Sugar Cookie cutouts are such a fun way to celebrate the holidays! Sugar cookies aren’t just for Christmas anymore. I have seen cookie cutters for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and I’m sure there are more.
There are so many ways to decorate them as well. Here I decorated some with sprinkles and some with royal icing. I have also taken two of the same cookie, put Nutella or melted chocolate in the middle, and made a cookie sandwich. They were fantastic by the way!
INGREDIENTS FOR SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS
- 1/3 cup margarine
- 1/3 cup shortening (crisco)
- 2 cups gluten free flour
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon almond milk
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- dash of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (only if your flour does not contain it)
Making sugar cookie cutouts is a great way to spend time with your kids. They will enjoy cutting out the Christmas shapes and then they can decorate the cookies with sprinkles or icing.
This recipe will make about 40 cookies.
Weight Watchers Points – 5 points per cookie
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
Beat the margarine and shortening with an electric mixer on a medium for about 1 minute. Add half the flour, egg, sugar, milk, baking powder, salt and the xanthan gum. Beat these ingredients together until the mixture is combined. Add in the remaining flour and beat until it is thoroughly mixed together.
Divide the dough in half, cover it with plastic wrap and put dough in the refrigerator. Let the sugar cookie dough chill for 3 hours.
Now you can start making sugar cookies. Lightly flour your work surface so the dough does not stick. Roll the dough out to about an 1/8 inch thick. Cut out your desired Christmas shapes. Place the sugar cookie cutouts on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Decorate the cookies with colored sprinkles and bake them for 8-10 minutes. Cookies should be slightly brown on the edges.
If you want to use icing on your cookies then you will need to let them cool first or the icing will melt.
Place the cookies on a cooling rack for 30 minutes and then you can ice them.
ROYAL ICING RECIPE
- 2 egg whites
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 lemon juiced
Mix together 2 egg whites, 3 cups of confectioners sugar, and 1/2 lemon juiced. Beat the ingredients until it is glossy and stiff. About 5-6 minutes. This will create a smooth shiny icing. You can now add food coloring to it to create the colors you want your cookies to be.
Wegmans is a great place to find gluten free and dairy free foods. https://www.wegmans.com