Published by Sheena Strain, last updated
Gluten free shortbread cookies are the easiest cookie in the world to make, and they really are melt in your mouth tender with a delicious buttery taste.
Because this recipe doesn’t contain eggs these gluten free shortbread cookies can easily be made vegan by using dairy free margarine instead of butter and it works perfectly every time!
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How to Make Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies
Start by turning on your oven to350ºF and then prepare a small sheet pan or cookie sheet and line it with parchment so your gluten free shortbread cookies don’t stick to the pan.
Add your dairy free margarine, or softened butter if you are not making your gluten free shortbread dairy free (amounts are in recipe card at the end of the post) to a mixing bowl, and then add the sifted powdered sugar.
Mix the margarine or butter with the powdered sugar really well until combined.
If using real butter you must make sure it’s soft so it will mix properly.
Then, measure out your gluten free flour, plus baking powder, and if your flour blend has no added gums you can add the xanthan gum listed in the recipe.
Mix this together with a fork so that the baking powder is evenly mixed throughout.
Now add the flour for your gluten free shortbread cookies to the bowl with the already mixed butter and powdered sugar and blend well to create a soft cookie dough.
The mixture will be quite soft, this is what you want.
If your room is too hot then the butter may melt, you don’t want that! You simply need it to be soft.
Add the cookie dough mixture to a piping bag and then squeeze out into small fingers on the parchment lined sheet pan.
You can make round cookies too if you prefer, it’s really up to you.
Do leave enough room between the cookies as they spread quite a bit on the sheet pan when they are cooking.
Bake for about 12 minutes or so, but the exact time will vary based on your oven.
Once the gluten free shortbread cookies are baked you can let them cool on the sheet pan.
Because they are baked without eggs they are very fragile so just be careful when you pick them up.
When they are fully cooled you can dip them in melted chocolate if you like, I think this really make a fantastic addition to the cookies and as it’s really easy to do I wouldn’t skip this step.
You can let the chocolate harden by putting the cookies on a cooling rack until the chocolate is hard.
How Long will Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies keep?
My gluten free shortbread cookies are best eaten the day they are made, remember they are not made with any preservatives or even eggs.
You can make the cookie dough ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for a day or two if you need to, although you will need to let it soften a bit at room temperature so that you can pipe it.
What’s the best flour for Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies?
I always make my own gluten free all purpose flour for baking as it’s cheaper and I get better results than I’ve had with most of the ready mixed flours.
If you need to make my gluten free shortbread cookies with a ready made store bought blend I would avoid using a flour mix that has the gum already added, it’s better to measure it out yourself as the ones with added gums can give a much more sticky results and there’s really no way to determine the ratio of gum to gluten free flour.
Related Gluten Free Cookie Recipes
- Gluten free lemon cookies
- Gluten free sugar cookies
- Gluten free cut out cookies
- Gluten free oatmeal raisin cookies
- Gluten free chocolate chip cookies
- Gluten free cut out cookies
- Gluten free brownie cookies
Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies
Delicate and tasty gluten free shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Total Carbs: 8 g
Servings: 16
4.98 from 140 votes
Ingredients
- 1/2cupdairy free margarine , 110g, or butter
- 3/4cupall purpose gluten free flour , 110g
- 4tbsppowdered sugar, 30g
- 1/4tspbaking powder
- 1/4tspxanthan gum, omit if your flour blend contains gum
- 2 ozchocolate, 50g, I used dairy free chocolate chips
Instructions
Please read the recipe notes before you start.
Preheat your oven to 350ºF
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and then add a large star tip (such as a 1M) to your piping bag.
Add the dairy free margarine (or softened butter if you prefer) and powdered sugar to a mixing bowl and beat until fully combined.
Add in the all purpose gluten free flour, baking powder and xanthan gum and mix well.
Add the mix to the piping bag and pipe out three inch long cookie fingers onto your lined baking sheet, spaced well apart.
Bake for ten to fifteen minutes until a pale golden color. Keep a close watch on them as they can go from cooked to burned in only a minute or two!
Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
The cookies are very soft and fragile, so be careful not to break them!
Melt your chocolate either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of hot water.
Dip both ends of the cookie in the melted chocolate and leave to set on the wire rack.
Recipe Notes
You will need a baking sheet, and a piping bag with a large star tip. I used a Wilton 1M tip.
I bake by weight as I find that gives the most consistent results, especially when baking gluten free. One cup of your gluten free flour blend may not weigh the same as my blend regardless of how you scoop it.
All the commercially available blends have different mixes and ratios of flour in them. I’ve weighed cups of different blends of flour and noted that a cup of gluten free flour can vary in weight from 125g up to as much as 170g depending on how you scoop it, and what type of mix you use. You can see how this could drastically alter the outcome of a recipe.
Nutrition Facts
Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies
Amount Per Serving
Calories 93Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Fat 6g9%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Sodium 68mg3%
Potassium 19mg1%
Carbohydrates 8g3%
Sugar 3g3%
Vitamin A 255IU5%
Calcium 10mg1%
Iron 0.3mg2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutritional information on Noshtastic is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Author: Noshtastic
Course:Dessert
Cuisine:British
