Gluten Free Sugar Cookies for Christmas

Just in time for Christmas...complete with a tie-dye dove ;)

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

(that taste surprisingly like the REAL DEAL!)

Beat 2 1/2 sticks of butter at room temperature (if you have lactose issues, I cannot verify if a substitute for the butter works...let me know if you try it!) together with 1 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat together until it's super duper fluffy. (several minutes) Then beat in 3 large eggs and 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp lemon zest or lemon juice. In a separate bowl, mix together 3 cups of this gluten free french bread and pizza crust mix. (Not the entire package) with 1 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum. Then slowly add the dry mixture to the wet until you get a typical sugar cookie dough consistency and chill the dough. Then roll out and use any gluten free flour to dust your working surface, cut your shapes and bake at 350 until the edges turn golden brown. Chilling the dough is super important. Your dough needs to be cold when you roll it out or you can feel it turn to mush. If you've cooked with gluten free stuff before, you know how easy it is to end up with glue instead of pasta, crust, or cookies. Also, a bag of xanthan gum is expensive. Invest the $11 once and you'll have enough xanthan gum to last you for quite awhile...don't let the price scare you into leaving it out. It's a key ingredient. 

I can has a Santa cookie?

For that shiny, easy to work with Royal Icing, beat 4 oz egg whites together with 1 tsp vanilla until frothy, 

frothy like this

Then add powdered sugar until you get a sticky, slightly runny frosting consistency. If you don't think to yourself "geesh, I've added a boat load of powdered sugar," you haven't added enough. Divide that up and add food coloring as desired. Use right away or store in an airtight container for about up to three days.

 Next time, I'll post the recipe for these cupcakes I made for my Dad's birthday.

I call them Charlie Browns

What's your favorite Christmas treat?