Recipe initially inspired by Southern Plate and My Gluten Free Kitchen with a few tweaks to make it work for our GF family!

Okay people, our easy gluten free Lemon Scooties cookies are here for ya just in time for a sweet summer treat! Not really sure how we got started calling them Lemon Scooties 😂but what can ya do. Does your family have strange little names for things with no apparent explanation or origin?! Just ours? Anyway, these cookies are gluten free, but the GF one-to-one flour can easily be swapped out for all purpose. They are light, fluffy and melt in your mouth similar to a Lofthouse style cookie from the grocery store or like a shortbread/sugar cookie hybrid. We make them really small because we like to sandwich them, but if you wanted to you could just make them normal cookie size and skip the buttercream step. Up to you!

INGREDIENTS:

COOKIES:
1 C. granulated sugar
1 C. softened butter
1/3 C. lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
3-5 drops yellow food coloring
1/4 t. lemon extract (skip if you don’t have it)
3 C. Gluten Free One-to-One flour (we use THIS kind)
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt

BUTTERCREAM FILLING:
-See my favorite buttercream recipe HERE!
-Replace vanilla extract with lemon extract or lemon juice
-add zest of a lemon

GLAZE:
1 C. powdered sugar
2-3 T. lemon juice
optional: zest of one lemon for topping

DIRECTIONS:

Combine sugar, butter, lemon juice, zest, food coloring and lemon extract in a large bowl, and mix with on medium until combined and creamy.

In the same bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a heap on top of wet ingredients. Mix just the dry ingredients lightly with a spoon before combining into the wet ingredients fully. Blend with electric mixer until combined and crumbly.

Knead dough a couple of times on a floured surface to help it come together, and then cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.

While dough is chilling, make the buttercream (recipe HERE) and the glaze. Cover both with plastic wrap to keep from hardening and set aside (not in the fridge or it will be too stiff to use!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out the cookies to about 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface, and then use a small round 1 1/2 to 2 inch cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Place on parchment paper at least a half inch apart.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 7-8 minutes total, rotating pans halfway through. Remove cookies and let cool on racks until completely room temp to touch so that the buttercream and glaze won’t melt off.

Using a sandwich or freezer bag (or piping bag if you have it!), spoon buttercream into the bag and clip off the corner. Pipe a small dollop of buttercream on the bottom of one cookie, and then press a second cookie into it bottom to bottom to create a sandwich cookie!

Holding firmly to the top and bottom cookies, lightly dunk the top surface of the top cookie into the glaze, and let the excess drip off back into the bowl. Sprinkle with zest or lightly dip glazed side onto plate covered with zest.

I didn’t really take in-progress pics this time…because baking with kids is stressful for me and I forgot! 😉 I might try to update this post with progress shots next time we make our easy gluten free Lemon Scooties cookies if that would be helpful. Love these kitchen assistants of mine! And we really do end up having a good time baking together once I let go and let the mess and chaos just happen. Don’t fight it, Erin. Just let it goooooo.

We’d love to know what you think if you make these cookies! If you’re looking for more of our favorite gluten free sweet treats, try out our basic sugar cookie recipe HERE or my favorite blueberry crumble muffins HERE…yuuuuummmmmy. Enjoy, friends!
❤️ERIN