This is our family’s FAVORITE gluten-free Cut-Out Sugar Cookies recipe that doesn’t spread while baking! The soft buttery dough is rolled out, cut with cookie cutters, baked in the oven, then coated with the best homemade icing. Learn all the tips and tricks for getting the cookies to hold their shape and decorate them perfectly for this Christmas season.
I am absolutely OBSESSED with this gluten-free cut-out sugar cookies recipe!!!
They are hands down the BEST I have ever tasted… and no one can ever tell that they’re gluten-free!
Not only is the flavor wonderful, but the texture is perfectly soft and tender.
And, with the right ingredients and a few tips they hold their shape beautifully after being baked.
Create gorgeous designs with icing and share the love by gifting them to your friends and family. (Or hog them all to yourself… I won’t tell!)
So if you’re ready to make the most impressive Christmas cookies ever, keep reading and find out all the tips and tricks!
Ingredients
The simple ingredients you need to make this cut-out cookie recipe include:
- Flour. All purpose flour or Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free baking blend may be used. You can also substitute for a blend of white rice flour, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum.
- Sugar. Regular, white sugar is best. Do not replace with a sugar alternative such as coconut or even turbinado sugar.
- Egg. These will give the cookies their lift. Make sure you get large eggs.
- Salted Butter. This is where a large majority of the flavor comes from. You can try substituting with vegan “buttery sticks” or margarine if you are dairy-free.
- Extracts. Both clear vanilla extract and almond extract are used to give this recipe a unique taste.
How to Make this Gluten-Free Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
The basic steps for making cut-out cookies are simple to follow. Please see the recipe card below for more detailed ingredient amounts.
Make the Dough (No Need to Chill!)
Take your butter straight from the refrigerator. Cut it into cubes and load into a large bowl or stand mixer along with the sugar.
Cream the butter and sugar with a stand or handheld mixer on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, or until the dough resembles coarse crumbs.
Add in the egg and extracts and continue to mix for 1-2 more minutes.
Little by little pour in the flour allowing it to fully combine after each addition.
Once the flour is completely absorbed and the dough sticks together you are ready to roll.
You can either refrigerate the dough at this stage for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2-3 months until ready to use.
Roll Out Dough
Sprinkle about ¼-cup of powdered sugar over a cutting board. By skipping flour and using powdered sugar you prevent sticking while adding even more flavor to your cookies!
Place half of the cookie dough onto the surface and sprinkle with another 2-3 tablespoons of powdered sugar.
Flatten out the cookie dough using a rolling pin until the dough is ¼ – ⅓ inch thick.
Cut into Shapes
Cut dough into shapes with metal cookie cutters. The metal ones make cleaner cuts than the plastic ones and are easier to use.
Use those cute cookie cutters to make these gluten-free gingerbread cookies next!
Bake in Oven
Place the shapes on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet about 1-inch apart. Parchment paper makes clean-up a breeze, they don’t get stuck on the baking sheet, and the cookies bake more evenly. You can also use a silicone mat, if you’d prefer.
Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown slightly. Cook on the longer side if they are thicker, and for less time if they are thinner.
Let rest on a wire rack until they come to room temperature.
Sugar Cookie Frosting
Mix egg whites on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the butter (for the family icing), vanilla and 1-cup of powdered sugar. Combine until the sugar is fully incorporated.
Add the remaining sugar incrementally and stir well each time. If the frosting is too thick, add 1-2-tbsp of milk until the desired consistency is reached.
Finally, drop in your desired food coloring (gels work the best!) and stir until combined.
Decorate to Impress!
Use a piping bag fitted with a 3M piping tip to outline where you would like the family icing to fill. Then use a toothpick to spread it all over evenly.
You can also just spread it on with a butter knife or a spoon if the kiddos are helping you out!
Once it has set you can pipe designs with the royal icing.
Place white nonpareils on the wet icing with tweezers.
Shake on sprinkles and enjoy!
Meal Prep and Storage
- To Prep-Ahead: The cookie dough can be made in advance and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator before rolling out.
- To Store: Baked sugar cookies taste best when kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days.
- To Freeze: Seal in a freezer-safe airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
FAQs
Cut-out sugar cookies are made by rolling out the dough and cutting it into shapes before baking. Drop sugar cookies are simply made by dropping the dough onto the cookie sheet, and are generally thicker.
Sprinkle powdered sugar on a wooden surface and use a rolling pin to press and roll the dough until it is flattened.
To avoid burnt or undercooked cookies try to roll the dough so that it is ¼ – ⅓-inch thick. You can check the thickness of cookie dough by measuring with a ruler.
Skip the baking powder and baking soda, use cold butter, and bake chilled dough on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Expert Tips and Tricks
- Forget the leaveners!! Baking soda and baking powder have a tendency to make cookies spread.
- Keep it cold. Use cold butter and keep the dough chilled until you are ready to bake so the cookies hold their shape.
- Sugar not flour. Dust powdered sugar on your rolling surface to prevent the dough from drying out and add even more flavor.
- Line the sheet. Bake the cookies on parchment paper to maintain shape, avoid sticking, and keep cleanup easy.
- Smooth it out. Toothpicks work great for evenly spreading the icing.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
There’s never a bad time for cookies! And these cookies can all be made gluten-free:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
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Ingredients
- ½ cup butter cold, but not frozen, cubed*
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. almond extract
- 2 ¼ cups flour or a gluten-free 1-to-1 baking blend
- ½ tsp. salt
Family Icing Recipe:
- 2 egg whites
- 2 Tbsp. butter melted*
- 3 cups powdered sugar sifted
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 1-2 Tbsp. milk if needed
- food coloring
Royal Icing Recipe:
- 1 egg white
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp milk optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer combine cold butter and sugar. Mix on medium for 1-2 minutes, or until butter and sugar are just combined.
- Add egg, vanilla and almond extract. Continue mixing for 1-2 more minutes.
- In a separate bowl combine white rice flour tapioca starch, xanthan gum and salt. Toss to combine.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to the butter sugar mixture. Continue mixing on medium until dough starts to form a ball.
- Place dough out on a lightly powdered sugar-coated surface. Roll dough out to ¼ – ⅓ inch thickness.
- Using cookie cutters, cut dough into desired shapes and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes or until edges just begin to brown.
- Let cookies cool completely before frosting.
Family Icing:
- In a medium-sized bowl place, mix egg whites over medium speed for 1 minute. Add butter, vanilla and 1 cup powdered sugar. Mix until sugar is incorporated.
- Add remaining sugar incrementally and mix well between each addition. If frosting is too thick, add 1-2 tbsp milk until desired consistency is reached.
- Add food coloring as desired.
- Frost cookies using a toothpick to spread the icing where you want it on the cookies.
Royal Icing: *optional*
- Place egg white in a medium bowl. Mix egg white for 1-2 minutes or until it becomes frothy. Add vanilla and mix for another minute.
- Add powdered sugar and mix over medium-low speed for 4-5 minutes.
- If icing is too thick, add milk as needed to reach an easy piping consistency.
- Place royal icing in a piping bag fitted with a 3M piping tip. Pipe designs on cookies and enjoy!
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Video
Notes
- You can also use 1 1/2 cups sweet white rice flour, 3/4 cup tapioca starch, and 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum instead of the gluten-free flour blend.
- Food coloring gel works best when getting really vibrant colors in your icing.
- Use tweezers when placing small nonpareils onto the cookies.
- These sprinkles and these white nonpareils were used to decorate the cookies you see pictured.
- You can also use vegan “buttery” sticks or margarine if dairy-free.
- To Store: Baked sugar cookies taste best when kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days.
- To Freeze: Seal in a freezer-safe airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Doesn’t gel food coloring have red dye or dyes that behave gluten. Also what flour do you use? What does 1 to 1 mean and tapioca isn’t mentioned in ingredients. Confused.
Look for gels or dyes that are certified gluten-free. I use the Bob’s red mill 1-to-1 (it means it can be substituted cup for cup with regular all purpose flour)
Can I use store bought flour yet mine has potato starch in it, is that ok?
Hi Tina, you can use store bought flour, but be aware of all of the ingredients if you are trying to avoid gluten.
This recipe is amazing !!
Yay! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Teresa! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment and rating!
These cookies turned out delicious! However, the dough was very crumbly, so I ended up adding 1/4 cup more butter. I used a 1:1 gluten-free flour, and perhaps the mixture in that brand made it too dry. The extra butter made it much softer and easier to roll. My kids were very happy to have cookies that retained the Christmas shapes!
My only tip is to make sure the butter is completely softened before using. I’m glad your kids liked them, though.
Can I sub lemon extract for the almond extract?
That sounds delicious! Let me know how they turn out.
I’ve gotten rave reviews when subbing lemon extract! Now I’m considering trying Nielsen-Massey almond extract which, according to their website, is made from bitter almond oil derived from stone fruit pits and is therefore nut-free.
I’m so glad lemon extract worked well!
I doubled the recipe and had to refrigerate for next day and it is a crumbly mess – will not roll doesn’t even feel like dough. What did I do wrong.?
This recipe is best if used immediately after making the dough. If you need to prep it ahead of time, though, it’s best if you shape it into smaller mounds of dough and let it come to room temperature before trying to roll it out. This should bring it back to the right texture. Hope this helps!
I have used this recipe for years now. Just wondering what the original amount of xantham gum was? Since you removed it from the ingredients. Thanks
So happy to hear you’ve enjoyed the recipe for so long! You’ll need 1 tsp. of xanthan gum if your flour does not already include it. Also, the amount of white rice flour, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum are written in the recipe notes section. 🙂
I can’t figure out amounts of
the tapioca, rice flours plus the xanthin to get to the proper flour mixture?
Hi Janet! The ingredient amounts for the starch, flour, and gum are written in the recipe notes section of the recipe card! 🙂
Hi. I am going to double this recipe for Easter cutouts. Do I double the xanthum gum or will it be too much? The bag says 3/4 tsp for 3 cups of flour. I don’t want them to be too gummy.
Yes, you’ll definitely want to double the xanthan gum if your flour doesn’t already have it. I’ve also used Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 with great results! Happy Easter, Deb 🙂
These are incredibly easy and taste wonderful. We couldn’t even tell they were gluten free!! Thank you for this fantastic recipe!
Yay, Saba!! So happy you enjoyed the recipe – and doubly happy you couldn’t tell they were GF! Thanks so much for your comment and rating 🙂