The Best Gluten-Free Vegan Allergy-Free Christmas Cookie Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What holds gluten-free cookies together? ›

As with gluten, this could stop a cookie from spreading too much as it bakes. So I've decided to try adding a hydrocolloid to my gluten-free dough. Some grocery stores sell xanthan gum and guar gum, especially if the stores have a gluten-free aisle. Many gluten-free recipes call for xanthan gum.

One of the most common gluten-free baking tips is “let your batter rest”. Letting the batter rest gives the gluten-free flours and starches more time to absorb the moisture. In theory, it will turn your dry, crumbly cakes into delicious, moist masterpieces.

Gluten-free flour is not a perfect substitute for wheat flour. Each mixture out there is designed to mostly work in certain kinds of recipe, but not in all of them. And yes, it is perfectly normal for a gluten-free cookie to be crumbly, since it is the gluten itself that holds wheat cookes together.

Almond flour is a grain-free, protein-rich flour that lends well to cookies, cakes, and more! Almond flour is made from blanched almonds, meaning without skins (as opposed to almond meal, which is made from raw almonds with skins). This is why it has a fluffy, light texture and pale golden color.

Oat Flour. With its creamy, earthy flavor and delicate texture, gluten-free oat flour is a staple of my gluten-free baking recipes. It bakes up soft and smooth, adding necessary starch to many GF baked goods and keeping them moist and tender due to its high fat content and stable protein structure.

Moisture. There are many ways to increase moisture in a recipe. In general, recipes that call for pureed fruit, sour cream or yogurt are ones you can rely on for a moist product. In case your recipe does not call for these things, using brown sugar instead of white sugar to add moisture.

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

— resting the dough makes SUCH a difference in the final cookie. You will not regret this extra step! ALL THAT SAID, if you simply don't have the time or patience to wait 24-48 hours, chill the dough for at least 2 hours in the fridge before scooping and baking.

Yes, Caramel chocolate chip is the first vegan and gluten-free Girl Scout cookie.

Does oatmeal have gluten? ›

Yes, pure, uncontaminated oats are gluten-free. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration considers oats a gluten-free grain under its gluten-free labeling regulations and only requires that packaged products with oats as an ingredient contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten overall.

Living gluten-free can be a challenge. It's important to know that peanuts, peanut butter, peanut flour and peanut oil are considered naturally gluten-free foods. Gluten is a form of protein found in wheat, barley and rye (2).

13- Make sure your baking soda and/or baking powder are fresh. These are the leavening agents in your cookie recipe and if they are no longer active, your cookies won't puff up and may spread more. Try a fresh container if they've been open longer than 3 months. 14- Use a tried and true gluten free cookie mix.

Chilling the dough for at least several hours results in cookies that are extra-thick and chonky because it allows the flours to absorb more moisture. Here's how to do it: What is this? Make the dough as directed, then let sit until firm enough to scoop (or chill for a few minutes to speed this up).

Instead of proceeding directly to baking, let the gluten-free cookie dough rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature. This resting period is crucial for hydration, not leavening. During this time, gluten-free flours absorb moisture from the wet ingredients, altering the dough's texture and consistency.

The three most common binders are xanthan gum, guar gum and psyllium husk powder. Each one works in a slightly different way to help create the structure we need to hold baked goods together.

Flour is the main ingredient that provides structure in a cookie – without it, there would be no cookie! The gluten in flour forms a web of sorts – the framework that catches the air bubbles/gasses given off during rising. This helps provide the structure.

Flour is a stabilizer and thickener and controls how much the cookie rises. It holds the cookie together, providing it with its structure. If you use too little flour your cookie won't keep its shape but if you use too much you'll end up with a thick tasteless cookie.

Gluten free baked goods use various binding agents as a substitute, such as xanthan gum, but these simply don't work as well as gluten, resulting in a crumbly product.