Gluten and Dairy Free Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

We love to make these gluten and dairy free cut-out sugar cookies for every holiday. These are so soft and delicious you can’t eat just one! Made with a gluten free flour blend, dairy free butter, and granulated sugar they are very easy to make and turn out great every time!

My girls and I love to bake together. We have a kitchen helper stool that my husband made that they use all the time to help me bake. Our kitchen ends up a disaster after they help me every time but it is all worth the memories. Most recently they helped me to whip up a batch of these delicious sugar cookies.

Then we rolled out the dough and cut-out hearts and arrows for Valentine’s Day. We’ve used this same recipe to make cut-out cookies for Halloween, opening deer-hunt weekend (hunting snacks for Daddy), and Christmas this past year as well. The cookies have turned out delicious everytime!

Things to note while making these cookies:

Gluten Free Flour – Make sure when baking these cookies you use a gluten-free flour blend that includes xanthan gum already. This will ensure a perfect texture cookie. I always use the King Arthur blend gluten-free flour with these.

Dairy Free Butter – Our favorite dairy free butter for baking and cookies are the Country Crock Plant Butter sticks. They taste just like the real thing in baked goods and the texture of these butter sticks help the cookies to be flaky and buttery. You would never know it’s not real butter!

Cool time – You really shouldn’t skip the 30 minutes of cool time in the refrigerator. It helps so that your dough isn’t as sticky. Your dough will roll out more evenly and easily after the 30 minutes in the refrigerator and your cookies will hold their shape better.

Almond Extract – This is our favorite part of these cookies. We love the taste of almond extract added to both the cookies and frosting. It gives them such a unique taste and we love it. This is something my mom has been adding to her sugar cookies for years so when I made them gluten and dairy free I just had to include the almond extract!

Freezing the cookies – These cookies will freeze well after baking so sometimes I will whip up a double batch and freeze to eat and decorate at a later time.

Making the icing – When making the icing be sure to add the milk in 1 tbsp increments and whisk as you go. If you find that your icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar and whisk slowly. If you find your icing is too thick, add more almond milk slowly. This will help to ensure you get the desired consistency. I usually need about 1/4 cup total almond milk when making my icing.

*We LOVE icing around our house so we tend to put a lot on each cookie. If you don’t like as much icing on your cookies you could definitely cut the recipe in half and should still have enough icing for your cookies.

Gluten and Dairy Free Cut-Out Sugar Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

Sugar Cookie Dough

• 1 cup softened dairy free butter (2 sticks) – I like to use Country Crock Plant Butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups gluten free flour + extra for rolling them out
• 1 tsp baking powder

Icing 

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Then add vanilla and almond extracts.
2. Beat in the egg.
3. In a separate bowl add the gluten-free flour blend and baking powder and mix together.
4. Pour the flour mixture into the butter mixture and stir together slowly.
5. Form the mixture into a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
7. Sprinkle extra flour onto the counter and put 1/2 of the dough on top. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin (be sure to sprinkle extra flour on top of the dough if you find it is sticking to the rolling pin).
8. Using cookie cutters, cut shapes into the dough. Take cookies off of the counter using a spatula and place 1 in apart onto cookie sheets.
9. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
10. Place the full cookie sheet(s) into the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until sides are just starting to become golden brown.
11. Allow cookies to cool completely.
12. While the cookies are cooling begin making the icing by combining the powdered sugar, vanilla, and almond extract together.
13. Add the almond milk 1 tbsp at a time and stir until you have the desired consistency. *If icing is too thick, add more almond milk 1 tbsp at a time. If it is too thin add more powdered sugar.
14. Put white frosting in separate bowls and add food coloring 1-2 drops at a time to create the desired color.
15. Once the cookies have cooled completely, frost and decorate the cookies.

Make sure to also check out these Gluten and Dairy Free Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies if you are interested in another tasty treat or another cookie to make for the holidays! They are made with creamy peanut butter, dairy free chocolate, and more!