Hey there!
My littlest wanted to “bake wif Mommy” today, so we donned matching aprons, busted out the sprinkles and whipped up our favorite gluten free “Lofthouse” style sugar cookie recipe!  The original recipe came from Flippin’ Delicious, and we’ve since put our own spin on things, too!  Our favorite part about these cookies is their fluffy texture, just like the cookies in the plastic cartons we used to buy at the grocery store.  Now that two of our girls have Celiac Disease, we are learning how to turn our favorite sweet treats gluten free for all to enjoy!

**NOTE: it’s 3/4 teaspoon salt

A couple of ingredient tips:

If you are looking to switch to GF baking, we highly recommend Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free flour!  The best part is right in the name: you literally just sub in 1-1 ratios of Bob’s Red Mill for the regular flour!  Makes switching recipes over to GF-friendly so much easier.

Another ingredients tip is we like to add a bit of orange zest to these cookies to give them some an extra boost of flavor, and the orange and vanilla go really well together!  I use a microplane zester to take off just the deep orange layer of skin, stopping when I hit the white pith underneath.

Baking tips:

Because this is a GF recipe, the butter/sugar/eggs section will look very watery, and then when you add the flour, things will get very dry looking.  Baking gluten free is always a new adventure, ha!  We are going for that flaky, light, cloud-like consistency of a Lofthouse cookie, so it’s okay for the dough to be a bit on the seemingly dry side.

Knead sections of dough in your hands after mixing to fully combine (sometimes hard to roll this dough out, but give it a go if you want!), and then press it to 1/2 inch thick.  I like these cookies very thick, so maybe add a minute or two to the bake time if you do, as well.

Don’t be nervous when your cookies come out still pretty pale….another GF baking tip!  Gluten free flour doesn’t allow for as much browning as regular flour, so just test the edges of your cookies to see if they hold shape, and after letting them cool on the pan for a minute and then on the drying racks, you should be good to go!

Easy Icing Tips:

We love using the icing trick so much!  If your icing isn’t thin enough to easily coat and drip off of the cookies, just pop it back in the microwave for 15-30 more seconds and give it a good stir.  It should be the consistency of thick maple syrup.  Just dunk the top of the cookie in the icing, let the excess drip off, and then we really like to dip a second time into a plate or shallow dish of sprinkles!  Suuuuuuuper easy and kid-friendly way to decorate a lot of cookies in a short amount of time!

There you have it!  An easy, yummy gluten free spin on those delish “Lofthouse” style cookies from the grocery store bakery!  Plus the easiest icing hack in the land, ha!  Hope you enjoy baking up some yummy GF treats this holiday, pals!
❤️ERIN

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