Hope’s Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free Sugar Cookies with Icing!

Hope here from YAO Bodywork – I absolutely LOVE Halloween and go seriously crazy for every little bit of decorating…front yard, house, my face AND…my cookies. But people love these cookies for every holiday.  So please use to your heart’s delight for whatever occasion – Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day…these work for them all!

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups (300 g) gluten free flour
3/4 cup (150 g) caster sugar
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup (95 g) melted coconut oil
1/2 cup (90 g) coconut cream

For vegan frosting “base”:
1 cup (180 g) coconut cream
1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar, sifted (Note 1)

For pink raspberry vegan frosting:
1/2 vegan frosting “base”
1 cup (100 g) frozen raspberries
1 tbsp water
For brown chocolate vegan frosting:
1/2 vegan frosting “base”
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 – 3 tbsp non-dairy milk of choice

You will also need:
small offset spatula (for frosting)
sprinkles of choice

DIRECTIONS FOR COOKIES:

• Pre-heat the oven to 355 ºF and line a baking sheet with baking/greaseproof paper.
• In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt.
• Add the coconut oil and cream, and mix well until the dough starts coming together.
• Knead the cookie dough briefly until it’s smooth, with no flour clumps and only very slightly sticky.
• Roll out the cookie dough (easiest between two sheets of greaseproof paper or cling film) and refrigerate the rolled out cookie dough briefly, for about 5 minutes. This will make it easier to cut out perfectly shaped cookies.
• Using a cookie cutter of choice (I used a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter), cut out the sugar cookies and transfer them onto the lined baking sheet.
• Bake in the pre-heated oven at 355 ºF for 10 – 12 minutes.
• Allow to cool. In the mean time, prepare the vegan frosting.

For vegan frosting “base”:

• In a bowl, mix together the coconut cream and powdered sugar until smooth.
• Divide the frosting “base” into two equal parts.

For pink raspberry vegan frosting:

• In a small saucepan, cook the raspberries with 1 tbsp water on medium-high heat until they have released their juice and part of the liquid has evaporated.
• Pass the raspberry mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and skin.
• Return the raspberry juice to the saucepan and cook further until it has decreased in volume to about 2 tbsp.
• Allow the raspberry reduction to cool and then mix it into 1/2 of the vegan frosting “base” until evenly distributed.
• If the frosting gets too runny, add a few tsp of sifted powdered sugar until it reaches the right consistency for frosting (see picture above).

For brown chocolate vegan frosting:

• Mix 1/2 of the vegan frosting “base” with the cocoa powder until homogeneous and smooth. The cocoa powder will significantly thicken the frosting – add non-dairy milk of choice, 1 tbsp at a time, until you get the right frosting consistency.

Assembly:

• Frost the cooled vegan sugar cookies with the vegan frosting, using a small offset spatula (a small spoon works too).
• Decorate with sprinkles of choice.
• Enjoy!

Storage:

The gluten free vegan sugar cookies keep well in a closed container in a cool dry place for about 3 – 4 days (but are usually gone within the hour).

BAKING NOTES:

You can get coconut cream by putting coconut milk (with a high coconut content and without too many stabilisers/preservatives) into the fridge for a few hours – without shaking! The coconut milk will separate into coconut cream (that you’ll need in this recipe) and coconut water (which is great in smoothies).

10 minutes gives a crumbly cookie, crisp on the surface and soft-ish on the inside. Baking it for a further 2 minutes makes the cookie much crisper – all the way through.

If you don’t intend to frost the cookies, but just nibble on them as they are, I recommend baking them for 10 minutes. The frosting, however, softens the cookies slightly, so baking them for 12 minutes is better if you plan to frost them.