Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas Sugar Cookies

I ~have~ been cooking. The semester is winding down and I've got a more relaxed schedule. But the darn internet has been fritzy. I've got teff muffins, cornbread muffins and hot cocoa on the back burner, soon to be posted.

This is the scene that has been happening a lot lately: My mom is making a large salad in the kitchen. I head straight for the cookies. It's that time of year. (Who am I kidding? It's that time of year all year long)

It's tradition for me to make sugar cookies every year for Christmas. They're time-consuming, but they're my absolute favorite, and I get them only once a year. I eat until I'm just Sick, then wait for next year.

gluten free sugar cookies icedHere's how you make these:

1 c. softened butter
a little more than 1/3 c. powdered sugar
a little more than 1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour mix (with xanthan gum)
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt

Cream the butter & sugar, then mix in the egg & vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients separately, then add them to the wet ingredients. Refrigerate the dough for a while. I put mine in small batches in the freezer for 15 minutes or so.

Roll the dough on a GF floured surface. I prefer sweet rice flour. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes and place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake them for ~10 minutes, or until the edges are just barely turning brown.

Let them cool for a few minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool before icing.

To make the icing, I use:

4 T. crisco
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. water
few shakes of salt to cut down on the sweetness
~4 c. powdered sugar

Mix that up until it's creamy and ice away!

5 comments:

gfcanadian said...

These cookies look fabulous! I think I'll try to bake some this weekend. I'm pretty new to the whole gluten-free thing, and I'm trying to recreate all my old Christmas favorites.

Lauren said...

Mmm, those look amazing! Also, happy belated birthday!

Carrie said...

Those are Some beautiful cookies!! Happy birthday gal!!

Anonymous said...

What temperature did you bake these at?

Jennifer said...

oh- oops! 350.