Gluten Free Cut-Out Cookies

These Gluten Free Cut-Out Cookies are the best cookies for decorating this holiday season! They are so simple to make and can be rolled out immediately and decorated, or you can store them in the fridge for a few days before you’re ready to decorate. These cut-out cookies are truly perfect for any holiday or celebration year-round.

These versatile cookies are made with only five (5) ingredients (plus a pinch of salt!) and are a great activity to do with the kids. We’ve included tips and tricks for decorating using powdered sugar icing so you can get your holiday bake on now!

Gluten Free Cut-Out Cookies

Seriously, how cute are these Gluten Free Cut-Out Cookies? Not only are these the cutest cookies you’ll see this holiday season they also taste delicious, and we’re sharing a few different flavor options. These totally customizable cookies can be baked and left plain or topped with colored powdered sugar icing, or they can be fully decorated to match the holiday you are celebrating!

Tips for Rolling Out Dough

We may be biased, but we felt this dough was so easy to roll out! For us, it went straight from the mixing bowl to being rolled out!

We didn’t have any issues moving the cut-out cookies from where we rolled them out to the baking tray.

But if you are new to cut-out cookie, follow these tips below for best results:

1. Prepare a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.
2. Roll out dough between two sheets of parchment or plastic wrap.
3. Roll them to 1/4″ thickness.
4. Cut cookies out as close together as possible to get the most out of each time you roll out the dough.
5. Using a small spatula or knife, lift cookies and transfer them to a baking sheet. If you are having trouble moving the cookies and having them keep their shape, place them in the refrigerator to chill for a few minutes until the dough has firmed up a bit.
6. You can re-roll the scraps as many times as you would like because there is no gluten in these cookies, so they won’t be tough to re-roll; however, if the dough starts to warm up, you’ll want to throw them in the fridge to chill.

Tips for Decorating with Powdered Sugar Icing

As we said above, these cookies are delicious as is! But when decorated they’re truly elevated. You can make these cut-out cookies any time of year, and we’ve included a recipe for stiff powdered sugar icing to make your life that much easier with these tasty cookies.

We chose this Powdered Sugar Icing over a royal icing because it is a lot easier to make and the end results are essentially the same. However, if you prefer a royal icing, then use it! We’ve been asked what the major difference between the two icings are and what we’ve found is that royal icing dries very firm and does well with small piping tasks, whereas powdered sugar icing is ready in minutes and is a tad bit softer, but can handle the piping task with these cut-out cookies.

1. You’ll want to make two different icing consistencies to do more detailed decorating. The thicker icing will be for piping and borders. The thinner icing will be for a broader coat of cookies.
2. We tested out a few different types of artificial dye-free food coloring (see below) to make the most festive cookies. Once you have mixed your base icings, you can divide them into smaller bowls and add the natural food coloring.
3. Pipe the border details first and let it dry briefly (10 minutes or so) before filling in the thinner icing.
4. We piped ours using both piping bags and also tried using squeeze bottles. We didn’t use a tip in the piping bags. We just cut a small hole! Pro tip: squeeze bottles are great when decorating with kids! We use these Piping Bags and these Mini Squeeze Bottles!
5. Let the icing harden before storing (at least a few hours or until dry).
6. Have fun decorating!

Let’s talk about natural dye options:

We’ve talked about making your own food dye with food-based powders. These homemade dyes tend to work best with a buttercream frosting. While it’s totally possible to frost these cut-out cookies with a buttercream frosting, it won’t have the classic feel we talked about above with Powdered Sugar Icing. So, we went ahead and tested a handful of brands that offer artificial food coloring and, here’s what we found:

We actually loved them all, and they all fall into different price points.

We tried:

• Whole Foods Market 365 Brand: This one was the most economical and worked well, except for the red, which tinted more towards pink. This brand most resembles traditional dye in the sense that it comes in little liquid squeeze bottles. It is under $10 for a pack with core colors and offers a guide on the package to mix additional colors.
• ColorKitchen Foods: This dye-free coloring comes in powder form. You can mix it with your wet ingredients to hydrate or add a touch of water to hydrate before adding it to the icing (which is the method we used). This one was surprisingly very potent, but it’s pricier. It comes in single-use packets, which is both a pro and a con.
• TruColor: This brand works like magic, but it is expensive. It also comes in powdered form but in small jars (depending on the amount you order), so you can store any leftovers right in the container. You must store this food coloring in the refrigerator. Any red coloring that you see in this post uses TruColor, and you’ll see it makes a perfectly vibrant red.

FAQ:

• How to store the baked cookies? At room temperature for 5-7 days and in the fridge for about 10 days and in the freezer for 6 months.
• How to store the dough? You can store the dough in the fridge for 2-3 days.
• How thick do I roll the dough? Roll to 1/4″ thick!
• Any flour alternatives? No – this is tried and true with the almond and coconut flour combination.
• Can you substitute anything for the honey? Yes, maple syrup works!
• Can I use vegan butter? Yes – see the comments below!
• Can I add other flavors? Absolutely! You can use whatever flavor you’d like. We’ve only tested the three we listed, so start light with measurements.
• Do I have to use a piping bag? No! You can use any ziplock-esque bag and cut the tip!

Tools Used:

• Stand Mixer
• Sheet Pan
• Silpat
• Offset Spatula
• Rolling Pin
• Piping Bags or Mini Squeeze Bottles
• Artificial Free Food Dye
• Cleaner Sprinkles
• Additional standard equipment: bowls, whisks, etc.

More Cookie Recipes:

• Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Double Chocolate Chunk Macadamia Nut Cookies
• Gluten Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Gluten-Free Funfetti Cookies

Watch The Video:

Gluten Free Cut Out Cookies

4.38 from 8 votes

These Gluten Free Cut-Out Cookies are the best cookies for decorating during the holiday season! They are so simple to put together, can be rolled out immediately and decorated (or not) to celebrate any holiday! These versatile cookies are made with only five (5) ingredients and they are a great activity to do with the kids.

Servings 12

Prep Time 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time 6 minutes minutes

Total Time 41 minutes minutes

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Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1/4 cup butter room temperature (or butter alternative)
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-½ cup 190g almond flour use a food scale for percision
• ½ cup 60g tapioca flour use a food scale for precision
• Pinch of fine sea salt

Optional Flavors (choose one):

• 1/2 teaspoon mint
• 1 tablespoons orange zest
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract

For Decorating:

• 1 cup organic powdered sugar
• 1-½ to 2-½ tablespoons almond milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

To Make Cookie Dough:

• In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer cream butter, honey and vanilla, until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes
• In a medium bowl add almond flour, tapioca flour and salt and whisk to combine.
• Add dry ingredients to butter and combine. It may look crumbly at first, but continue to mix until the dough comes together.
• Roll out immediately (see directions below) or wrap in plastic wrap and keep in refrigerator until ready to roll, up to 3 days.

To Roll Out and Bake Cookies:

• Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
• Roll out dough between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Roll out to a thickness or 1/4" and cut out with cookie cutters. Carefully peel cut out cookies off parchment and place on lined baking sheet. They will not spread so you can spaces them as close as 1/4" apart.
• You can re roll scraps, chilling in between if dough is getting too warm.
• Bake for 7 minutes, until slightly golden around the edges.
• Let cool before decorating.

To Decorate:

• Whisk 1-1/2 tablespoons almond milk, vanilla and powdered sugar together until smooth. You want it to be thick enough to pipe. If you plan to flood the cookie you can make two smaller batches and add a touch more almond milk to want to make it thinner to floor the cookie in between the piping icing. Drop in some food coloring (see post for more info) depending on what color you’d like to make. Decorate using squeeze bottles of piping bags.

Notes

• Read the post for more information and tips for making these cut-out cookies.
• Storing the cookies:
  • At room temperature – baked cookies will last 5-7 dyas.
  • In the freezer – baked cookies will last for 6 months.
  • Cookie dough – you can store in the fridge 2-3 days.

Author: Lexi

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