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These gluten-free sugar cookies are wonderfully sweet and delicious. They are chewy and soft but still have that great sugar cookie flavor we all love! You only need 7 simple ingredients to make them and they are perfect for decorating. They work great for birthdays and Christmas. Gluten-Free and KETO-friendly!
You are going to love these gluten-free cut-out sugar cookies! They are wonderfully golden and firm with a chewy center and perfect for decorating. Use your favorite cookie cutters to make them into fun shapes to decorate for any holiday or celebration!
These are my absolute favorite healthier sugar cookies that happen to be gluten-free, low in sugar, Keto-friendly, and low carb. What’s better is that you only need 7 simple ingredients to make these cookies like almond flour, eggs, baking powder, maple syrup, sugar, butter, and vanilla.
It still blows me away how good these almond flour sugar cookies are! I can’t wait for you to try them!
They hold their shape like traditional sugar cookies and are easy to ice and decorate with your favorite frosting and sprinkles. You can also make these gluten-free sugar cookies ahead, which is great!
Check out these amazing Fruit Pizza Cookies that are also gluten-free and made with a similar base recipe. Or these gluten free Snickerdoodles.
Why you’ll love this homemade cookie recipe
- Simple recipe -only 7 ingredients.
- Great cut-out cookies – perfect for icing and decorating.
- Healthy – this sugar cookie recipe, as written is gluten-free, sugar-free, and KETO-friendly!
- Make ahead – they store great so you can make them ahead and decorate them later!
- Amazing flavor – these sugar cookies have so much flavor that they are even delicious the icing.
These sugar cookies would be so delicious dipped into some hot chocolate as a fun holiday treat! Better yet, pair them with some reindeer brownies for a complete holiday spread!
Ingredients for gluten free sugar cookies
- Almond flour – fine-blanched almond flour.
- Monkfruit – this is the sugar-free sweetener that replaces the sugar in this recipe. You could also use Stevia or regular granulated sugar if you do not need to keep this recipe sugar-free.
- Butter – unsalted butter
- Egg – 1 large egg – at room temperature.
- Vanilla – pure vanilla extract
- Baking powder – to help the cookies rise a little when baked.
- Salt – used to enhance all of the flavors.
How to make these gluten-free sugar cookies
- Mix up the dry ingredients – Almond flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix up the wet ingredients – Monk fruit, butter, egg, vanilla.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients into a thick dough.
- Roll the dough onto a floured surface knead it for about 30 seconds and form it into a nice, smooth ball of dough. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for at least 30 minutes. 60 minutes is best.
- After 60 minutes, remove and unwrap the cookie dough. Roll it out onto a very well-floured surface. Grab your favorite cookie cutter shapes and dip the cookie cutter in more almond flour then press the cookie cutter into the dough. Carefully transfer the cut-out cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. We used these mini spatulas.
- Bake the cookies at 350° F for 9-11 minutes, until the edges start to get nice and golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack.
- Mix up the icing by combining powdered sugar with milk or water in a medium bowl.
- Let the cookies cool for at least 20 minutes ice and decorate them as you like.
Making the icing
Making this icing is so easy that even my kids could do it, and they have. All you need is two simple ingredients:
- Powdered Sugar – Now I used regular powdered sugar but to keep this entire recipe sugar-free, you could use Monkfruit Powdered Sugar, which totally works.
- Milk of choice or water – I have made this icing with heavy cream. Almond milk, whole milk, OR water would also work.
To make the icing: Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar of choice to a mixing bowl and then add 4-6 tablespoons of milk or water. Whisk until it forms a nice, smooth icing as pictured above.
Expert tip: If you prefer a thicker icing then just add more powdered sugar. For thinner icing add more liquid. To add more flavor to the icing you can substitute one of the tablespoons of liquid with vanilla, maple syrup, or even lemon juice. Feel free to add a drop or two of food coloring to mix it up as well.
Taste and Texture
These gluten-free sugar cookies have a perfectly balanced sweet vanilla flavor. They are wonderfully chewy but firm enough to decorate with icing and sprinkles.
They taste very similar to regular sugar cookies, which is a bonus since they are also healthier sugar cookies.
Expert Tips
- Make sure to chill the dough before you roll and cut out the cookies. The dough may not hold together if you skip this step. 30 minutes of chill time is okay if you are in a rush but the cookies held their shape better with 60 minutes of chill time.
- Cut the cookies in even sizes so they cook evenly. Of course, I cut the star shapes in different sizes then just removed the smaller ones that were cooked and continued cooking the larger ones. Ideally, just place them on separate cooking sheets.
- Allow the cookies to cool for at least 20 minutes before you ice and decorate them.
- Make sure the icing is not too runny. It should coat the back of a spoon and not drip right off of it.
- To ice, the cookies, simply spoon some icing onto the cookie and spread it out with the spoon or you can use a toothpick as well to spread it out. Or you can dip the top of the cookies in the icing. Top the cookies with desired sprinkles immediately while the icing is still wet so it sticks to the icing.
- You could also fill a piping bag fitted with a tip with the icing and ice the cookies that way.
- Let the cookies rest for 30 minutes after you ice them before you store them to allow the icing to harden.
Tips for making sugar cookies with gluten-free flour
- Choose the right flour for the recipe you are following. What I learned while testing this sugar cookie recipe was that almond flour is very finicky and this recipe really only worked with fine-blanched almond flour. I tried it with gluten-free all-purpose flour and it didn’t work at all. Coconut flour also did not work out well.
- Mix the flour with the other dry ingredients before you combine it with the wet ingredients to ensure it gets mixed well with the baking powder or baking soda, depending on the recipe. This will ensure that the cookies rise perfectly and have amazing flavor.
- Use a hand mixer to mix the wet ingredients to get some air into them before you mix in the flour. Mix the flour in slowly to ensure everything gets mixed well. This will help add some lift to the dough since it doesn’t contain any gluten.
- Chill the dough before you roll it out so the dough will roll more easily and the cookies will not spread while they bake.
- Let the cookies rest for at least 30 minutes after baking. This will help them stay together better and not become crumbly.
Recipe Variations and Add-Ins
- Add some almond extract in place of the vanilla to change up the flavors.
- Squeeze a bit of lemon juice into the wet ingredients to give these cookies a nice hint of lemon flavoring. You can also add some lemon to the icing.
- Add some food dye to make colored sugar cookies.
- Dip them in some melted chocolate for a fun Italian sugar cookie twist.
- Fold in some mini chocolate chips or sprinkles into the batter before you bake them.
FAQs for making gluten free sugar cookies
This recipe was designed using almond flour for almond flour sugar cookies. So other gluten-free flours will not work as well.
Yes! If you skip this step then the dough will not hold together as well since there is no gluten in it.
Typically, sugar cookies do contain gluten since they are made with all-purpose flour. This recipe, as written, is 100% gluten-free since we are using gluten-free almond flour in place of white flour.
If you use monkfruit or another sugar-free sweetener in place of the sugar then these would be sugar-free cookies.
Storing and freezing sugar cookies
These sugar cookies store great after they have cooled. Make sure to let them sit for a while after you ice them so that the icing has time to harden before you store them.
To store these cookies, place them into an airtight container and keep them on the counter for up to 3 days.
You can also freeze these gluten-free cookies. To freeze these cookies: Layer the cooked and cooled cookies in between parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container for up to 2 months. Defrost them in the refrigerator overnight. These cookies store best without the icing but can also be stored after you ice them as well.
More Healthy Cookie Recipes To Try:
- Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal cookies
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Double Chocolate Air Fryer Cookies
- Gluten-Free Easter Cookies
I hope you love this Healthy Gluten Free Sugar Cookie recipe as much as my family and I did! Please leave a comment and rating below and let me know how yours turned out!
Print
Healthy Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookies 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These gluten-free sugar cookies are the best healthy cut-out cookies! They are made with almond flour to keep them gluten-free and low-carb but taste like traditional sugar cookies. Bake and ice them with your favorite icing and sprinkles for a fun and festive treat even the kids will love!
Ingredients
For the sugar cookies
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of kosher salt
- ¼ cup monk fruit sweetener or ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 1 large egg – at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar or powdered monk fruit for sugar-free icing
- 5–6 tablespoons of milk of choice – I used heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, mix up the dry ingredients – Almond flour, baking powder, salt.
- In a separate medium-size mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream together the sugar and butter, then add in the egg and vanilla and mix until a smooth batter forms.
- Slowly mix in the flour mixture until it forms a thick, smooth cookie dough. Roll the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead it for about 30 seconds and form it into a smooth ball of dough.
- Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill it for at least 30 minutes, up to 60 minutes.
- After 30-60 minutes, remove and unwrap the cookie dough. Roll it out onto a very well-floured surface (I used almond flour). Grab your favorite cookie cutter shapes and dip the cookie cutter in more almond flour then press the cookie cutter into the dough. Carefully transfer the cut-out cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure to place the cookie about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies at 350° F for 9-11 minutes, until the edges start to get nice and golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack.
- Mix up the icing (that is not sugar-free) by combining powdered sugar with milk or water in a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk well until it forms a nice smooth icing.
- Let the cookies cool for at least 20 minutes and ice and decorate them as you like. I dipped to top of each cookie in the icing and then added sprinkles.
Notes
- These cookies will not work with gluten free all purpose flour since the recipe was created using almond flour
- Chill the dough before you roll it out so the dough will roll more easily and the cookies will not spread while they bake.
- Let the cookies fully cool before you ice them.
- Make this recipe fully sugar-free by using monkfruit sweetener in place of the sugar.
- Store these cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes (includes chill time)
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Healthy desserts
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Hi
If I don’t add mink fruit, how much sugar does the cookie require?
Hi Linda, the same amount of sugar will work in this recipe.
These are great and so easy to make. I used swerve powdered sugar for the icing and found it had too much of a chemical flavour so I didn’t use it m. To keep the sugar low I melted a Lindt 90% dark chocolate bar and drizzled it over the cookies. They were perfection and I will be making again.
Hi Angela, I am so happy you liked them. They are my new favorite.
I tried these with the orange bag of monk fruit in the raw and they were a 7/10. They would be perfect with regular sugar but this is the best recipe for a successful sugar free cookie!
Hi Jess, I’m so glad you liked them!