Gluten-free Christmas cookies for the holiday tin
The cookies you’d bake anyway, with a gluten-free flour blend: cut-out sugar cookies, gingerbread people, snickerdoodles, peanut butter blossoms and shortbread. Bake them first, before any wheat flour comes out, and the whole tin is safe for the person who usually has to skip it.
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What Gluten watches for: wheat flour dust on boards, rolling pins and cutters, chocolate and sprinkles without a gluten-free label, and regular oats.
9 Gluten-free Christmas cookies recipes
Gluten-free molasses cookies
Chewy spiced molasses cookies with crackled sugar tops, rolled and baked together for the holiday tin.
Gluten-free shortbread
Crisp, buttery shortbread fingers pressed into a pan and cut while warm — an easy one for holiday cookie baking together.
Gluten-free chocolate crinkle cookies
Fudgy cocoa cookies rolled in powdered sugar so they crack as they bake, perfect for the holiday tin.
Gluten-free thumbprint cookies
Buttery holiday cookies with jam centres, rolled and dented by hand — a tin-filling bake for young helpers.
Gluten-free snickerdoodles
Soft, crackly cinnamon-sugar cookies with a buttery tang from cream of tartar, a holiday tin classic to bake together.
Gluten-free peanut butter blossoms
Soft peanut butter cookies rolled in sugar, each with a chocolate kiss pressed in while warm. Makes 24 for the holiday tin.
Gluten-free gingerbread cookies
Soft-centered cut-out gingerbread people with molasses, ginger and cinnamon, baked in a gluten-free flour blend for the holiday tin.
Dairy-free sugar cookies
Cut-out Christmas stars and trees with soft middles, iced and sprinkled. Makes 24 for the holiday tin.
Gluten-free sugar cookies
Classic cut-out Christmas cookies that hold their shape: crisp edges, buttery centres, a simple powdered sugar icing.
Cooking for more than one diet?
Add everyone you cook for, with their allergies, diets and ages. Gluten checks every recipe for each of them and tells you what to change for anyone who can’t eat it as written. It’s free.
Gluten-free Christmas cookies cooking questions
What’s the best flour for gluten-free Christmas cookies?
A cup-for-cup gluten-free blend with xanthan gum works for cut-outs, gingerbread and snickerdoodles. Almond flour gives a softer, richer cookie but won’t hold a cut-out shape on its own, and it’s no good for a nut allergy.
How do I stop gluten-free cut-out cookies from cracking or spreading?
Chill the dough until it’s firm, roll it between two sheets of parchment, and put the cut shapes back in the fridge for ten minutes before baking. Gluten-free dough has nothing stretchy in it, so patch cracks with your fingers as you go.
Can I bake gluten-free cookies in the same kitchen as regular ones?
Yes, with care. Bake the gluten-free batch first, on clean pans with fresh parchment, and store it in its own tin. Flour dust travels, so don’t sift wheat flour nearby while the gluten-free dough is out.
Can the cookies be dairy-free too?
Yes. Swap the butter for a dairy-free baking stick and check the chocolate label. In the Gluten app, add everyone you’re baking for and it checks each recipe for each of them.
Gluten gives food ideas, not medical advice. Recipes are checked against the restrictions you enter, but always check labels for allergens and cross-contact, and talk to your doctor or dietitian about your diet.