Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies (Soft + Chewy)
These soft and chewy gluten-free sugar cookies will knock your socks off. No refined-sugars or flours found in these bad boys either. Instead of processed white flour, they’re made with an ingredient that may drop your jaw. But, trust me, you will love the flavor and soft texture of these healthy gluten-free sugar cookies!
What Makes These Sugar Cookies Gluten-Free?
Almond Flour: This recipe calls for Blanched Almond Flour to get an amazingly soft, melt in your mouth cookie. Pretty similar to my Secretly Healthy Banana Bread recipe.
Jaw Dropping Ingredient: We are using a protein RICH flour here. Drum roll please… QUINOA FLOUR. I know. It shocks me to say it too. But ladies and gentlemen, quinoa flour is a sneaky gluten-free substitute. It gives these cookies a unique delicious flavor. I’ll give you a full run down on that later!
You can buy quinoa flour or make it at home! If you need a step by step of how to make homemade quinoa flour, just check out How to Make Homemade Flour (Only 3 Steps).
Other Healthy Ingredients in These Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
Coconut Sugar/Sucanat: Both of these sweeteners are unrefined, low glycemic sugars. Unlike processed white sugar used in traditional sugar cookies, coconut sugar and sucanat actually have numerous health benefits! Coconut sugar is one of the low cost superfood staples you can find in my pantry at all times.
NOTE: These sweeteners are naturally darker in color because they are not processed. Therefore, your sugar cookies will be darker than the pale white of a traditional sugar cookie. They turn out to be a beautiful GOLDEN color and have triple the health benefits. I’ll take that swap any day.
Grass-Fed Butter: I chose to use unsalted grass-fed butter to get a buttery sugar cookie flavor. If you’ve tried my Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins, you already know the nutritional and flavorful wonders grass-fed butter can give your recipes! You can swap this for coconut oil or ghee to fit your dietary needs too!
Lemon Juice: The reason we use a tiny bit of lemon juice in this gluten-free sugar cookie recipe is not for the lemon flavor. It’s simply to add an acidic ingredient that will make these cookies extra fluffy and moist (apologies to the people who hate that word).
Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Icings:
I created two dreamy icings for these cookies. Now, these icings aren’t the healthiest, but it’s the best I could do for sugar cookies! The healthy cookie on the bottom balances it out right?
I originally made a traditional buttercream icing. I found it a bit too sweet for my taste buds, so, I made a cream cheese icing as well! Some of my taste testers (aka my honest friends and family) loved the butter cream frosting, while others preferred the cream cheese icing. It’s completely dependent on your pallet and how sweet you enjoy your treats.
If you’re looking for a more traditional sugar cookie taste, choose the buttercream icing. If you love the mild, sweet tang of cream cheese icing, go with that one! Decisions, Decisions! You really can’t go wrong either way!
Overall Taste of these Gluten-free Sugar Cookies
These soft gluten-free sugar cookies have more of a toasted, warm flavor. The healthy flours and sweeteners in these sugar cookies are what contribute to their slightly nutty, rich flavor. These soft sugar cookies go amazingly with a steaming cup of coffee or tea.
Pro Tips for Making Soft Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies!
Tip 1: Rolling Out the Sugar Cookie Dough
- Roll the dough between sheets of parchment paper to make sure it doesn’t stick to anything (the counter or rolling pin).
- BE PATIENT with this dough and really work with it. After being in the fridge it will be quite hard. It gets softer the more you work with it. (If it’s too soft, it’s tricky). Just pop it back in the fridge for 20 minutes if this happens.
Tip 2: Chill the Dough!!!
This step is KEY! I know, I know, you want these cookies in your mouth NOW! But patience is a virtue in this cookie recipe (and in any sugar cookie recipe really). Letting the dough chill for an hour gives you an excuse to chill yourself! Pop that dough in the fridge, crank up the Christmas tunes, pour yourself a cup of secretly healthy hot cacao, hunker down on your couch and watch a Christmas episode of The Office.
The reason it’s so important to chill the dough is because we are working with ingredients like butter (or coconut oil if Vegan). These ingredients melt quickly in warm temperatures and when working with them. The chilling allows the dough to set, harden a bit, and become less sticky.
It’s the worst when you have adorable cookie cutter shapes but all your cookies turn out looking like deformed mountainous blobs because the dough is too sticky. Sad days. SAVE YOURSELF the Christmas blues and CHILL the dough. You’ll thank yourself in the long cookie run later.
We also chill the dough right before baking the cookies to ensure they will puff up instead of spread out in the hot oven. Therefore, you are sure to look like a professional cookie creator with your perfectly cut out Christmas cookie shapes! *Pat yourself on the back*
What You’ll Need to Make these Sugar Cookies:
- Rolling Pin/Large Jar or Wine Bottle
- Parchment Paper
- Cookie Cutter Shapes
- Cookie Sheet
I hope you love these soft chewy gluten-free sugar cookies! If you try them, make sure to tag us @secretlyhealthyhome on Instagram! We love seeing your creations!
PIN FOR LATER
Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
These sugar cookies put a healthy gluten-free spin on your traditional sugar cookie. Made with almond flour, quinoa flour, coconut sugar and grass-fed butter! These soft, chewy sugar cookies melt in your mouth! Vegan friendly too!
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Coconut Sugar
- 8 Tbs (4 oz) Unsalted Grass-Fed Butter
- 2 Eggs
- ¼ tsp Almond Extract
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Lemon Juice
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Quinoa Flour
- 1 ¼ Cup Blanched Almond Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
Butter Cream Icing:
- 3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 8 Tbs Unsalted Grass-Fed Butter
- 1 Tbs Milk of Choice (to thin out)
Cream Cheese Icing:
- 1 Block (8 oz) Softened Cream Cheese (or sub Vegan Cream Cheese)
- ½ Cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tbs Milk of Choice (to thin out)
To Decorate:
- Sprinkles of Choice (Here are some Healthy Gluten-Free Sprinkles
Instructions
1. In a large bowl, add the softened butter and coconut sugar. With a hand mixer or standing mixer (See Note 1 if you don’t have one of these), cream the butter and sugar together. Beat on high for around 5 minutes until the sugar is mostly dissolved in the butter.
2. Add the eggs, almond and vanilla extracts, and lemon juice to the butter mixture and beat together until combined.
3. To the bowl, gently fold in the quinoa flour, blanched almond flour, and baking powder. Stir until just combined (Try not to over-mix).
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour (See Note 4).
5. After an hour or more, get the dough out of the fridge and place between 2 sheets of parchment paper (this ensures the dough won’t stick to the rolling pin). (See Note 5 if you don’t have parchment paper).
6. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
7. Firmly press down the dough with the rolling pin to flatten it a bit. Then begin rolling the dough until it's ¼ inch thick (you can use a bottle cap for reference).
8. Cut out the dough with cookie cutters and place them on the parchment lined cookie sheet. (If the dough is sticking to the table, use a knife to shimmy underneath the shapes when trying to lift them out). BE GENTLE AND PATIENT 🙂
9. Place the cut out cookies into the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
10. While chilling the cut out shapes, gather the excess dough, form into a ball and repeat steps 9 and 10. (If the dough is too sticky, place it in the fridge for 20 minutes).
11. After 10 minutes, pull the cookies out of the fridge and bake at 350 F. for 10-12 minutes. (They should look slightly doughy but golden on the edges).
12. Let cool completely (around 20 minutes).
13. Make the icing, frost the cookies, decorate, and devour!
14. Store in the fridge for up to a week and the freezer for up to 3 months!
Butter Cream Icing:
In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer or standing mixer (See Note 1 if you don’t have either) mix powdered sugar and butter on high for 5 minutes until smooth. Add in the milk to get desired thickness.
Cream Cheese Icing:
In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer or standing mixer (See Note 1 if you don’t have either) mix softened cream cheese and powdered sugar on high for 5 minutes until smooth. Add in the milk to get desired thickness.
Notes
- I recommend using a fork to cream the ingredients together. I mistakenly tried a hand whisk and the butter/cream cheese just got stuck in it. So learn from me and just use a fork. Once the ingredients are incorporated, then you can switch to a hand whisk to further cream ingredients together.
- Quinoa is naturally gluten-free! If you are GF make sure your quinoa is made in a factory that does not process gluten. This brand of quinoa is my favorite and the best bang for your buck!
- I have not tried making these cookies with an egg substitute. If you’re Vegan, you can try using chia eggs as a replacement. Let me know if you do and how they turn out!
- Chill the dough: You can make this dough ahead of time and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Just set it out on the counter to thaw out for about 10 minutes before you start working with it.
- If you don’t have parchment paper, you can place the dough on a floured surface and flour your rolling pin very well! If the dough gets sticky, just add more almond flour and keep on rollin’. You can also try cling wrap (plastic wrap) on top of the dough to stop it from sticking to the rolling pin.
I hope you LOVE these soft gluten-free sugar cookies! YUM!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
18Amount Per Serving: Calories: 192Total Fat: 11.2gCarbohydrates: 20.7gProtein: 2.8g
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