 |
These gluten-free, dairy-free sugar cookies are actually the creation of Jules Shepard, from Jules Gluten-Free. Of course, I made them sugar-free.
I used Jules’ All-Purpose Flour for the first time with to make these cookies. If you’ve ever looked at her flour blend, it’s starchier than the blends I’d generally reach for. Being skeptical, I pulled out my handy kitchen scale and weighed it out for a calorie count. To my surprise, it’s got about the same amount of calories as the blends I typically use. That’s a good thing.
I was quite impressed with the way the dough came together and how easy the cookies were to roll out and cut. Kids would have a great time making these cookies. You can re-roll the scraps until you’ve used every last piece of dough and the last cookie rolled out tastes just just as good as the first one.
If you need an egg-free recipe, Jules recently published Free for All Cooking: 150 Easy Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly Recipes the Whole Family Can Enjoy.
I know you’ll have just as much fun as I did with these cookies.
Reminders
- *Win* my new cookbook & Stephanie O’Dea’s More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow before they’ve even been released!
- Need to know how to line a cake pan the easy way? Check out my guest post at Dinners and Dreams.
- My dairy-free, egg-free Cranberry Almond Biscotti recipe is up at Go Dairy Free. (Yep, I can bake without eggs & butter. And they taste incredible!)
This recipe was adapted from Jules Shepard.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup palm sugar
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup Jules Gluten Free™ All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons water (as needed)
Instructions
- Put the palm sugar in your blender or Vita-Mix. Start on low and increase to high speed, blending until it’s reached a powdery consistency.
- Cream shortening, oil, and palm sugar for several minutes in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachement until very fluffy. Mix in egg yolks and vanilla extract on medium speed. Add the dry ingredients and mix in on the lowest setting, scraping down the bowl as needed. If necessary, add water a tablespoon at a time to keep the dough together and avoid dryness. (Note: I didn’t need to add water.) Pat the dough into a disc shape, wrap in waxed paper, then in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold, or preferably overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.
- Lightly flour a silicone pastry mat with flour. Place a piece of parchment paper on to top of the dough and roll the dough to approximately 1/8 inch thickness. Dust cookie cutters with flour, press into the dough, and give them a gentle wiggle to help them release.
- Place cookies onto prepared baking sheet sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or just until they begin to lightly brown at the edges. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost if desired.
Notes
Amy’s note – Jules’ flour blend contains xanthan gum so there’s no need to add any more.
Notes from Jules’ original recipe:If desired, use food coloring to tint the dough. Add when egg yolks & vanilla are added. About adding the water: Err on the side of the dough being wetter so that after refrigeration, it’s not too dry.
|
Nana Rogers
posted on December 20, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I love all the recipes you share.. WOW! I am a follower by email and facebook Don’t want to chance missing anything. lol I’m learning so much from you and others about GF & SF which I think will help me with my diabetes, fibro and some other problems. THANK YOU!!!
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
December 20th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
@Nana Rogers, Thanks for the sweet comment! I’m so glad you’re finding some things to help you.
Sending big hugs!
Amy
[Reply]
Ricki
posted on December 20, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Love the whimsical shapes of these cookies! They look great.
[Reply]
Kathy Werner
posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:56 pm
what’s palm sugar? I’m new to gluten/sugar-free cooking & never heard of it. Also, if I can’t get Jules Gluten Free™ All-Purpose Flour
in time what could I use instead?
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 8:21 am
@Kathy Werner, Hi Kathy! Palm sugar is made from the sap of the coconut tree – it’s lower glyemic and contains some nutrients.
I get mine at Whole Foods, iHerb.com, or Amazon.com. I don’t know what other flour blend you could use but my Spritz Cookies would definitely work as a roll-out cookie.
Hugs,
Amy
[Reply]
Becky D
posted on December 20, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Thank you Thank you Thank you! I’ve been trying to figure out how to use Palm Sugar to make Christmas Cutout cookies!
I don’t have Jules blend though,…so how much Xanthan gum should I use? would 1 tsp. sound right?
[Reply]
Maggie
posted on December 21, 2010 at 4:58 pm
These look so darn cute! Great pics Amy. Callum loves playing with dough almost as much as I do
xo
[Reply]
Becky D
posted on December 22, 2010 at 1:12 pm
We made the cookies today. We’re not dairy free, so I used 1/2 cup of butter, and I couldn’t use Jules blend, (because we can’t do corn – an intolerance, but not an allergy) So I used another flour blend, and added 1 tsp Xanthan gum, and 1 tsp baking soda to the cookies.
They are wonderful! Buttery, and melt in your mouth goodness. Thank you so much – we’ll be decorating them this afternoon!
[Reply]
Becky D Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 1:14 pm
@Becky D,
I meant to add – Gluten Free Girl & Chef have a cookie blend flour recipe – and that’s what I used. Theirs also calls for cornstarch, but I subbed potato and arrowroot starches for the cornstarch and it worked great!
[Reply]
Melanie Reply:
December 27th, 2010 at 9:56 am
So, which recipe did you use? We’re not dairy free either….
[Reply]
Becky D Reply:
December 27th, 2010 at 10:04 am
@Melanie,
Melanie – I used this recipe, basically.
I just substituted 1/2 cup butter for the shortening and oil
And – for the flour blend, I substituted a blend that I made without cornstarch. The blend I used didn’t have xanthan gum in it, so I added a tsp. of that, and a tsp. of baking soda. I’m going to make another batch today (Santa LOVED these cookies, and ended up eating them all!) and use 1 1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum, and 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder.
My husband, who really isn’t a fan of sugar cookies, LOVED these (he’s Santa! LOL!) and requested that I make more. First time ever for a sugar cookie.
[Reply]
Melanie Reply:
December 28th, 2010 at 2:42 am
@Becky D, Thanks for sharing that info! Do you mind sharing the flour blend recipe you used with me?
) I would love to make these cookies with my daughters this week. I haven’t been able to because we’ve been limiting our sugar especially since the colds are going around our family and sugar hurts the immune system. I plan to make these with either xylitol or honey or stevia. Thanks so much! 
)
Becky D Reply:
December 28th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
@Becky D,
Melanie – The flour blend is one I made up, based from Gluten Free Girl & Chef’s flour blend. It’s by weight, so I can’t really tell you how much it is in cups. Sorry! I’m still playing with it. Thinking about reducing the rice flour even more and adding more millet.
100 grams superfine brown rice flour
100 grams millet flour
150 grams sorghum flour
50 grams potato flour
250 grams sweet rice flour
200 grams potato starch
150 grams arrowroot powder
Melanie Reply:
December 30th, 2010 at 10:46 am
@Becky D, Thanks so much for sharing as much as you could! I look forward to making them with my daughters! I also look forward to convincing my critics (family members) that GF and SF is better tasting!
Thanks again! 
newrose
posted on December 26, 2010 at 11:13 am
Really good cakes especially if you have keds, because you can get them involved and they will enjoy eating as well.
[Reply]
Melanie Schoenhut
posted on December 29, 2010 at 2:22 am
My children love sugar cookies. I baked them for their snacks. These are their favorites.
[Reply]
abbie
posted on March 23, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I am going to give these a try…my son wants to bring in dinosaur shaped cookies to his show and tell to share in a couple of weeks. But we are gluten free and there is another child who is vegan. I was wondering “where am I going to get a vegan/gf sugar cookie recipe…and then your blog popped into my head, and of course! you’d have a link to just what I need. Next, need to find some t-rex and brachiosaurus cookie cutters and some blue sanding sugar.
Thanks as always Amy.
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
March 28th, 2011 at 8:47 am
@abbie, If there’s a Sur la Table near by I bet they have those cookie cutters…another recipe that should work as roll out cookies is my spritz cookie recipe –
http://newsite.simplysugarandglutenfree.com/spritz-cookies/
Hugs,
Amy
[Reply]
Brittany
posted on November 27, 2011 at 11:03 pm
Hi there,
I had no idea palm sugar was a glucose/sucrose alternative?
Do you think I could use agave syrup instead of it though?
Pretty looking cookies
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
November 28th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
@Brittany, You’d have to change the recipe because agave is a liquid and coconut palm sugar is a solid. It does contain some sucrose but is low glycemic (a 35) and I tolerate it very well. Here’s a post with more info: http://simplysugarandglutenfree.com/coconut-palm-sugar/
[Reply]
Amber
posted on December 30, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Hi There Amy~
I made these cookies with my daughter on Christmas Eve and we really enjoyed them. Wanted to let you know I shared your recipe on my monthly round-up.
Happy New Year.
Hugs,
–Amber
[Reply]
Jenny
posted on December 4, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Has anyone subbed coconut oil for the canola?
[Reply]
Betty Rocker
posted on December 9, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Hi Amy,
Thanks for a great recipe! I made some modifications and tried it with coconut oil. What I discovered was that to use coconut oil, you do not want to chill the dough, as it becomes impossible to roll out. It was an easy save, I just heated the dough back up in the microwave and it became very pliable. Another thing that made this easier for me to work with was using a little warm water to work into the dough between roll-outs. Probably because of the coconut oil.
I also experimented with my own gluten free flour blend (a fairly standard recipe you can find anywhere online with brown rice, white rice, potato starch, tapioca starch and xantham gum) and it worked great.
I made a chocolate version of these, and used ninja cookie cutters
Thanks for the inspiration!
All the best,
Bree
aka Betty Rocker
[Reply]