Chewy Gluten-Free Lemon Sugar Cookies
yields: 22 -24 cookies
These soft gluten-free lemon sugar cookies have the chewiest center and are bursting with bright, lemony flavor. No chilling of the dough necessary which means you can have fresh cookies in 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 120 g (¾ cup) sweet rice flour, also called mochiko; do not substitute white or brown rice flour
- 105 g (¾ cup + 3 tablespoons) super-fine blanched almond flour
- 98 g (¾ cup + 2 tablespoons) Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (182 g) granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest, about 1 whole lemon
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a few tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl for rolling and set aside.
- Sift together sweet rice flour, almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
- Beat in the egg followed by the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides as needed, until just combined.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter and mix until just combined.
- Roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball (a medium cookie scoop). Gently roll the cookie dough into the sugar and place cookie dough 2-inches apart on the baking sheet. Note: your dough may seem a bit soft while rolling, but should hold as a ball just fine. If you'd like, you can chill the dough for 20 minutes to make it easier to roll. Repeat until you fill the baking sheet. See note about freezing the cookie dough below.
- In batches, bake cookies for 10-13 minutes, until just the center is puffed and looks still a bit soft and under-baked, but the edges are set and thinner. If baking just a couple of cookies, they will only need about 10-11 minutes, but if baking a full baking sheet, they will need 11-12 minutes, and if baking a frozen cookie dough ball, they will need 13 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before using a thin cookie spatula to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Optional tip for perfectionists like me: while the cookies are still hot, place a or large cup/mug over the cookies and gently swirl it over the edges to perfectly round the cookie.Store cookies in an airtight container.
Notes
How to tell when these lemon cookies are done baking?
These cookies are best with slightly underbaked centers for an ultimate chew. First, the cookies will evenly puff up in the oven. At some point between 10-12 minutes, the edges will set. When the cookies are ready, the outer edges will look set and thinner while just the center is puffy, but still a bit under-baked. As soon as the cookies show this appearance, pull them from the oven as they'll continue cooking for a few minutes on the baking sheet as they cool.What if my dough is too sticky to handle?
If your butter was too soft (maybe it's really hot where you live!) your dough will be soft and you may find it difficult to handle. Pop the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm it up a bit to make it easier for you to roll into balls and toss in sugar. You can absolutely freeze this gluten-free lemon cookie dough! When you're ready to bake, bake them straight from the freezer, adding about 2 minutes to the baking time. Note: the longer that you freeze this cookie dough, the thicker/fluffier the cookies will bake up, as they won't spread quite as much straight from the freezer.Substitutions:
Nut-Free: If you can't have almond flour, replace all the flours in the recipe with this flour combination:- 115g (1 cup + 1 tablespoon) gluten-free oat flour
- 70g (¼ cup + 3 tablespoons) sweet rice flour
- 74g (½ cup + 2.5 tablespoons) tapioca flour
