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Cut-out Christmas Cookies have been a family tradition of mine since I was a 
child.  

I remember going to my Grandmother's house on a Sunday before Christmas 
and diving into the flour, frosting, sprinkles and laughter.

The first year I was married, my husband obligingly partaked in this tradition 
with me (the video of our first baking experience would be a hit on You-Tube) 
and we have continued to make them every year since.

This was something celiac was not going to stop and after trying a lot of 
different recipes, the following really is the best.  

I learned it at a cooking class at PCC, our local health food store.  

It is the flour that holds it together.  It may seem strange to make cookies 
out of French Bread flour, but it really works.  The person I learned it form 
hypothesized it was the granulated honey in the flour.  

After many tries, this is the easiest and tastiest gluten free/casein free cut-
out cookie recipe that we have found:

  

Gluten Free/Casein Free cut-out Christmas Cookies:

1 ½ sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter (or Earth Balance for CF) at room 
temperature
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks at room temperature
1 t grated lemon zest or lemon juice
1 t vanilla
3 cups Gluten Free Pantry French Bread & Pizza Flour Mix

In your electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and salt until creamy.  

Beat in egg yolks, lemon and vanilla.

On slow speed, beat in the flour one cup at a time until just combined.

Divide dough into three equal parts, flatten into disc, wrap separately in wax 
paper and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.  

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Flour the work surface and your rolling pin with rice flour and roll out one disk 
at a time to 1/8 inch thickness.   The dough will break up a little bit on the 
first roll, but then becomes very easy to work with.  On the other end, the 
dough will be hard to work with after it warms up too much, so keep extras in 
the refrigerator until you are ready to use.  

Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.

With a metal spatula, transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Depending on the size, makes around 40 cookies.

Bake 10 – 12 minutes, until lightly golden.  Cool on parchment.

Frosting:

1 pound box of powdered sugar
¼ cup milk (or almond milk for CF)
1 t vanilla
1 stick butter (or Earth Balance for CF)
Beat with an electric mixer until creamy, scraping the bowl often.

Separate into individual cups and add desired food colors.  I don’t know if all 
food coloring has gluten or not, but Spice Islands and Durkee food colorings 
are gluten free.

Frost the cookies as desired and top with sprinkles before the frosting sets.  
Sprinkles unfortunately can contain wheat starch, so check the labels.  
Safeway Brand and Laura Lynn Rainbow Sprinkles Toppings are gluten free.

For more info, including photos of the cookies, go to 
http://glutenfreemom.typepad.com/

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