Super soft Lofthouse style gluten-free sugar cookies topped with naturally pink buttercream and lots of sprinkles! These festive cookies are so easy and require no chill time.
While scrounging around the kitchen for a sensible breakfast the other morning, I found a perfectly cut half of one of these gluten-free copycat Lofthouse sugar cookies. It was occupying a large container where it once had cookie friends, so I thought I'd just clear that nonsense away and took a big bite. Sarah: 1, Sensible Breakfast: 0.
Then I wondered why there was an exact half of a cookie left on the counter and texted Lucas, "were you saving this half a cookie for Zoella?" (Our 3 year old...)
Lucas: "Omg yes. She's gonna murder you." Apparently the night before there were two cookies left and Zo pointed to one and told Lucas to save it for her. Then he accidentally ate it. When she noticed the next morning and started fuming, he convinced her the other cookie was the one she'd picked (honestly it might have been - they all looked the same!).
The dilemma: she wanted to bring a cookie for her best friend Leela and she also wanted one for herself. So they cut the enormous frosted gluten-free sugar cookie in half - half for Leela and half for her dessert when she got home.
The half I just bit into. So I panicked and cut off the part where I bit, hoping she didn't yet understand angles, as she now had only ⅓ of a cookie. Lucas started planning my funeral.
On the car ride home from school, she asked if she could eat her half a cookie for dessert. I said yes and, planting the seed, asked if I could have a bite. She replied, "sure, but I get the right half!" Phew (whatever that means)! At dessert time, she took the cookie, looked at it, looked up at me skeptically, looked back at the cookie, then walked to the table without saying a word.
She totally knew what I'd done, but bless her heart, she didn't call me out on it. Fortunately, I'm still alive to tell you about these cookies.
Gluten-Free soft Lofthouse Frosted Sugar Cookies
Are you looking for a cookie recipe for Spring? These soft frosted gluten-free sugar cookies, are the pink sprinkled cookies of your grocery store bakery dreams, only better. They've got the classic soft fluffy interior with a delicate crumb. Then a thick layer of pink buttercream swirled on top with plenty of colorful sprinkles!
With flavorful whole grain gluten-free flours - almond and oat - these cookies have even more delicious than the store-bought kind. The texture is better, in my opinion, too. These cookies have all the fluff and softness without any of the cakiness. I've even given the pink-hued buttercream a strawberry make-over. Together they've got the classic flavors with a punchy twist that makes them taste brighter.
How to make copycat Lofthouse Sugar Cookies
These cookies have two parts: dough + frosting and both are super easy to make!
For the dough, cream together soft butter (but not too soft - a little more firm than room temperature) with sugar until light and fluffy. Add in vanilla and a room temperature egg. Then gently mix in the dry ingredients. Voila - the dough is ready!
Nut-Free Option
Now that both my kids attend nut-free schools, I've developed a nut-free version of this recipe that's just as delicious. Replace the measurements for almond flour, oat flour, and tapioca starch with these quantities below and reduce the baking time to just 10 minutes.
- 1 cup (108g) gluten-free oat flour
- 2 tablespoons (20g) millet flour
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (60g) sweet rice flour (also called Mochiko and is different from "white rice flour" or "brown rice flour")
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (35g) tapioca flour
Don't chill this Gluten-Free Cookie Dough
Once you've made the dough, you're ready to bake. This dough doesn't need to chill at all! Unlike most gluten-free cookie recipes, this gluten-free cookie dough doesn't spread as much as normal.
Instead, it spends its time in the oven puffing up and getting "lofty."
You've got two options for putting the dough onto the baking sheet. You can roll some dough into a ball, then gently flatten it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Alternatively, roll out the entire mound of dough into a very thick ½-inch slab on a surface dusted with oat flour and use a round cookie cutter (or the rim of a small glass) to get perfect circles.
Both are equally delicious, but I use the cutter method when I want exactly perfectly round and even cookies. I also find it to go much faster this way!
Naturally-dyed sugar cookie buttercream frosting
To make naturally-dyed sugar cookie buttercream frosting, the trick is to add ground up freeze-dried strawberries. Just toss a bag of freeze-dried fruit in a food process or blender, grind, then sift out any seeds.
You could also use freeze-dried raspberries or cherries if you prefer, like I did on this raspberry cake and these cherry garcia cupcakes. Or go crazy and change up the color with freeze-dried mangos - like I did for my matcha macaron filling.
Gluten-free Sugar Cookies
Now I've got you covered with two different kinds of sugar cookies. If soft and fluffy gluten-free sugar cookies with buttercream is what you're after, this copycat Lofthouse recipe is the one you need. If instead you want a classic cut-out gluten-free sugar cookies with icing, you've got that option too!
Soft Lofthouse Style Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
Super soft Lofthouse style gluten-free sugar cookie recipe topped with naturally pink buttercream and lots of sprinkles! These festive cookies are so easy and require no chill time.
Ingredients
Soft Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup (118g) super-fine blanched almond flour (see nut-free version below)
- ¾ cup (93g) gluten-free oat flour
- ½ cup (66g) tapioca starch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup (104g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Strawberry Buttercream
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- ¼ cup (.6 ounces) ground freeze dried strawberries, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-5 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk
- Sprinkles, for decoration.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the almond flour, oat flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla, mixing just until combined, scraping down the sides and bottom as needed.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium and mix until just combined, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Roll the dough out on a surface dusted with oat flour into a ½ inch thick round and cut out circles with 2.5-inch round cutter or glass. Alternatively, roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and flatten into a ½-inch thick 2.5-inch wide circle. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 minutes (for nut-free variation, bake only 10 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before using a thin spatula to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile prepare the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, scraping the sides as you go.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar, ground freeze-dried strawberries, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat until smooth. Add the heavy cream or milk, starting with 3 tablespoons, until the frosting is smooth enough to spread.
- Once cookies are cool, spread 2-3 teaspoons of frosting onto each cookie and decorate with sprinkles.
Notes
For a nut-free version, replace the measurements for almond flour, oat flour, and tapioca starch with these quantities below and reduce the baking time to just 10 minutes.
- 1 cup (108g) gluten-free oat flour
- 2 tablespoons (20g) millet flour
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (60g) sweet rice flour (also called Mochiko and is different from "white rice flour" or "brown rice flour")
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (35g) tapioca flour
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