I have never been too excited about sugar cookies. But then I had kids. And what kid doesn’t love first and foremost “frosting cookies” in all sorts of fun shapes?! So I created these gluten free and vegan sugar cookies so all my kids could enjoy them too!
There have been a couple times my little kinder has come home crying from school because she couldn’t have the ‘frosting cookies’ with all the other kids.
So this was a recipe I had to master….quick.
And today for the Easter/Earth Day celebration in class, she got her “frosting cookie” just like everyone else.
Most people would be shocked to find out these cookies don’t have any gluten or dairy. They are quite tasty, even by my standards.
I prefer my cookies more on the moist and soft side, not crunchy like many sugar cookies: so increase the bake time if you are the latter. The original recipe I tweaked was from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
by Moskowitz and Romero: truly an amazing book with dynamite recipes (their Vegan Cupcake
one rocks too).
by Moskowitz and Romero: truly an amazing book with dynamite recipes (their Vegan Cupcake one rocks too).Oh and please notice how NOT perfect my cookies are…there’s my impatience thing again…I am not particular about how things look, only taste! Good things kids are quite forgiving!
Here are some other holiday cookies you could try:
- Gluten Free | Vegan Thumprint Cookies
- Paleo | Vegan Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Gluten Free | Vegan Samoas
- Gluten Free | Dairy Free Dark Chocolate Truffle Cookies
Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 24
Ingredients
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 3/4 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch or any starch
- 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
- 1 teaspoon guar gum
- Or omit the above flour and gum and use 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour and 2 T cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- Wet:
- 1/2 cup allowed butter slightly softened (like Soy Free Earth Balance "butter" sticks, ghee, or grass-fed butter)
- 1/2 cup Spectrum Palm Shortening this is the healthier Crisco
- 1 cup unrefined sugar for cane sugar free - 1/2 cup palm sugar, 1/2 cup xylitol or all xylitol. This will make your cookies darker in color, but still delicious!
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract you can also use almond, maple or any other flavor
- Frosting:
- 1 tablespoon melted Earth Balance or butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar see my corn free powdered sugar post for options
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon or less of non-dairy milk to desired consistency 1 teaspoon at a time, it thins quickly
Instructions
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Whisk the dry ingredients together.
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In a larger bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar.
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Add the applesauce, vanilla and lemon extracts until everything is combined.
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With the mixer running, add n your dry ingredients and blend well to form a stiff dough.
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Dust your surface with any flour, and dust your ball of dough.
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Roll out to desired thickness, I do about 1/4 inch.
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Cut out your cookies, and gather the remaining pieces to add to the next roll out.
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OR: Divide the dough into two and pat each portion into a thin, no more than 2" thick disc. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. (Or if you're crunched on time, freeze it for 20-30 minutes or so).
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I always like to test one out in the oven first to make sure it stands and add more flour if necessary!
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Bake in 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes until lightly golden around the edges (end time will depend on the thickness and size of your masterpieces!).
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When cool, frost if desired.
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TO MAKE THE FROSTING:
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Melt the butter in a dish. Add the powdered sugar and mix with the vanilla and 1-2 teaspoons of milk to start. A thick and stiff frosting will become dry and firm when dry and is easier to decorate with and store, and a little bit of milk goes a LONG way!
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Great recipe! Nobody should have to miss out on frosted cookies at Christmas, and you have made sure they won’t have to. Thank you for sharing this delicious treat with the Hearth and Soul hop.
YUM! I haven’t ventured out into the world of sprinkles yet. I have looked a bit at the store and WF just started carrying a naturally colored sprinkle at a horrible price (way too much). Is there a certain brand of sprinkles that you’d rec for food allergies? We usually don’t eat artificial colors, however I can bend the rule for special cookies!
Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂
I hope to see you again this week!
Stop by this week to see if you were the winner of the Sugar and Spice Prize pack! We had a super great variety of recipes and entries this week!
Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
Hi Cindy, I usually use India Tree…but read labels…they are all over the board!!
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂
Thank you for sharing these to our 12 Days of Christmas {Goodies} link-up! 🙂 I love frosted sugar cookies! They just scream Christmas to me. 🙂 I’m thrilled that an allergy-friendly version is in our link-up.
Hi Tessa, I’m Anne from Life on the Funny Farm (http://annesfunnyfarm.blogspot.com), and I’m visiting from Natural Living Mondays.
I wouldn’t have thought it possible to make something like a sugar cookie into practically a health food, but you seem to have done it! Kudos to you.
Anyway, thanks for posting this. If you’ve never visited yet, I hope you can pop by my blog sometime to say hi…