These are my all-time favorite gluten-free sugar cookies! I think you’re going to fall in love with it too. They are soft and flavorful, but like classic sugar cookies, hold their shape while baking. They’re great for decorating with frosting and sprinkles.
This recipe also includes my all-time favorite sugar cookie frosting (hint it has sour cream) which takes these cookies to the next level.
Why You’ll LOVE this Recipe
- Soft sugar cookies with crispy edges
- Almond extract for amazing flavor
- Hold their shape while baking
- A little sour cream (secret ingredient!) for moist cookies
- Easily made dairy-free with vegan butter and dairy-free sour cream
- Freezes great!
Ingredients for Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
Here are a few notes on the key ingredients to make these best gluten-free sugar cookies. If you have any additional questions leave me a comment/
- Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour: Also known as gluten-free measure-for-measure flour. I like to use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend that contains xanthan gum. King Arthur flour is my favorite brand.
- Cornstarch: A little cornstarch gives these cookies a lighter texture.
- Sour cream: Sour cream imparts a richness to the cookie dough and helps create a chewy texture in gluten-free baking. You can easily use dairy-free sour cream if you prefer.
- Vanilla extract/almond extract: The combination of these two extracts gives this the cookie dough amazing flavor!
Dairy-free? To make these cookies dairy-free I recommend using 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup vegan butter in place of the 1 cup of butter. You can also use Forager dairy-free sour cream.
For an almond flour version, try these almond flour sugar cookies!
How to Make Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
Make the Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a large bowl with a hand mixer) add the butter and white sugar. Cream together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg, almond extract, vanilla extract, salt and baking powder. Mix until well combined.
- With the mixer running on low, add half of the sour cream followed by the cornstarch. Add 1/2 of the gluten-free flour blend to the wet ingredients followed by the other 1/2 of the sour cream. Mix until combined then add the other 1/2 of the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
- Scrap down the sides and bottom of the bowl then mix again until totally combined.
Roll and Bake the Cookies
- Divide the dough into two flattened balls and wrap the dough balls tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
- Chilled dough creates cut-out cookies that hold their shape. The chilling time also gives the gluten-free flour time to hydrate for a non-gritty dough.
Tip: If you prefer drop cookies and don’t want to roll out the dough, try these gluten-free Christmas cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Lightly sprinkle a clean counter or work surface with gluten-free flour. Roll out the chilled dough with a rolling pin to the desired thickness on the lightly floured surface. For a soft sugar cookie, roll the dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick. For crisper cookies you can roll the dough thinner to 1/8 inch. I prefer 1/4-inch thick cookies!
- Cut out the cookies with desired cookie cutters, then use a thin spatula to transfer the cookies to the cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes until set. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
You also might like these gluten-free funfetti sugar cookies!
Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Frosting
These gluten-free sugar cookies are perfect for any holiday! We like making them as Christmas cookies during the holiday season. They also make great hearts for a Valentine’s cookie, pumpkins for a Halloween cookie and more.
You can use any frosting you like to decorate these cookies. They work well with royal icing or buttercream frosting.
I’ve included my favorite recipe for buttercream frosting (that has a secret ingredient) in the recipe below. Once you try sour cream in buttercream frosting you’ll never go back! It’s so delicious.
Storage/Freezing Instructions
To Store: Store the cookies in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days.
To Freeze: Plain gluten-free sugar cookies freeze well up to 3 months. To freeze, layer the cookies between sheets of parchment paper and place in a freezer-friendly container or Ziploc. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes
Making gluten-free sugar cookies is one of our favorite holiday traditions! I hope you like this recipe as much as we do! If you try it be sure to leave me a comment/rating below. I’d love to hear from you!
Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies (Tried & True!)
Video
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 1 cup butter softened, 227g
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup sour cream 60g (dairy-free sour cream works!)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 1/2 cups gluten-free 1:1 baking flour 380g
For the Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter 113g
- 1/4 cup sour cream 60g (dairy-free sour cream works!)
- 3 cups powdered sugar 390g
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoons milk or almond milk
- food coloring optional
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a large bowl with a hand mixer) add the butter and granulated sugar. Cream together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg, almond extract, vanilla extract, salt and baking powder. Mix until well combined.
- With the mixer running on low, add half of the sour cream followed by the cornstarch. Add 1/2 of the flour followed by the other 1/2 of the sour cream. Mix until combined then add the other 1/2 of the flour and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl then mix again until totally combined.
- Divide the dough into two flattened balls and wrap each ball tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Bake the Cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Lightly sprinkle a clean counter with gluten-free flour. Roll out the chilled dough to the desired thickness on the lightly floured surface. (Tip: For a soft sugar cookie, roll the dough until it is about ¼-inch thick. For crisper cookies you can roll the dough thinner to ⅛ inch. I prefer ¼-inch thick cookies!)
- Cut out the cookies with desired cookie cutters, then use a thin spatula to transfer the cookies to the prepared pan.
- Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes until set. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Make the Frosting:
- In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Using a hand mixer, whip until light and fluffy. Add a little more milk if the frosting is too thick, or more powdered sugar if it’s too thin.
- Frost the cookies as desired. Enjoy!
It was the softest dough one I added the flour.
We’re so pleased you enjoyed the cookies, Ella! Thank you for your positive feedback.
Love these cookies! They are a big hit with all of my friends and family who aren’t GF which is a giant win for me! One question – when I frost these cookies, the frosting stays very soft. This makes storing them a challenge (I can’t stack them or the frosting gets all squished). How can I fix that?
Hi Brooke, we’re so pleased to hear how much everyone loved the cookies! For the frosting, you could thicken it up with more powdered sugar. Another option is to chill the frosted cookies in a single layer until the frosting is firm, then stack them in an airtight container and storing them in the fridge to keep them cool. They won’t stick together that way. We hope this helps!
We doubled it! Honestly these tasted more like shortbread than sugar cookies— not that I’m complaining!! I love shortbread!! We followed the instructions until we discovered we had no baking powder! We created some with 2:1 cream of tartar and baking soda. We used full fat sour cream. The chilling is critical since its such a soft dough with all the fat- which you need in GF or it gets all dry and un-delicious-cookie-no-likey. We found 1/8” to be our preference, baked on silicone mats for 12min.
This is a keeper!!! Labeling it “shortbread” and will look for another sugar cookie recipe. If all our trial-and-errors to find a sugar cookie recipe are this good, we will not be upset!!
Hi Becky, we’re so glad you all enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for sharing your positive experience with us!
Update: tried this recipe again with the bob’s red mill gf flour and they turned out great! Much firmer dough, cookies kept their shape while baking and tasted great!
Hi Alex, we’re happy to hear the recipe worked well for you with the Bob’s Red Mill. Thank you for sharing your positive experience with us!
Do you think I could replace the almond extract with vanilla extract?
Definitely, Kristen! We hope you love the cookies. Happy baking!
The dough is very soft. I should
add more flour?
Hi Mary, did you chill the dough for at least an hour? We’d recommend chilling it before adding extra flour. If it remains too soft to hold its shape after chilling, then yes you could try adding a little extra flour. We recommend using King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure-for-Measure Flour. We hope this helps!
Made these for Superbowl – in the shape of hearts! These cookies are so darn delicious! I froze what was left and eat them straight out of the freezer. They are so good -they def don’t sacrifice any flavor for being gluten free. This is the only cut out cookie I will make from here on out!
Aww, thank you for such kind feedback, Kathy! It makes us so happy to hear how much the cookies were loved and that this recipe has become such a keeper for you. Happy baking!
Do you think I could use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Definitely, Rachel! We recommend using full fat Greek yogurt. We hope you enjoy the recipe!
This recipe is great! I first made these for Christmas and my family ate these more than the wheat Choco chip cookies I made. They are so soft and the icing is delicious.
Aww, we’re so happy to hear how much everyone loved this recipe! Thank you for taking the time to share your positive feedback with us, Cara. Happy baking!
Are these cookies “sturdy” enough to be made into fruit pizza cookies?
Hi LaWanda, we haven’t tried it ourselves, but based on the texture/structure, it should work! We’d love to hear how it goes!
Such a great recipe! My cookies turned out perfectly and so delicious. My granddaughter will help me frost them later 🙂 The only substitute I made was to add a few Tblsps of plain yogurt since I was just shy of 1/4 cup sour cream.
Thank you for your kind feedback, Patti! We hope you and your granddaughter have a great time frosting them (and eating them)! Happy baking!
Can i use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Hi Rea, yes you can use full fat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. We hope you enjoy the cookies! Happy baking!
The cookies dough rolled out nicely. They looked good once baked. But, were very dry. Hard to swallow. I followed receipe to the tee. Was disappointed since I’ve tried many of your receipes and been pleased.
Have you tried these with only vegan butter? I don’t have shortening but am curious if you’ve tested and that’s why you didn’t recommend a straight 1:1 replacement for butter… thanks!
Hi Kayla, good question! Using all vegan butter will typically lead to more spreading and make them more delicate which isn’t ideal for sugar cookies. We recommend using the shortening in the dairy-free version to help the cookies hold their shape. We hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe!
Thank you so much for the recipe! I just made perfect Easter bunnies and eggs. They are so darned cute and remind me of a lofthouse but way better! I used half sugar/half swerve to keep the sugar a bit lower and subbed soy Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. They are delicious and gorgeous!
Hi Heather, we’re so pleased to hear how much you loved the sugar cookies! It’s great to know those substitutions worked well too. Thank you for sharing!
I will never make another cut-out sugar cookie! These are amazing. Great texture and flavor. I made them ahead of a party and froze them unfrosted, then thawed and frosted the day before. They were excellent unfrosted too. Easy to roll out. I made exactly as recipe stated using the same flour. No one is my family could tell they were gluten free.
Yay! We’re so happy to hear how much you loved the recipe, Heidi! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. Happy baking!
Hello
This looks delish.
The question re: cornstarch sub remains. Would subbing tapioca for cornstarch work or change the texture? I don’t do corn.
Thank you!
Hi Laura, yes tapioca starch will work in place of the cornstarch. Other options are to use more gluten-free measure-for-measure flour or arrowroot powder. We hope you love the cookies!
These baked perfectly. I used heavy cream instead of sour cream because that is what I had. Also, because I can’t afford to pay attention, I did not alternate the ingredients as instructed. Perhaps it’s not necessary to achieve this perfectly baked cookie!!! Great recipe!!! Thank you <3
We’re so happy to hear the cookies turned out amazing, even without alternating the ingredients and subbing out the sour cream! Thank you for sharing your positive experience with us, Geri!