I dressed up these gluten free Naked Cut Out Cookies because it wouldn't be proper to leave them in their birthday suits! However, if you wanted to drizzle or coat them in melted chocolate, you certainly could do that as well. Enjoying them just as they are from the oven is a delicious option too. They are a breeze to make and taste incredible no matter if they are dressed up, drizzled or not. The dough is super easy to roll out and they taste like a buttery version of a sugar cookie. They don't spread when you bake them, so what you cut out is what you get when they come out of the oven. And they are gluten, soy and nut free... Whoop! Whoop!
Making the Dough
Start by combining cold or room temp butter and sugar using a stand or hand mixer. Then add in the egg, vanilla and gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum. And yes! I said "cold" butter will work. Yahoo! By using cold butter, you most likely won't even need to chill the dough before rolling it out. Is that awesome or what?! The motion of the beater will warm the butter up enough to combine it with the sugar and other ingredients. However, if your beaters are struggling with how hard the butter is, let it soften up before you continue. There's no need to break your mixer! By using colder butter, it almost always eliminates the need to chill the dough before it is rolled out. This is a great time saver in comparison to other recipes!
There are lots of options for gluten free flour these days. For this recipe, I use Cup4Cup or Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. Both work very well as far as maintaining great texture, flavor and shape. The Bob's Red Mill results in little flaky air pockets that develop on top of the cookie, while the Cup4Cup does not. The air pockets don't cause an issue for decorating in my experience. However, if you are looking for a super flat, professional level quality finish, I would get your hands on the Cup4Cup.
Rolling Tips
If the dough is a little sticky when it first comes together, try working in a tablespoon or two of flour. For dough that is a bit dry or cracks when rolling, work in a tablespoon or two of milk. This very rarely happens though and is most likely due to a mistake in measuring, but fortunately can be remedied easily!
When rolling out the dough, I use powdered sugar. I prefer it over flour because it adds a touch of sweetness and is less likely to dry out the dough. It allows you to keep rolling out the scraps without any change in texture or consistency to the dough. Also- since there's no gluten in this dough, you don't have to worry about over working the dough and it becoming tough from continued shaping and rolling.
I transfer the cut outs to a parchment lined baking sheet to ensure that the cookies won't stick to the pan while baking. I also remove them from the oven before they begin to brown. This results in a crisp exterior and tender interior. They have a slight chew to them like a soft-baked cookie should. The dominant flavors are simply vanilla and butter. Simply perfect I say;-)
Dress them Up!
Gluten Free Naked Cut Out Cookies need to a wardrobe! And Quick Dry Cookie Icing is fantastic for dressing them up for any occasion. It is a fool-proof recipe that creates beautiful looking cookies that dry super quick!
More Gluten Free Cookies
- Almond Cut Out Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Dirty Snowballs (aka Mexican Wedding Cookies)
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Browned Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Chocolate Filled Macaroons
- Hamantaschen
Naked Cut Out Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoon cold butter - cut into cubes
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups Gluten Free Flour Blend with xanthan gum - I like Cup4Cup or Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Flour Blend
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- powdered sugar - for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, blend cold butter and sugar.
- Add egg and vanilla. Mix to combine again.
- Gradually add the flour and salt a little at a time so the flour doesn’t fly all over. You can do this by hand if you prefer, just be sure it is well combined.
- At this point, you can start rolling and cutting out the dough, but if it seems too sticky work about a tablespoon of flour into the dough or wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes. If it is dry and cracks when rolling, work about a tablespoon of milk or non dairy substitute into the dough.
- On a clean surface, sprinkle powdered sugar. Form your dough into a disk and sprinkle powdered sugar on top to prevent the rolling pin from sticking.
- Roll the dough out to your desired thickness and cut out your shapes with cookies cutters. I find that the metal cutters create the sharpest edges. I usually roll my dough out to somewhere between ⅛ to ¼ of an inch.
- Using a spatula, carefully lift and transfer cut outs to the lined baking sheet. These cookies don’t spread, so you can put them about ½ inch apart. Continue pulling the scraps together into a ball and rolling again until all of the dough has been cut out into cookies.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove before the edges begin to brown. Let them cool completely on the baking sheet before removing them. They will crumble if you try to remove them before they are cool.
- Once cool, decorate as you wish! Try using my Quick Dry Cookie Icing (see link above in post text).
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