šŸ’žšŸŖšŸ’žValentines day cookies šŸ’žšŸŖšŸ’ž

This week, for my inquiry project, I tried making gluten-free Valentineā€™s sugar cookies, and it ended up being such a fun little experiment. My goal was to get the cookies to rise while still staying fluffy with a slight crumble, taking my momā€™s recipe and swapping out what needed to be changed to make it gluten-free. Sugar cookies can be tricky with gluten-free flour because itā€™s harder to get that light, airy texture and make the cookies rise nicely. The first time I tried these, they came out really, really flat and burnt at the bottom, but after tweaking the recipe, I was really happy with how the next batch turned ( as you can see bottom right I couldn’t wait to try these šŸ¤£).

With Valentineā€™s Day coming up, I decorated them with pink icing and baked a batch to share with my friends. I usually rely on TikTok for recipes, but this time I found a great YouTube video that showed me step by step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GstcvLthzCw. Since most recipes arenā€™t gluten-free, I had to swap the flour and add a few extra steps to get the texture just right.

When I brought the cookies to class the next day, my cohort friends said they couldnā€™t even tell they were gluten-free, which felt like such a win and got me really excited to try my next baking experiment.

Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
ā€¢ 1 cup butter, softened
ā€¢ 2/3 cup icing sugar
ā€¢ 2 cups gluten-free 1:1 baking flour (with xanthan gum) – very important! prevents crumbling
ā€¢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
ā€¢ 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325Ā°F (160Ā°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Mix in vanilla and salt.
  4. Slowly add gluten-free flour until a soft dough forms.
  5. Roll dough to about 1/4 inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper.
  6. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes and place on the baking sheet.
  7. Bake for 12ā€“15 minutes until edges are lightly golden.
  8. Cool completely before decorating with icing and sprinkles.