Serve up holiday cheer with these festive gluten-free spritz cookies! These buttery, tender cookies hold their shape and are so fun to decorate as a family.
You also might like these gluten-free snowball cookies or gluten-free shortbread cookies.
There’s nothing like the holidays to get me in a baking mood! And these gluten-free spritz cookies are the perfect way to get the whole family involved in the activity. They’re a Christmas cookie classic and always a family favorite!
With these easy, buttery cookies, you don’t have to chill or roll out the dough. You don’t even have to mess with a cookie cutter!
Just place them in the spritz cookie press and press dough into fun holiday shapes like a Christmas tree, wreath, or star. Then you can decorate them if you’d like, or enjoy them plain! Either way, they taste delicious and will bring holiday cheer.
Gluten-free spritz cookies are similar in taste to butter cookies or sugar cookies, but so much easier! They a really are the perfect cookie for the holiday season!
Why I Love This Recipe
- Easy to make: These gluten-free spritz cookies are quite simple to make and look like you spent hours baking them! No chilling, rolling, or cookie cutters required. The cookie press does all the work!
- Classic holiday cookies: Gluten-free spritz cookies are a holiday classic! They’re perfect for parties, cookie exchanges, a holiday gift for neighbors, or for shipping to a loved one.
- Buttery, sweet cookies: These cookies are perfectly balanced in flavor and texture. They’re sweet but not too sweet. They’re crisp but also tender and buttery. They’ll soon become your favorite cookies for the holidays!
Ingredients You’ll Need
You only need 5 MAIN ingredients to make these cookies. Here are a few notes on the ingredients:
- Gluten-free flour: It’s best to use a high-quality gluten-free flour blend for these gluten-free spritz cookies. I recommend King Arthur Measure-for-Measure Baking Flour. It has xanthan gum, which helps provide a nice chew and gives a similar texture to all purpose flour.
- Butter: I typically prefer salted butter to unsalted butter. It has better depth of flavor and will really make a difference with these gluten-free spritz cookies!
- Almond and vanilla extract: The hint of almond extract combined with vanilla extract makes these delicious holiday cookies extra special! I highly recommend using a blend of both! (Real vanilla extract will give better results than imitation.)
How to Make Gluten-Free Spritz Cookies
Recipe Tip: Chill Your Baking Sheets
Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats. While the cookie dough is chilling and the oven is preheating, and if your refrigerator or freezer has room, it’s helpful to chill your lined baking sheets. The dough coming out of the cookie press adheres much better to a cold surface.
Make Dough: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and salt together. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond flavor extract and mix until combined, then scrape down the bowl.
Add the gluten-free flour and mix on low speed until fully combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes while the oven preheats.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Fill Cookie Press: Follow cookie press manufacturer’s directions to fit your cookie press with a decorative disk of your choice. Fill the cookie press with dough. Hold the cookie press perpendicular to the cookie sheet and press out the cookies. They can be fairly close together, since they don’t really spread.
Decorating Spritz Cookies
If desired, top the cookies with sprinkles or press a chocolate chip into the center. If needed, you can very lightly brush the cookies with water before topping with sprinkles so they will adhere to the cookies.
If the cookie dough becomes too soft as you work, chill the shaped cookie dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before baking.
Bake: Bake until very lightly browned on the edges, 7–9 minutes. Let cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Storage Instructions
Store gluten-free spritz cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. These cookies also freeze well and can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Recipe Tips
- Use a good cookie press. This is the cookie press I have and love!
- Use a silicone mat. I have tried baking these 3 different ways — on parchment paper, a silicone baking mat, and directly on the cookie sheet. I highly recommend baking these spritz on a silicone baking mat. Parchment paper is too slippery, so the cookies spread too much. When you use an unlined baking sheet, it’s hard to get make the cookies adhere to the sheet as they come out of the cookie press.
- Use gel food coloring (if desired). If you’d like, you can set aside some dough to tint. I recommend using gel food coloring for this step. One very tiny drop of green is plenty for ¼ of the cookie dough. Use it sparingly! You may have to chill the cookie dough for just a bit after mixing in the food coloring.
- Get creative. Have fun with decorating these Christmas cookies! Add melted chocolate drizzle, sprinkles, dark chocolate chips, icing, colored sugar, and more. The possibilities are endless!
More Gluten-Free Holiday Cookies
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you try these gluten-free spritz cookies, be sure to leave me a comment/rating below. I’d love to hear from you!
Gluten-Free Spritz Cookies (Buttery & Light!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 ¼ cup (340g) gluten-free measure-for-measure baking flour
- optional: gel food coloring sprinkles, chocolate chips, and melted chocolate for decorating
Instructions
- Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats. While the cookie dough is chilling and the oven is preheating, and if your refrigerator or freezer has room, it’s helpful to chill your lined baking sheets. The dough coming out of the cookie press adheres much better to a cold surface.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and salt together. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and mix until combined, then scrape down the bowl.
- Add the gluten-free flour and mix on low speed until fully combined.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes while the oven preheats.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Follow cookie press manufacturer’s directions to fit your cookie press with a decorative plate. Fill the cookie press with dough. Hold the cookie press perpendicular to the cookie sheet and press out the cookies. They can be fairly close together, since they don’t really spread.
- DECORATE: If desired, top the cookies with sprinkles or press a chocolate chip into the center. If needed, you can very lightly brush the cookies with water before topping with sprinkles so they will adhere to the cookies.
- If the cookie dough becomes too soft as you work, chill the shaped cookie dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before baking.
- Bake until very lightly browned on the edges, 7–9 minutes. Let cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
- Use a good cookie press. This is the cookie press I have and love!
- Use a silicone mat. I have tried baking these 3 different ways — on parchment paper, a silicone baking mat, and directly on the cookie sheet. I highly recommend baking these spritz on a silicone baking mat. Parchment paper is too slippery, so the cookies spread too much. When you use an unlined baking sheet, it’s hard to get make the cookies adhere to the sheet as they come out of the cookie press.
- Use gel food coloring (if desired). If you’d like, you can set aside some dough to tint. I recommend using gel food coloring for this step. One very tiny drop of green is plenty for ¼ of the cookie dough. Use it sparingly! You may have to chill the cookie dough for just a bit after mixing in the food coloring.
- Get creative. Have fun with decorating these Christmas cookies! Add melted chocolate drizzle, sprinkles, dark chocolate chips, icing, colored sugar, and more. The possibilities are endless!
Thank you for a recipe that is as delicious and melt-in-your-mouth as the original recipe made with wheat flour! I followed the recipe exactly and used King Arthur’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour. I did not spritz the silicone baking mat but the cookies did
not stick. Excellent taste, texture and appearance.