Rolled & Cut-Out Sugar Cookies, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Whisk the dry ingredients

   In a medium bowl, whisk the gluten-free flour blend, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt for a full thirty seconds. Xanthan gum clumps if it isn't dispersed thoroughly, and a clump turns into a gummy spot in the baked cookie. Skip the xanthan entirely if your blend already lists it on the label, since doubling up makes the dough rubbery.

2. 2

   Cream the butter and sugar briefly

   Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until pale and smooth. Stop there rather than whipping it light and fluffy, since excess aeration distorts cut shapes in the oven.

3. 3

   Add the egg, yolk, and extracts

   Add the whole egg, the extra yolk, vanilla, and almond extract if using. Mix on low until smooth and scrape the bowl down completely. The additional yolk is doing real work here, giving the dough fat and emulsifier to bind against the starches that would otherwise bake up sandy.

4. 4

   Work in the flour

   With the mixer on low, add the dry mixture in three additions and mix just until combined. The dough will feel noticeably softer and stickier than a wheat dough at this stage. Don't be tempted to add more flour, because it will firm up substantially during the rest in the next step.

5. 5

   Rest the dough to hydrate

   Cover the bowl and let the dough sit at room temperature for 25 minutes. This is the step that makes or breaks gluten-free cut-outs. The rice flours and starches in the blend absorb liquid far more slowly than wheat, and skipping this rest gives you a dough that cracks at the edges when rolled and a cookie with a gritty finish. The dough should go from tacky to smooth and clay-like.

6. 6

   Roll first, chill second

   Divide the dough in half, place each half between two sheets of parchment, and roll to an even 1/4 inch. If small cracks appear at the edges, press them back together with your fingers and keep rolling. Stack the slabs on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.

7. 7

   Cut your shapes

   Heat the oven to 350°F and line two sheet pans with parchment. Peel back the top parchment and cut shapes, pressing straight down without twisting. Lift each shape with a thin offset spatula rather than your fingers, as gluten-free dough tears more easily than wheat dough. Re-roll scraps between parchment and chill the slab again before cutting.

8. 8

   Chill the cut shapes

   Refrigerate or freeze the loaded pans for 10 minutes before baking so the butter is firm when the cookies hit the heat.

9. 9

   Bake

   Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack for 10 to 12 minutes, a minute or two longer than the wheat version. Look for a surface that has lost its wet sheen and bottom edges that are lightly golden. Gluten-free dough pulled too early stays pasty in the center, so trust the color on the underside more than the feel of the top.

10. 10

    Cool fully on the pan first

    Leave the cookies on the hot pan for a full 10 minutes before moving them, double the time you'd give a wheat cookie. They're genuinely fragile while warm and will snap at thin points like star tips or reindeer legs. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before decorating.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Weigh your flour if you can. A heavy-handed scoop can add 40 grams or more, which turns a tender cookie into a dry one.

• 2.

  Parchment-rolling beats flour-dusting. Extra flour worked into the surface during rolling makes the finished cookies tough and chalky.

• 3.

  Use a ruler on the first slab until your eye calibrates. Under 1/4 inch and the cookies get brittle and spread; much over and the centers stay doughy.

• 4.

  Dip metal cutters in flour and tap off the excess if the dough starts clinging, and wipe the cutter between shapes on detailed designs.

• 5.

  Scraps re-roll beautifully here because the dough is barely worked, but chill each re-rolled slab before cutting or those cookies will spread more than the first batch.

• 6.

  Bake one sheet at a time. Two pans at once means uneven heat and one tray of pale cookies next to one tray of brown-edged ones.

• 7.

  Swap the almond extract for a teaspoon of finely grated lemon or orange zest if you want a brighter, less bakery-sweet cookie.