Sugar Cookies

Michael Eisenwasser

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A classic roll-and-cut sugar cookie made with a gluten-free flour blend. Crisp edges, tender centers, and shapes that stay sharp through baking.

Prep 30 min

Cook 12 min

Serves 24

Gluten-free

Ingredients

Cookies

• 420 g (about 3 cups) gluten-free flour blend — no inulin or chicory root
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Royal Icing (Optional)

• 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 large egg white, or 1 tablespoon meringue powder plus 2 tablespoons warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Sprinkles, for decorating (check the label, see Tips)

Makes about 24 cookies. One serving is 1 cookie.

Instructions

Mix the Dough

1. Whisk the flour blend, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg, vanilla, almond extract, and lemon zest, scraping the bowl once.
4. Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in two additions. Stop as soon as the dough comes together.
5. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a 1-inch-thick disk, and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Roll and Cut

1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment.
2. Roll one disk between two sheets of parchment to 1/4 inch thick. Work quickly so the dough stays cold.
3. Cut shapes with floured cutters and lift them to the sheets with a thin spatula, spacing them 1 inch apart. Gather scraps, re-chill for 10 minutes, and re-roll once.
4. Slide the cut sheet into the freezer for 5 minutes before baking. Cold dough keeps the edges sharp.

Bake

1. Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack for 9 to 12 minutes, rotating halfway. The edges should be just barely golden; the tops will still look pale.
2. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a rack to cool completely before icing.

Icing (Optional)

1. Whisk the powdered sugar with the egg white (or meringue powder and water) and vanilla in a medium bowl for 2 to 3 minutes, until glossy and smooth.
2. Thin with a few drops of water for flood consistency, or leave stiff for piping outlines. Spread or pipe onto fully cooled cookies and finish with sprinkles.
3. Let iced cookies dry uncovered for at least 4 hours or overnight before stacking.

Tips & Substitutions

• Keep the dough cold. Warm dough spreads and loses detail. If shapes start to soften while you work, slide the sheet back into the fridge for 10 minutes.
• Almond extract and lemon zest are optional. Both are low in small amounts, but leave them out for a pure vanilla cookie or for anyone with a tree-nut allergy.
• Check your sprinkles. Most standard sprinkles, jimmies, and nonpareils are sugar-based and fine. Skip "sugar-free" or keto sprinkles, which often use mannitol, sorbitol, erythritol, or maltitol coatings.
• Use meringue powder or pasteurized egg white to avoid the salmonella risk from raw egg white, especially for kids, pregnancy, or anyone immunocompromised. Meringue powder also dries harder and ships better. Use the ratio on the tin if it differs from the one above.
• Dairy-free version. A 1:1 vegan butter stick (Miyoko's, Earth Balance soy-free) swaps in cleanly. Avoid soft tub spreads, which have too much water for rolled dough.
• Thickness matters. Roll to a full 1/4 inch. Thinner cookies over-bake before the centers set, and thicker ones stay doughy in the middle.
• Color the icing with gel food coloring rather than liquid drops so you don't thin the icing past spreading consistency.

Why This Works

Butter, sugar, and egg are low at typical serving sizes. Monash lists butter, granulated sugar, and eggs as low at normal cooking amounts. Sugar is sucrose, which the small intestine absorbs fully; butter is almost entirely fat with a trace of lactose; eggs have no FODMAPs at all. Rich cookies can still bother IBS through fat and sugar load, so start with 1 cookie and see how you feel.

Gluten-free flour does the structural work. The gluten-free flour blend already contains xanthan gum, so the dough rolls and holds shapes without wheat's fructans. Baking powder adds just enough lift to keep the cookies tender rather than hard.

Powdered sugar icing stays safe. Powdered sugar is sucrose plus a small amount of cornstarch, both low. Skip honey-based or agave-based glazes, which are high in fructose, and skip "sugar-free" icings sweetened with polyols.

Vanilla, almond extract, and citrus zest are fine. Monash tests vanilla extract and almond extract as low at typical recipe amounts, and citrus zest contains almost no juice, so it carries no meaningful fructan or polyol load.

Storage

Store cooled, un-iced cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, with parchment between layers. Iced cookies keep 3 to 4 days once the icing has fully dried. Freeze un-iced cookies in a zip-top bag for up to 3 months and thaw at room temperature before decorating. The wrapped dough disks also freeze well for up to 2 months; thaw in the fridge overnight before rolling.

Not sure about an ingredient? FODMAP Tracker includes a database of 1,000+ foods with FODMAP ratings to help you cook with confidence.