Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

Coming on the heels of the Gluten Free Snickerdoodles recipe, you've probably figured out that I'm spending my afternoon baking. As I mentioned before, I normally don't do a lot of cookie-ing, mostly because I don't have the willpower to not eat all four dozen at once, but during the holidays, I can bake whatever I like and pass it off to other people for eating.

I haven't had a sugar cookie in years - mostly because even before I had to go gluten free, I was just too darn lazy to go to the trouble of rolling out the dough, cutting it out with those cute little cookie cutters, and so forth.

I like the idea of a sugar cookie that I can mush up in my hands and stick on the baking sheet. This is that kind of sugar cookie. And it's crisp on the outside, and soft and cakey on the inside -- because it's made with CAKE.

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

1 Box Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix (I like Betty Crocker)
2 eggs
1/4 C butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
Decorative sugars

Preheat your oven to 375. Combine the cake mix, the eggs, the butter and the vanilla together, blending well until you've got dough - and yes, it will look a little crumbly, but that's ok.

Roll the dough into balls, about 1" across (that gives you two dozen cookies), and place on a baking sheet. I like to line mine with parchment paper, because I'm a fan of working smarter and not harder, and it makes it way easier to clean up. Use the bottom of a glass to press down the dough balls, and then sprinkle with the decorative sugars. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn golden.

Seriously, you guys, these are fabulous!

Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Cookies

So I haven't blogged much lately - not because I haven't been cooking, I have, but because I've been swamped with all the things that happen when real life gets in the way. It's been a rough 2013, and I'm ready for it to be over, and it looks like 2014 is going to be a whole lot better.

And everything is better with cookies!

We traditionally spend Christmas with my husband's family - this year will be a weird one, because we lost his mom this past spring. Thanksgiving was strange, not having her at the head of the table, and I'm sure Christmas will feel like there's an empty spot, a mother-in-law shaped gap at the end of the table.

One thing that doesn't seem to change at Christmas dinner, though, is the abundance of food. There's really more than any large army can eat, plenty of it goes home as leftovers, and honestly, by the time the ham comes out of the oven, we're all so full from grazing that it almost seems like a wasted effort to sit down and eat a meal. This year, instead of loading up on pies and fudge, I decided to change it up a notch and do cookies.

Normally I don't cookie, because I have a tendency to eat the whole batch in one sitting, but at the holidays, I know I can foist my cookies off on other family members. I like Snickerdoodles, even though they're not really Christmasy at all, but they sure are tasty. This recipe uses a baking mix - you can either use one you blend yourself, or do like I did, and use the packaged kind. What can I say, it's the holidays, and I'm cutting corners a little bit!

Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Cookies

2 eggs
1 C brown sugar
1/4 C melted butter
1/4 C coconut oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 C gluten free baking mix

Preheat your oven to 375. Combine everything together in a bowl until it forms a nice squishy dough. Roll the dough out into balls (if you make them about an inch in diameter, you'll get 30 cookies out of this recipe). In a small bowl, combine:

1/4 granulated sugar
2 tsp cinammon

Roll the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar mix, and place on an ungreased baking sheet (or if you like, use parchment paper for easier cleanup). Bake about 12 minutes, remove from pan to cool on a baking rack. Delicious!