MDBD - Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

Zoey and I started experimenting last week with some gluten free baking in preparation for her birthday party. We want to make sure everyone who comes to the party can participate. Since there will likely be several kids there who are diagnosed with Autism like Zoey, and gluten free is a common diet for some kids, we wanted to have some gluten free options available.

Out first venture into gluten free was a sugar cookie recipe I found at Rolling Out Dough. I made a modification and didn't use xanthan gum, which is a very common ingredient in gluten free baking because it acts as a binding agent. However, I read that some people can't tolerate xanthan gum, so I looked for an alternative. The alternative I ended up using was chia seeds. I realized when baking today that I did the substitution wrong. You are supposed to soak the chia seeds in double the amount of boiling water for 15 minutes to make a gel; however, the post I was using as a guide didn't mention that, so I just used ground chia seeds. I'm not sure what difference it would have made.

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

Our Ingredients

 Ingredients

 2 Cups All Purpose Gluten Free Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

4 TBS Powdered Sugar

8 TBS Unsalted Butter (room temp)

1 tsp Chia Seeds (or 1 tsp Xanthan gum)

1 Large Egg, Beaten

1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350

Mix all the dry ingredients and blend until well combined

Add egg, butter, and vanilla and stir until dough is well blended and thick

This is how mine looked before I started to mold it into a ball with my hands

Take a large amount of dough and shape dough into a ball 

Roll out your dough onto parchment paper and roll until 1/3 of an inch thick

Use cookie cutter to cut out dough

Sprinkle with baking sugar (if not frosting them)

Bake for 9-11 minutes until set

Allow to cool on baking rack

I didn't remember to take a picture of the finished product and I really wish I would have because my cookies turned out different than the picture due to the chia. Mine had black specs in them. 

Original source photo

At first I was really not a fan of these cookies. I couldn't get over the texture and they were very crumbly. However, as they cooled they seemed to hold together better and the texture improved some. They reminded me more of shortbread cookies than sugar cookies. Scott was a fan of these cookies and wanted me to make more, so I think it was a success.

2 cups all purpose gluten free flour (I recommend XO Baking Co Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend, Jules Gluten Free, or Glutino Gluten Free Pantry All-Purpose Flour)

3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup fine granulated sugar

4 tablespoons powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (this should be at room temperature)

1 teaspoon xanthan gum- If your flour blend already contains xanthan or guar gum then do not add.

1 large egg, beaten (this should be at room temperature)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

- See more at: http://www.rollingoutdough.com/easy-gluten-free-sugar-cookies/#sthash.OZjIzOHe.dpuf

xanthan gum

xanthan gum

xanthan gum