Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies

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These Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies feature our family favourite gluten-free iced biscuit recipe (without xanthan gum). The cookie dough is very easy to mix up in about 10 minutes, using a food processor and the dough is strong enough that the children can help you roll and cut out the biscuits. Decorated with an easy royal icing with a lovely vanilla flavour, these gluten-free sugar cookies will be a festive favourite recipe for years to come.

this recipe

These delicious biscuits are perfect for your holiday cookie platters over the Christmas season and are an easy recipe to follow since they use my Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend and no xanthan gum.

This is the time of year when we are knee deep in gluten-free cookies and if you are looking for a gluten-free Christmas cookie recipe that uses simple ingredients, is quick to make, tastes delicious, is easy to decorate, stays soft for days then you’ll love these gluten-free sugar cookies.

So grab those cookie cutters and let’s go!

Why you’ll love this recipe

• This gluten-free biscuit recipe produces thick cookies that are easy to roll and cut out.
• Lovely buttery vanilla flavour.
• They don’t spread in the oven.
• Simple to decorate using my quick royal icing recipe.
• They are soft gluten-free sugar cookies that don’t fall apart.
• Easy recipe if you have a gluten intolerance or celiac disease.
• No xanthan gum and no guar gum. READ MORE >>> Why I don’t bake with xanthan gum.
• These cookies are an excellent Christmas activity for the kids – both making the cookies and decorating them.
• They are make really great gifts, especially if you give them nestled in a beautiful festive box.

Watch this video to see how to make them

Gluten-free flours required

This recipe uses my Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend which works really well for most gluten-free baking recipes (not bread though – that’s a totally different ball game). This flour blend is a mix of 4 different flours:

• Sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour).
• Sorghum flour.
• Oat flour.
• Tapioca flour (tapioca starch).

There are plenty of flour substitution tips if you can’t have the oat flour or can’t find sweet rice flour or sorghum flour if you click on the original post for this flour mix. READ MORE >>> Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend.

The flour ratio has been carefully tested in this homemade blend to ensure the mix between wholegrain flours and starchy flours is balanced. This also means we don’t need to use xanthan gum as the dough is strong enough and produces cookies which are tender enough to miss it out.

READ MORE >>> Why I don’t bake with xanthan gum.

✨I do not recommend switching this flour blend for other gluten-free flour blends. The ratio of wholegrain and starchy flours will be different and will give different results (the dough might not be strong enough to roll out or the cookies might fall apart).✨

Full list of ingredients needed

• Homemade gluten-free flour blend. (sorghum flour, oat flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca flour). Click here for the recipe >>> Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Mix.
• Butter. Unsalted and cold from the fridge.
• Caster sugar. A fine white baking sugar. If you can only get hold of granulated sugar you can grind more finely in the food processor before you use it in the recipe.
• Eggs. This recipe uses medium size, about 60g each with shell (50g each without shell).
• Vanilla extract. Use a good quality extract, I like Nilsen Massey.
• Icing sugar. (powdered sugar).

How to make Gluten-Free Christmas cookies

For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post. 

1. Mix flour and cold butter in a food processor for about 10 seconds until combined.
2. Add the caster sugar, eggs and vanilla extract into the food processor and mix until it forms a large ball of cookie dough.
3. Tip the dough out onto the work surface and split into quarters.
4. Roll the dough out one quarter at a time in between sheets of baking parchment.
5. Cut out the cookies then place them onto baking sheets lined with parchment.
6. Chill the cookies for 1 hour in the fridge or 10 minutes in the freezer.
7. Bake for 12 minutes. Settle for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tips and troubleshooting

• This gluten free cookie dough is made in a food processor – not a food mixer. The cold blade cuts the butter into the flour and keeps the dough chilled during the mixing process.
• Use butter cold straight from the fridge.
• Use a food processor to mix the butter in with the flour as it will keep it cold and mix evenly. It only takes about 10 seconds to mix in.
• You don’t need to chill the cookie dough before rolling out.
• Quarter the dough and roll out in batches which makes the process more manageable.
• Roll the dough out between parchment to save adding too much extra flour to the cookie dough.
• Make sure to chill the cut out cookies before baking. This is so they don’t spread in the oven. You can chill the cut out cookies for at least an hour and up to 2 days.
• Use 3 x half sheet baking trays (or small baking trays). These will fit into your fridge or freezer better for chilling.
• Bake the cookies until lightly browned and try not to over bake.
• These gluten-free cookies don’t colour as much as non gluten-free ones due to the flours, so they might be paler than you expect once they are baked but the edges will just be turning very lightly browned.
• Leave on the baking tray for 5 minutes for the cookies to settle down then remove with a small spatula to a wire rack to finish cooling.

How to decorate the cookies

These gluten-free Christmas biscuits are decorated with royal icing which is a lovely thick glossy icing made with egg whites and icing sugar (powdered sugar).

How to make easy royal icing

Mix the icing sugar and egg whites in a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl until the icing is thick, smooth and just pourable.

Royal icing tips and troubleshooting

• Make sure you sift the icing sugar before mixing in the egg white to avoid clumping.
• To know it’s the right consistency drop the icing with a teaspoon, you want it to fall off the teaspoon in a slow fashion so that it pools thickly into the rest of the icing.
• If your icing is still a little thick then drop in ½- 1 teaspoon warm water and mix in.
• Use small piping bags fit with royal icing piping tips – number 2 is my favourite for icing cookies.
• Royal icing dries out quickly, especially in the end of the piping tip. Prepare a few damp cloths to wrap around the end of your piping tips when you are not using them. Drape a damp cloth over your bowls of icing.
• Always make sure to test and squeeze a little icing out onto a dump plate to ensure it is still coming out of the piping tip lovely and smooth before applying it to your cookie.
• Hold your piping bag half an inch away from the cookie to squeeze out the icing which will give you more control. Squeeze the bag a little. Create a border for the icing before filling in (flooding) the centre of the cookie with the icing.
• Royal icing takes 24 hours to set properly.

Which food colourings to use

I recommend using paste or gel to colour your icing as this won’t water down the consistency and provides bright clean colours to work with.

Which sprinkles to use

Check the sprinkles you are using safe to eat. There seem to be many sprinkles for sale in the UK that are not recommended for human consumption in the UK/EU due to the food colourant E127 (a red colour). This is due to the link between E127 and hyperactivity in children and correlations with increased thyroid hormone levels. This additive will be labelled on the ingredients list so avoid if you can.

You also need to check that your sprinkles are gluten-free. So many of the beautiful sprinkles you can purchase from specialist cake decorating suppliers are made with wheat.

Make ahead

You can make the gluten-free cookie dough ahead of time. Quarter the cookie dough and wrap each quarter well in plastic wrap and place in an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days. Unwrap the cookie dough and bring to room temperature for 1 hour. Warm the cookie dough up in your hands by kneading a few times to make it more pliable then roll at as per the directions.

You can make the cookies up to 2 days before you want to ice them. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

I do not recommend making the icing ahead of time.

How to store

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They stay soft and delicious. I prefer storing cookies in tins rather than plastic containers as they keep better.

How to freeze

You can freeze the fully decorated gluten-free cookies. Allow the icing to completely set (about 24 hours) then layer the cookies in an airtight container between layers of baking parchment. They will store well in the freezer for up to 2 months. Remove the cookies from the container and thaw at room temperature on a wire rack for about an hour before serving.

You can also freeze the cookie dough once it has been cut out into shapes. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours spread out on baking parchment lined baking trays. Then layer the cookies in an airtight container between layers of baking parchment. They will store well in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can remove the cookie shapes from the freezer, place on lined baking sheets and bake directly. Just add a minute or two onto the baking time.

You can also freeze the cookie dough prior to rolling out. Wrap in plastic wrap and then place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature then place in the fridge for one hour to chill slightly before rolling out.

Variations

There are lots of ways you can add more flavour into your Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies. Why not try these ideas:

• Almond extract. Add ¼ teaspoon of extract into the cookie dough
• Lemon or orange extract. I recommend adding these instead of the vanilla extract so they don’t compete with each other.
• Orange zest or lemon zest. You can add the zest directly into the cookie dough. You may also like to flavour your royal icing with some lemon juice in the mix, although make sure you are still happy with the consistency before using.
• Homemade Lemon Powder. This is my favourite way for flavouring lemon cookies as it gives a lovely intense lemon flavour.
• Maple extract. This isn’t maple syrup but an extract with maple syrup flavour and gives a lovely flavour. You can also add the spice mix below as they pair together wonderfully.
• British Mixed Spice. If you like your cookies to have a more spiced flavour then you can add a ¼ teaspoon of mixed spice.

More gluten-free Christmas cookie recipes you’ll love

• Gluten-Free Embossed Cookie Recipe (for patterned rolling pins)
• Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Gluten-Free Oat and Raisin Cookies
• Gluten-Free Ginger Biscuits

✨Have you tried these Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies? Please leave a 5-star ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ rating on the recipe card and consider leaving a comment as well! I would love to hear about how your recipe turned out and your feedback also helps other readers✨

Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies

Georgina Hartley

These Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies with no xanthan gum have a lovely vanilla flavour and perfect texture. They are simple to make and are decorated with an easy royal icing.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Chilling Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs 12 minutes mins

Course Cookie

Cuisine British

Servings 20 cookies

Calories 172 kcal

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

Cookie Dough

• ▢ 275 g homemade gluten-free flour blend - *see notes
• ▢ 115 g butter - cold from the fridge, sliced
• ▢ 115 g caster sugar
• ▢ 2 eggs - medium - see notes
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 tablespoon gluten-free flour - extra flour for dusting when rolling out the cookies

Easy Royal Icing

• ▢ 300 g icing sugar - (powdered sugar), sieved
• ▢ 2 egg whites - medium (about 60g)

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan assisted oven / gas mark 4.
• Add flour and cold butter to food processor. Switch on and process for about 10 seconds until the butter and flour have completely combined.
• Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract into the food processor and combine until the dough comes together into a ball.
• Tip out of the food processor onto a clean work surface and roll into a smooth ball.
• Split the dough into quarters so you can roll out the dough in batches.
• Take 2 large pieces of baking parchment and dust the bottom sheet with a little extra gluten-free flour. Place on of the cookie dough balls in the centre, flatten out slightly and dust over a little more flour. Place the second sheet of parchment on top and roll the dough out in between the parchment using a rolling pin to about 8mm.
• Remove the top sheet of baking parchment and cut out the dough using your chosen cookie cutters. Remove the dough from around the cut out cookies, use a small palette knife to help lift up the cookies and place them on a lined baking sheet about 1 ½ inches apart.
• Re-roll the pastry and cut out more biscuits, then repeat with the other dough balls until all the cookie dough has been cut out.
• Chill the cut out cookies on their baking sheets in the fridge for 1 hour or in the freezer for 10 minutes.
• Bake the cookies for 12 minutes until they are just starting to go very lightly brown at the edges.
• Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to settle for 5 minutes, then remove the cookies from the tray and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
• Make the royal icing by sifting the icing sugar into a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer).
• Pour the egg whites into the bowl and mix until the icing is thick, smooth and glossy. You want the consistency to be thick but so it just slowly pours off a teaspoon. You can add a little more icing sugar if it is not thick enough or add a few drops of warm water if it is too thick to drop off a teaspoon.
• Split your icing into different bowls depending on how many colours you need and use food colouring to colour each little bowl of icing.
• Fit small piping bags (or small ziplock bags) with piping nozzles (I used size 2) and fill the piping bags with the coloured icing. Snip off the end of the piping bag and pipe your cookies with the icing.
• Allow the icing to fully set (it takes about 24 hours) before serving.

Video

Notes

Eggs

The eggs used in this recipe are medium size, 60g with shell and 50g without shell. If you can't get hold of medium eggs I suggest you weigh the amount.

Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend

You can find the recipe with all the notes for various flour substitutions and how to make up and use the flour here >>> Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend.

If you don’t want to make up the whole kilo of flour in the recipe for the Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend, the ratios work out as this and is just the right amount of flour for the recipe:

95g sweet rice flour
65g sorghum flour
60g oat flour
55g tapioca flour (starch)

Important tips

I have included even more in depth tips and troubleshooting in the full post above.

• If you are chilling your cookies in the fridge (rather than the freezer) you may want to pre-heat your oven half way through the chilling time rather than at the beginning of the recipe.
• I do recommend using a food processor (not a mixer) to make these cookies as it keeps the dough nice and chilled so they are the perfect consistency to roll out.
  If you use 3 x half sheet baking trays they are easier to fit in the fridge or the freezer for chilling.
• The icing needs to be kept moist whilst your are decorating your cookies. Make sure you wrap the nozzles of the piping bags you are not using in damp cloths and drape a damp cloth over the bowls of icing.

Make ahead

• You can make the cookies up to 2 days before you want to ice them. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
• I do not recommend making the icing ahead of time.
• The iced cookies will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature. They stay soft and delicious. I prefer storing cookies in tins rather than plastic containers as they keep better.

Freeze

You can freeze these cookies at several points during the process (for all the options see the post above). However, if you just want to freeze the finished cookies then allow the icing to completely set (about 24 hours). Layer the cookies in an airtight container between layers of baking parchment. They will store well in the freezer for up to 2 months. Remove the cookies from the container and thaw at room temperature on a wire rack for about an hour before serving.

US customary measurements

These US measurements for the ingredients provided are based on a conversion calculator. This recipe was tested with metric measurements and I recommend using a digital scale to weigh ingredients for the most accurate results. READ MORE >>> Why you should always weigh vs measuring with cups 

Nutrition information

Please note that the nutrition information provided below is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. It will vary based on the specific ingredients you use. Please seek a professional nutritionist’s advice for further clarification.

The nutrition serving is for 1 cookie. 

Nutrition

Calories: 172kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 2gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 29mgSodium: 49mgPotassium: 13mgFiber: 1gSugar: 21gVitamin A: 167IUCalcium: 13mgIron: 1mg

Have you tried this recipe?Head to the comment section and let me know what you think!