Growing up my Mom would spend all of December baking Christmas cookies, breads and other desserts. At a young age, I joined in; and over the years I’ve added my own recipes. When I had to go gluten-free, I was determined to make some gluten-free Christmas cookies. Some recipes came out great, but others not so much. Here are a few of my favorites. (I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, but there are a few other choices out there to try.)
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons dried lavender
3/4 pound (3 sticks) butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
17.5 ounces by weight gluten-free flour (about 3 cups)
Instructions:
Grind the lavender up very fine with a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder that’s reserved for herbs (otherwise your herbs will taste like coffee), until it’s almost a powder.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together butter, sugar, and lavender powder until combined and spread around the bowl.
Add vanilla and mix just until it disappears.
Add flour to the bowl and mix together.
When everything is blended, remove bowl from stand mixer. With your hands roll dough into 2 balls.
Roll one dough out on a baking mat or between two sheets of wax paper. Roll to about ½” thick, then cut desired shapes, such as squares, rectangles, and circles. Repeat with the other dough ball.
Hint: I cut the dough into circles, then with extra dough, just formed them into squares and rectangles. If you keep making dough balls and rolling them over and over, the cookies will be too hard.
Place cookies on a sheet tray and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until cold and firm to the touch.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake the cookies for 20-25 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden brown on the edges.
Let the cookies cool to room temperature.
Original recipe from https://www.fifteenspatulas.com/lavender-shortbread-cookies.
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Ingredients:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 ½ cups gluten-free flour
1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
45-47 Crème de Menthe Andes Mints, unwrapped
Instructions:
Combine butter, brown sugar, and water in medium saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted, about 3 minutes.
Add chocolate chips and stir constantly until chips are melted.
Transfer mixture to a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle and let cool for 10 minutes.
Add eggs to bowl with chocolate mixture and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Reduce speed to low and add in baking soda and salt and mix.
In 3 stages, add in flour and mix until just combined. (Don’t over-mix).
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Working with 1 heaping tablespoon of dough at a time, roll into balls and space them 2 inches apart on prepared sheets.
Bake until just set, 7-9 minute, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking.
Immediately place 1 mint in the center of each cookie and lightly press the candy into the cookie so that it doesn’t fall off.
Let stand until mint is softened, about 5 minutes, then spread melted mint over tops of cookies.
Transfer cookies to wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough and mints.
Let cookies cool completely before serving.
Yields about 45-47 cookies.
Original recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Best-Ever Christmas Cookies
Day & Night Cookies
Ingredients for Cookie:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups gluten-free flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2/3 cups whole milk
Ingredients for Frosting:
16 ounces of Confectionary sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), softened and cut into pieces
12-16 squares (3-4 oz.) of Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate
1/4 cup Whole Milk (plus a little more if needed)
Directions for Cookies:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix the sugar and eggs.
Add in the butter and vanilla and mix together.
Mix baking powder, salt, and flour together in a separate bowl.
Add ½ of the flour mixture into the sugar/egg mixture and add in some of the milk and mix.
Repeat the above step with the remaining flour mixture and milk. The dough will be heavy; but don’t over mix.
Add a heaping teaspoon of dough to cookie sheets (no need to grease – they come off easily).
Bake for 10 minutes, switching and rotating pan halfway through.
Let cool 5 minutes before moving cookies to wire racks.
Yields about 35 cookies.
Directions for Frosting:
In a double-boiler (or a small pan fitted into a larger pan with some water), melt the Baker’s Chocolate.
In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle, add the confectionary sugar and butter pieces and mix over medium speed.
Add vanilla and melted chocolate to mixing bowl and blend.
Add in milk and mix everything over medium-high speed until smooth. Add more milk if needed.
When cookies are completely cooled, top the flat side of each one with chocolate frosting.
Keep in mind that just because something is gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy; but it’s great to have some gluten-free choices for holiday parties. So, enjoy!
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