes and transfer them to the prepared sheet pans. The dough will spread slightly so leave the cookies a little room on the pans. If you want to add sprinkles to the cookies, do this now- otherwise you can ice them when they are baked and cooled.
  5. Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes, they will still be pale but they will firm up while they cool. Let the cookies cool for at least 10-15 minutes before transferring them with a spatula to a cooling rack.
  6. When they are completely cool, ice them with Vegan Royal Icing. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer.