Gluten free sugar cookies

Bette Hagman gave us so many wonderful recipes and among them were her flour mixes. Amy Radbill from the Davis Food Co-op gluten-free baking classes, being inspired by Bette Hagman and always making each recipe unique to Amy as only Amy can do, has made slight alterations in order to make a great gluten-free cookie that was free from grit, easier to roll out, easier to cut out with cookie cutters, and bit more nutritious. The results are fantastic!

The idea with this sorghum flour mix is that it will become your cookie flour. You will then be able to take any wheat flour cookie recipe and use the sorghum flour mix 1 for 1. Now there is no cookie that should be a challenge.

With the sugar cookie recipe you can roll it into a log and freeze it. Then when you need to bake cookies all you need to do is take the roll out of the freezer, slice, decorate and bake. You can also follow the more traditional way of making sugar cookies and chill the dough, roll out to about 1/4 " thickness and using floured cookie cutters make lovely cookies for any time of the year. Don't you love how the options are really limitless?

The gluten-free cookie flour recipe we use was given to us by our dear friend and gluten-free mentor, Amy Radbill. Amy teaches gluten- free cooking classes at the Davis Food Co-op. The sorghum Featherlight flour mix is Amy's adaptation of Bette Hagman's Featherlight flour mix using sorghum flour instead of rice flour. The sorghum flour has a nutty flavor, more protein and without the gritty texture of rice flour. This gluten-free flour mix is so amazing because you can use it 1 for 1 with ANY wheat flour cookie recipes, with the addition of xanthan gum. I mix up this flour mix and have it ready in the fresszer so that whenever my family has a hankering for cookies we can make them just as easily as we could with our former wheat cookies.


Ingredients

Makes about 16 large cookies or thirty 2 1/2-inch cookies

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons Amy’s Featherlight sorghum flour mix (recipe to follow)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon xanthan gum



• 1 sticks plus 3 tablespoons, unsalted butter, softened (or Earth balance which is the closet to butter with flavor and texture in baking)

• ¾ cups sugar

• 1 large egg

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and zest of 2 lemons

• 1/4 cup fine sanding sugar, for decorating (optional)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients with a whisk until thoroughly combined and set aside.

2. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg.

3. Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and zest.

4. Add flour mixture a little at a time, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined and the dough is soft and smooth.

5. Divide the dough in half, and roll each portion to ¼ inch thickness between sheets of floured parchment or waxed paper. Place both rolled out portions of dough onto a cookie sheet and chill them in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes or 20 minutes in the freezer.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat. Cut out the cookies with a floured cookie cutter and transfer them on to the baking sheet. If the dough becomes too soft to handle, chill it for a little while until you can work with it again.

7. When you can no longer cut cookies from your piece of dough, roll the scraps into a ¼ inch sheet again, and chill the dough as you did the first time.

8. You can decorate the cookies prior to baking with sanding sugar, if desired.

9. Bake until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

10. May be in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 2 weeks.


Amy’s Featherlight Sorghum flour Mix

1 part sorghum flour

1 part tapioca flour

1 part cornstarch (arrowroot starch if allergic to corn)

1 tsp. potato flour (not starch) for each cup of flour not starch

*Note:  Rule of thumb for gluten-free cookies is 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum per cup of cookie flour in ANY cookie recipe.

Buttercream Frosting and/or Icing

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 pound box (about 3-3/4 cups) powdered sugar

* 1/2 cup butter, softened (or Earth balance)

* 1 teaspoon vanilla

* 3 - 4 tablespoons cream

PREPARATION:

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix until combined. Add more cream if necessary for spreading consistency. Spread onto cookies and decorate with sprinkles, etc.

If desired, separate icing into small individual bowls and add a little food coloring to each bowl. Combine the color well and decorate your cookies



This recipe makes enough for a 2-layer cake, 13x9 cake or 24 cupcakes.