Name: Soft Gluten-Free Christmas Sugar Cookies (No Chill + Easy!)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 6 min
Total time: 31 min
Yield: 32
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 8 Tbs. (1 stick) softened salted grass-fed butter or vegan butter; ½ cup honey or pure maple syrup; 1 flax egg (1 Tbs. ground flax + 2 Tbs. water. Let thicken for 5 minutes.); 3 Tbs. plain nonfat Greek yogurt or dairy-free yogurt; ¼ tsp. almond extract; 2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste; ¼ tsp. fresh lemon juice (apple cider vinegar should also work. See note 3); 2½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur Measure For Measure) - make sure it contains xanthan gum (See Note 4 for more flour options); 1 tsp. baking powder; 4½ Tbs. softened grass-fed butter or vegan butter; 4½ oz. softened low-fat cream cheese (can substitute vegan cream cheese); 2¼ - 4¼ Tbs. pure maple syrup (or more to taste) (can substitute honey, powdered sugar, or powdered monk fruit sweetener); ¼ tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

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The Best Gluten-Free Christmas Sugar Cookies. You’re going to love how easy this no-chill sugar cookie recipe is. They are also naturally sweetened, nut-free, and vegan friendly. They are so soft and trust me, no one will know they are healthier. My kids love them!

Yield: 32

Soft Gluten-Free Christmas Sugar Cookies (No Chill + Easy!)

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 6 minutes

Total Time 31 minutes

Ingredients

Wet

8 Tbs. (1 stick) softened salted grass-fed butter or vegan butter
½ cup honey or pure maple syrup
1 flax egg (1 Tbs. ground flax + 2 Tbs. water. Let thicken for 5 minutes.)
3 Tbs. plain nonfat Greek yogurt or dairy-free yogurt
¼ tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
¼ tsp. fresh lemon juice (apple cider vinegar should also work. See note 3)

Dry

2½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur Measure For Measure) - make sure it contains xanthan gum (See Note 4 for more flour options)
1 tsp. baking powder

Cream Cheese Icing

4½ Tbs. softened grass-fed butter or vegan butter
4½ oz. softened low-fat cream cheese (can substitute vegan cream cheese)
2¼ - 4¼ Tbs. pure maple syrup (or more to taste) (can substitute honey, powdered sugar, or powdered monk fruit sweetener)
¼ tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, add the softened butter, honey, and thickened flax egg. Beat on high until smooth and combined (about 1 minute). Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
Add in the gluten-free flour and baking powder. Mix again until a dough forms and all flour is incorporated. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball.
Generously flour a smooth work surface with gluten-free flour and place your dough ball in the center. Flour your rolling pin and begin rolling out your dough until it is about ¼ inch thick (you can use a bottle cap for reference). Sprinkle the dough and your rolling pin with more flour when needed. Use your finger to press the dough back together if any cracks occur.
Use cookie cutters to cut out your cookie dough and place on the parchment-lined baking sheet (cookies will not spread much when baked). Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all cookie dough is gone.
Bake cookies at 350 F. for 6-8 minutes until puffed slightly and fragrant. Let cool completely while you make your cream cheese icing.
Combine all cream cheese icing ingredients in a medium bowl or stand mixer (be sure that your cream cheese if very soft!). Mix on high until smooth and fluffy (about 2 minutes). See note 1 for more tips and icing color options.
Frost the Christmas cookies, decorate with sprinkles, and enjoy! Store the frosted cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. You can freeze these cookies with or without frosting. If you plan to decorate the cookies later (within 2 days) I suggest storing the unfrosted cookies in an airtight container on the counter or freezer until you are ready to decorate to preserve freshness and texture. Eating them frozen is also delicious and they are still so soft!

Notes

Cream Cheese Icing: If your cream cheese icing is too thin, you can store it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes-1 hour to thicken OR you can frost the cookies with the thin frosting and chill the decorated cookies until the frosting hardens. If you want to add some natural color to your icing I used beet root powder to make a pale red and matcha green tea powder to make a green! I divided my icing and used a tiny bit of powder at a time, then mixed it into the cream cheese icing until I got my desired color. You can also use natural food coloring to add color to your icing.
Egg: I have not tested this recipe with a regular egg but they should turn out great. Let me know if you test this and how they turn out so I can add a note for others to do the same 🙂
Fresh Lemon Juice: I have not tested this recipe with apple cider vinegar in place of the lemon but it should work nicely. Let me know how the cookies turn out if you try this! It won’t affect the cookie flavor at all since it’s such a small amount.
Flour: I use King Arthur Measure For Measure Gluten-Free Flour for these cookies. Not all gluten-free flours are the same so it may affect the taste and texture of your cookies if you use a different gluten-free flour. You can try substituting all-purpose flour for these cookies as well. I have not tested this, but I would love to know how they turn out!

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Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies Recipe

Making gluten-free recipes taste like the real thing is my favorite thing to do. If you’ve tried my vegan pumpkin cookie skillet, my secretly healthy millionaire bars, or really any of my gluten-free recipes (which are 99% of my recipes) then you know what I’m talking about. I use King Arthur Measure For Measure Gluten-Free Flour to make these gluten-free Christmas cookies. I have not tested any other gluten-free flour mix. If you try another gluten-free flour please make sure it contains xanthan gum (otherwise your cookies will not hold together). Let me know what gluten-free flour mix you use and how they turn out! I can’t wait to hear 🙂

soft gluten-free Christmas sugar cookies

Best Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies

The ingredients to any cookie hinge on three main items: butter, sugar, and flour. Sure, it’s easy to use granulated sugar, white flour, and regular butter. I’m here to tell you that it’s JUST AS EASY to grab gluten-free flour, honey, and grass-fed butter. Just three simple swaps that make a health of a difference! (see what I did there?)

What Makes These Christmas Cookies Healthy?

First off we avoid the highly processed sugar and flour and swap them for these beauties,

Honey or pure maple syrup: processed granulated sugar has NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE and can spike your blood sugar majorly. That’s why INSTEAD of using processed white sugar, we use HONEY in these healthy sugar cookies. Honey has antibodies and antioxidants, which can help LOWER CHOLESTEROL and BLOOD PRESSURE. It’s my sweetener of choice when baking!

I snack on my Chocolate Granola that’s sweetened with honey and it’s oh-so-delicious. Honey is also amazing for no-bake snacks, like my Healthy Almond Joy Protein Bites.

Grass-Fed Butter: I chose to use salted 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! I also used this butter in my apple crisp recipe.

Gluten-free flour: I use King Arthur Measure For Measure Gluten-Free Flour to make these gluten-free Christmas cookies. Gluten-free flour allows those with allergies to enjoy these Christmas cookies, which I love!

Greek yogurt: you can use any yogurt you have on hand or a dairy-free yogurt. The yogurt not only adds a probiotic and protein punch to these cookies, it also gives them the soft and chewy texture that every cookie needs.

How To Make Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies

These gluten-free Christmas sugar cookies are so easy to make. No chill time is required! Simply cream your wet ingredients together, mix in your flour and baking powder and then form the cookie dough into a ball. Then, roll your cookie dough out on a floured work surface, cut the cookies with cute Christmas cookie cutters, and bake. Then make the delicious healthy cream cheese icing (or whatever icing recipe you prefer), frost, decorate, and enjoy! Full instructions are in the recipe above.

Honey Sweetened Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies

The honey in these Christmas cookies is really the star of the show. Yes, you can definitely use pure maple syrup and get pretty much the same effect! Both are equally delicious. But, let me tell you, normal Christmas cookies just taste like sugar to me, whereas these gluten-free Christmas cookies have the BEST flavor from the honey or pure maple syrup. They are sweet without being too sweet. They have the best sweet flavor without feeling like you’re eating just straight sugar out of a jar. And if you’re a fan of honey-sweetened or maple syrup-sweetened desserts you definitely need to check out my easy coconut macaroons, healthy cheesecake or my healthy blueberry pie recipe!

I cannot wait for you to give these Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies a try! Please snap a picture and share it with me! Seeing your kitchen creations makes my day and encourages me to keep creating new recipes for you!