Cooking and Serving: 30 minutes | 16 cookies
Ingredients
2 cups (280 g) all-purpose gluten free flour blend | 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, (omit if your blend already contains it) | ¾ teaspoon baking powder
Description
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 16 cookies
Ingredients
2 cups (280 g) all-purpose gluten free flour blend
1 teaspoon xanthan gum, (omit if your blend already contains it)
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (22 g) confectioners’ sugar
8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg, at room temperature, beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
16 Jolly Rancher or Life Savers hard candies, crushed into chunks
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached.
parchment paper and set them aside.
If you haven’t already, unwrap and crush the hard candies each color in a sealed plastic bag and tapping with a meat tenderizer or.
to stick to one another. Set the candies aside.
In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt,.
granulated sugar, and confectioners’ sugar and whisk to combine well.
Add the butter, egg, and vanilla, and mix to combine. The dough will be thick.
Roll the dough between two sheets of unbleached parchment paper or on a very.
lightly floured surface into a round a bit less than 1/3-inch thick.
Using the larger of a pair of cookie cutters, cut out shapes from the dough.
and place them about 1-inch apart on a prepared baking sheet.
Place the smaller, matching cookie cutter in the center of each shape and cut.
out a matching hole, removing the center.
Fill the center of each hole with chunks of one color of the candy. Gather.
To make the cookies into a holiday decoration, poke a small hole (the smaller.
end of a chopstick works great) into the dough near the top of each cookie.
Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the.
The melted candy will be bubbling, but will settle as the cookies cool. Allow.
the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet.
Peel the paper away from the back of the cookies to remove them from the.
Notes
* 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, (omit if your blend already contains it)
* ¾ teaspoon baking powder
* ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
* ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
* 3 tablespoons (22 g) confectioners’ sugar
* 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg, at room temperature, beaten
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
FOR THE STAINED GLASS CENTERS
* 16 Jolly Rancher or Life Savers hard candies, crushed into chunks
* Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached
parchment paper and set them aside.
* If you haven’t already, unwrap and crush the hard candies each color in a sealed plastic bag and tapping with a meat tenderizer or
mallet. Don’t crush the candies too far in advance or the chunks will begin
to stick to one another. Set the candies aside.
* In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt,
granulated sugar, and confectioners’ sugar and whisk to combine well.
* Add the butter, egg, and vanilla, and mix to combine. The dough will be thick
and relatively stiff, and you may need to squeeze it together with your hands
to bring all of it together.
* Roll the dough between two sheets of unbleached parchment paper or on a very
lightly floured surface into a round a bit less than 1/3-inch thick.
* Using the larger of a pair of cookie cutters, cut out shapes from the dough
and place them about 1-inch apart on a prepared baking sheet.
* Place the smaller, matching cookie cutter in the center of each shape and cut
out a matching hole, removing the center.
* Fill the center of each hole with chunks of one color of the candy. Gather
and reroll scraps and repeat the process with another pair of matching
* To make the cookies into a holiday decoration, poke a small hole (the smaller
end of a chopstick works great) into the dough near the top of each cookie.
* Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the
cookies are set and the candies have melted completely, about 10 minutes,
* The melted candy will be bubbling, but will settle as the cookies cool. Allow
the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet.
* Peel the paper away from the back of the cookies to remove them from the
My favorite gluten free flour blends are Better Batter’s original blend gluten
free flour and Nicole’s Best multipurpose blend (with added xanthan gum). Bob’s
Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour also works, but add an additional 1/4
teaspoon xanthan gum to the dry ingredients or the cookies will be crumbly.
To make your own blend using one of my “mock” recipes, please see the all
purpose gluten free flour blends
Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 76mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 1g
| Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 190IU | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 0.1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an
How can I break the candies without a meat mallet?
The flat top of a small hammer works well, too. Just use controlled movements,
crushing rather than hammering, so you don’t grind the candy into dust.
What happens to the candy center when you freeze the cookies?
Nothing! It doesn’t suffer at all. Just don’t apply heat at all in defrosting
them, or the candy will melt again and just drop out of the center.
What other candies can I use?
If you don’t have Jolly Ranchers or Life Savers hard candies, you can also use
chopped candy canes, starlight mints, butterscotch disks, cinnamon hearts (don’t
chop them), root beer barrels or even Dum-Dums (carefully remove all traces of
the stick). Avoid anything chewy or with a soft center, which won’t melt
properly and will prevent the center from drying fully.
Can I make these cookies without the candy center?
Yes, of course! Without the cutout centers and candies, they’re really the same
as our cut-out gluten free sugar cookies that you can make into any shape at