I’m so excited to bring you a fun and festive holiday cookie that the kids can get into this season.

Sugar cookies are always super fun to make no matter what your age. I mean, who doesn’t like to throw sprinkles all over the place?

There are a ton of different sugar cookies out there. I prefer the soft chewy ones, but they don’t bode well with gluten-free flours, so I decided to go more of the shortbread route as they are just as delicious!

To start, you’ll need the cookie basics; sugar, butter, egg, vanilla extract, salt, baking powder and gluten-free flour. You’ll also need a tiny bit of milk, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, light corn syrup, food coloring and sprinkles for the icing and decorations.

First, you’ll need to make the cookies and let them cool completely. You’ll cream the butter & sugar and then add in the egg, vanilla, salt and baking powder. Once everything is mixed together well, just add in the flour. It’s easiest to work with this dough when it’s chilled, so you’ll need to cover it and place it in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes. Once it’s ready, preheat the oven to 350°. Next roll out the dough, use your cookie cutters to make fun shapes and place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet about 1/2″ apart from each other. Bake for 11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cool completely and get ready to decorate.

The icing is super fun to make. While the cookies are cooling, mix milk, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla together until smooth and thin. Separate into small bowls and mix in your the food coloring (just a few drops will do). To make things easy, we took each cookie and placed it in the icing (face down), swirled it around and flipped it over laying them on the wire racks to dry. Then we went to town decorating with all the sprinkles and colored sugar we could find!

All you have to do is wait until the icing is completely dried to serve or store in an air-tight container.

Viola! Super fun memories have been created and delicious treats too!

Happy Holidays!

Gluten-free Iced Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

Sugar Cookies:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups gluten-free flour with xanthan gum (I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 baking flour)

Icing:

• 3 Tablespoons cashew milk (or milk of your choice), room temperature
• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• 2.5 teaspoon light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (clear if you want white icing)
• food coloring
• sprinkles, colored sugar, chocolate chips, chopped cherries or anything you’d like to decorate your cookies with

Directions:

1. Cream sugar and butter until smooth.
2. Add in egg, vanilla, salt and baking powder and mix well.
3. Add in flour a little at a time until dough is smooth and all ingredients are mixed thoroughly.
4. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 45 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350°.
6. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface until 1/4″ thick.
7. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet (1/2″ apart).
8. Bake for 11 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
9. Let cool on wire racks completely.
10. While cookies are cooling, mix milk, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla extract together. (Consistency will be thin).
11. Separate into smaller bowls and mix in food coloring of choice.
12. Take each cooled cookie and flip it over pressing it into the icing. Lift and place back onto wire racks.
13. Once all cookies are iced decorate with your favorite toppings.
14. Let icing dry completely and eat up or store in an air-tight container on the counter.

Looking for another holiday treat? Check out these delicious chocolate maraschino cherry popcorn balls!