Don’t let your allergies stop you from being able to make a delicious and beautiful sugar cookie.
Today we are excited to welcome Emily Hutchinson of The Hutch Oven (and WOT community member) to share with us her allergy-friendly recipe for holiday sugar cookies! Whether you’re making them for you to enjoy, or spreading some holiday cheer and baking for others — These cookies are a great way to get into the spirit of the season and accommodate two common allergies, gluten and dairy.
When describing her cookies and why she loves them Emily said, “Home really is where the heart is especially for the Holidays!”… And let’s be honest, does anything make the holidays feel more like home than making cookies?
Check out the below videos for extra tips on how to decorate these adorable and allergy-friendly cookies.
Gluten Free and Dairy Free Sugar Cookies by Emily Hutchinson
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup cold earth balance soyfree buttery spread in the 15oz tub
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 flour, plus extra for rolling
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
Dairy free buttercream
- 1/2 cup earth balance soy-free buttery spread in the tub
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 1/2 cups confectioners’ powdered sugar (white powdered sugar)
- 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp vanilla almond milk (may more if too thick)
Instructions
Cookies
- Cream earth balance spread, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg together for a minute on medium speed.
- Mix dry ingredients, flour, corn starch, and baking powder in a separate bowl. I use a whisk to blend the dry ingredients together or sift the dry ingredients together.
- Add dry ingredients to your wet ingredients. Mix until the cookie mix becomes a dough.
- This dough will be sticky, so put the bowl in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes. This will allow your dough to firm up a bit for rolling. The soy free spread will make the dough soft so more chill time is necessary.
- Preheat oven to 375. Flour the surface and very gently roll dough out to ¼ inch thick. Cut your cookies out into desired shapes.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes or when the cookie puffs up. Once baked, let sit for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet to firm up. Transfer to a cooling rack.
Dairy free buttercream
- Mix spread and shortening together in a stand mixer. Make sure they are the same temperature so they can mix evenly.
- Add in vanilla extract.
- Mix in powdered sugar.
- Add in almond milk one tbsp at a time. You can always add more in if it's too thick.
- Mix until smooth, about 1 minute on medium to high speed. Be sure not to over-whip your buttercream. DON’T panic you won't ruin it if it whips longer. Store unused buttercream in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to three months.
Cookie Master tip: Make sure to follow instructions and ingredients. Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 flour works perfectly. The Earth balance soy free buttery spread in the little red tubs don't have a funny after taste like the sticks do. The spread needs to come right out of the fridge when using. Otherwise, the dough is too sticky. The corn starch will help the cookies keep their shape. Use the scoop and level method of measuring the flour so you don’t measure too much which will lead to a dry cookie. Don’t overbake. Store in an airtight container, freeze or frost when cooled.
For the frosting: The recipe can be doubled (this is a half batch of my recipe)
Frosting master tip: The amount of almond milk will vary. The temperature of your house, humidity of where you live will determine how much to add. Start out with the minimum and slowly add to find out what works best for you. Make sure your shortening is fresh and not left in a warm spot. It develops a yucky taste over time and we don’t want that. Add in extra powdered sugar if the buttercream is not crusting enough.
For decorating: You will need- Dark Brown, Light brown, pink and white buttercream. Tips 10, 18, and 5 in the videos. Sanding sugar to ‘zhuzh’ up the cookies. A half batch of buttercream and a batch of cookies.
Enjoy!
Recipe, images, videos and text by Emily Hutchinson of The Hutch Oven.
