Yummy Mummy Monday: Sugar Cookies {Gluten & Dairy Free}

For those of you who’ve been looking for an allergy- friendly cookie, this one ain’t bad. When it comes to gluten free baking, there are some great options out there. But remove the dairy too and suddenly your favourite recipe is unrecognizable. This happened to me before Christmas when I attempted to recreate my favourite shortbread recipe with my Mum. They didn’t even resemble cookies when we took them out of the oven and weren’t edible. Ugh. Those are the moments I get frustrated and have to accept that some things just can’t be recreated in a gluten/ dairy free form. Ok, fine, no shortbread. How about sugar cookies? The good news is that these can be whipped up without regular flour, butter, etc and still be not just edible but actually pretty tasty (note: icing them also helps- I fully admit this isn’t a healthy recipe, but a way to enjoy a favourite treat for people who can’t eat dairy/ gluten). I’ve started baking with Ari, and the messes are totally worth the fun we have rolling out the dough, cutting out the cookies, and decorating them together (see photos below for all our messy fun). I’ve also included the regular version for those who can enjoy them in their regular glory, plus the recipe for royal icing I used. I kept seeing cookies iced to look like doughnuts everywhere all over Pintersest and I couldn’t resist making them with my little blondie. They look super cute and are pretty simple to make and decorate- I hope you give this recipe a try next time you’re baking!

Ingredients:

For the cookies
1 1/2 cups coconut oil, softened or melted*
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups gluten free flour** (for sweet recipes like this one I use a gluten free flour mix for half of the needed amount, then equal parts coconut and tapioca flour for the other half)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup coconut milk (you may need more or less depending on how dry you find the dough- you shouldn’t need this for the regular version)

For the regular version:
* swap for butter
** swap for regular flour 


For the royal icing
1 egg white
4 cups icing sugar, sifted (I’ve made batches that have needed closer to 5 cups)




Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the coconut butter and sugar; use a fork to mash lumps of coconut oil if necessary. Add in eggs and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a whisk or electric mixer, add the dry mix to the wet mix until well combined (I’ve found aerating the dry ingredients in gluten free recipes helps make them lighter/ less dense, rather than simply mixing by hand). Add coconut milk 1/4 cup at a time until dough reaches a thick, moist consistency- you may need more or less.
3. Dust your rolling surface and rolling pin with flour (I use tapioca flour for gluten free baking) and roll out dough to 1/4- 1/8″ thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. I used two different sized round ones for the doughnut shape.
4. Place cookies 1″ apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 6- 8minutes. Allow to cool before decorating.
5. To make the royal icing, use a hand mixer with the whisk attachment to combine the egg white and icing sugar until soft peaks form. Add food colouring if you’d like.
6. Scoop desired amount of icing into a piping bag and pipe out the outline of the design you’d like (if  you’re new to icing like me, the doughnuts are nice and easy to outline!) then fill in your design with icing; top off with sprinkles and allow to dry.