I was about to tell you that gluten-free shortbread are my favorite cookies. And then I thought of chocolate chip cookies. And sugar cookies. And lemon wafers. And then I realized that cookies are my favorite cookies.
Funny how that works!
Shortbread cookies, I must say, are right up there. Before going gluten-free, I’d often pick up a box of Walkers shortbread. They now make a gluten-free version. They are good! But they are pricey. So I still prefer making my own. I freeze the extras and then whenever I want a shortbread cookie, I head to the freezer.
Shortbread cookies are an old cookie. How old? Historians date shortbread to the medieval times. The first printed version appeared in 1736!
Made with flour and butter, two expensive ingredients, shortbread was often reserved for Yuletide baking. And to this day, Walkers sells more shortbread during the holiday season than any other time of year.
I’m guessing—and go with me here–that in 1736 people didn’t pull out their KitchenAid mixer to whip up a batch of shortbread. But I’m no historian. So what do I know?
While I use–and recommend using!— an electric mixer for making shortbread, there are some things to keep in mind to make the very best gluten-free shortbread.
Gluten-Free Shortbread Rule #1
Don’t overmix
Shortbread cookies are dense affairs. Over-mixing the butter causes their texture to become too light and crumbly. When preparing the dough, don’t cream the butter and sugar so much that it becomes light and fluffy.
Gluten-Free Shortbread Rule #2
Take your time
Since these cookies contain no eggs, there’s no moisture to coax the ingredients quickly into a dough. Once the dry ingredients are added to the butter and sugar paste, it takes a little while for a dough to form. At first the dough seems incredibly sandy–you might even worry that it’s not coming together—don’t fret like I did the first time I made a batch! The dough does come together after two or three minutes of mixing. Don’t rush it and don’t give up. The wait’s worth it.
Gluten-Free Shortbread Rule #3
Re-rolling is welcome
With no gluten to make things tough, you can roll and re-roll this dough until every last piece is used. Since these cookies are so rich, I make about two dozen 2 1/2-inch cookies from one batch, gathering and re-rolling the dough as needed to get this many cookies.
Gluten-Free Shortbread Rule #4
Use Butter (optional, sorta)
In my opinion, dairy-free shortbread is a skip. Butter is an essential ingredient in these cookies. Made with a dairy-free fat, I don’t think shortbread cookies are worth the time or the calories. Without butter, shortbreads main flavor, they just taste kind of flat. However, if you like the taste and texture of coconut oil or a different dairy-free fat, go ahead and give it a try. When selecting a dairy-free fat, be sure to use a solid fat, not a liquid oil.
Gluten-Free Shortbread Rule #5
Enjoy ’em, today or next week
Happily, gluten-free shortbread store really well. After you bake a batch, allow them to cool and then store them in an airtight container. They are good for a ridiculously long time! So you can make a batch now and still enjoy them next week or the week after!
Gluten-Free Shortbread
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups white rice flour (7 ½ ounces; 213 grams)
- ½ cup sweet rice flour (2 ½ ounces/ 70 grams)
- ½ cup cornstarch (2 ounces/ 56 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum this prevents the cookies from spreading
- 14 tablespoons butter, softened (7 ounces; 198 grams)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces; 148 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In small bowl, whisk together white rice flour, sweet rice flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and xanthan gum. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together, on medium-low speed, until a thick paste forms, about 30 seconds. Shut off stand mixer. Add dry ingredients. Turn on mixer and mix until a dough forms, about three minutes.
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Lightly white rice flour your countertop. Turn dough out onto counter and shape dough into a disk. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out, about 1/4-inch thick. Cut using a round cutter and place cookies on prepared baking sheet, about two inches apart. Chill cookies for ten minutes.
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Bake until cookies are lightly golden brown on the edges and aromatic, about 30 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for five minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool. Repeat using remaining dough.
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Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Janet Wells says
My husband has celiacs so I am always looking for good GF recipes. These were amazing. I will say that I did a small substitution. I used Bob’s Redmill 1:1 flour (it has Xantham gum in it) and then used coconut flour for the sweet flour. Turned out fantastic! Husband, son, SIL and everyone else loved them. Works well w a little lemon peel zested in for flavor too.
Also I made bars – easy to do in a shallow pan roughly 8×10. Pre-slice before baking and it will make for easy slicing afterwards. Also these are amazing dipped fully or partially in Godiva’s melting dark chocolate.
Thank you for this amazing recipe. It’s going to be a go- to for holiday gifts.
Siobhan Mac says
Thank you for these!!! I love them. I didn’t have rice flour, so used my GF flour for both the rice flour parts and then the corn flour. They came out beautifully. I think this would make an excellent pie crust for something like Lemon Tart or Lemon Tart. I can’t wait to try it for that! I also want to try it with caster sugar next time. But otherwise it’s wonderful
Pilotte Christine says
thank you from a celiac..I am a fan of Bobs Red Mill 1 for 1 flour. The cookies are baking now.
Ciaran Broadbery says
thank you Elizabeth for your recipe (Gluten free Shortbread) really works. I have added fudge and chocolate chips after I roll out and before I cut into shapes and this works terrific. I can get the fudge and chocolate chips in most stores ..tesco Lidle Aldi etc. the are already in tiny pieces..Thank You Elizabeth!!!!!
What I would love from someone is a recipe for Gluten -free (wheat free-yeastfree daity free) bread but one that turns out ” SOFT”. I generally make it with oats/oatflour etc..but it never turns out soft. no matter what i do.!!
Ciarán
April says
Lemon zest, lemon oil, and some powdered ginger, finely chopped candied ginger makes a mouthwatering cookie, too,
Janet says
These are perfect!
Bianca Stark says
I’m sorry but this didn’t turn out right at all. I was dubious from the get go as it seemed a very soft mix. Turned out like flat pancakes joined together. I followed the recipe exactly apart from using all rice flour as I was unable to source sweet rice flour, not sure if that’s why but they’re so far from working I’m not even going to try and tinker with this recipe to get it to work. Very disappointed.
Elizabeth says
Hi Bianca,
I hope you didn’t toss the dough. Two things would probably solve this quickly. A tablespoon or so of white rice flour and an hour-long chill in the fridge. It sounds like the butter is a little too soft. That’s it.
Chrishy says
I made these today, and there were way better than expected. I expected more grit, but they were really close to the read deal (a little sweeter). I also really appreciate the fact you only put the minimal amount of xanthan needed. I did have to add 2 tsp of water as suggested. I was wondering if I added an egg yolk, do you think I could make them into danish butter cookies that could be piped?
Thanks again! We also made your battered fish recipe, and we were VERY impressed. JUST like the kind you can get in the pub. Might have to give your poutine recipe a try. Being Canadian and deprived of it is just not right. 😛
Elizabeth says
Ooooh. Good question about the Danish Butter cookie. I have a gluten-free spritz recipe that uses an egg. I think you’ll find that recipe very similar to what you’re looking for in a piped cookie.
Chrishy says
I made these again! I made a few adjustments to be closer to our families recipe which calls for 100g of sugar, and no extracts. Wowser!!! DELISH. My new go to! Thank you so much for this 🙂
chrishy says
Me again 🙂 So these cookies are amazing. My only issue is the longer they age (3-4 days+), the grittier they become. It’s the thai flour, which is pretty finely ground anyway. Could I add/sub a small amount of almond flour to slowly hydrate them a little longer? If so, what plan of action do you recommend? I don’t want to interfere with the amazing butter taste at all. I did reduce the sugar in this batch, but they both had the same issue regardless of sugar content. If I was serving these the next day or day after, I would not hesitate to serve these to gluten eaters bc I feel they are that good! Thank you so much for everything you do 🙂
Theresa says
These turned out great! My first time making gluten free cookies!
I had to substitute potato flour for the sweet rice flour, and added dried lavender but otherwise followed the recipe. The texture was perfect, and absolutely lovely for dipping in coffee. One note on the flavor, I probably should have used unsalted butter (the recipe didn’t specify) because they turned out a bit on the salty side. Next time I would use unsalted butter or reduce the salt. We brushed them with egg whites and sprinkled them with decorator sugar for a little extra sparkle.
Donna says
I tried these again, doing exactly what you recommended, including refrigeration before baking, and they flattened out again. I’m using Bob’s Red mill flours. I used superfine sugar. I’m about ready to give up on this recipe, unless you have a suggestion. I’m at 2k feet above sea level. But I can’t imagine would be a factor, would it?
Elizabeth says
Urgh. I’m sorry you’re encountering this issue. I’ve made them many times and haven’t had them spread. I’ll make a batch tonight and see if I can see what might be causing the issue.
One question: are you measuring by weight or volume?
Donna says
With the holidays, I’m assuming you missed my last message. Wondering if you might have any more insight?
Elizabeth says
Donna! I’m sorry. You’re right. I didn’t see your last message.
I’ve tested this recipe a few times since you left your comment, hoping to get it to spread. While I haven’t experienced that issue, I do know a thing or two about cookies that spread. 😁 My guess/hope is that a few tablespoons more rice flour would do the trick.
As long as the butter isn’t too soft (which it sounds like you’ve addressed), I think the next logical thing to try would be additional flour.
JJ says
If you substitute a 1:1 flour like Bob’s GF flour, do you omit the xanthan gum and still add sweet rice flour, corn starch?
Elizabeth says
No, you would substitute all of the flour and starches for the Bob’s Red Mill. For this recipe, use 2 1/3 cups Bob’s GF flour and omit the xanthan gum.
Hope that helps!
Lainey Finney says
I believe the salt and baking powder amounts are transposed. Should be 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking powder perhaps. Wonderful recipe otherwise!
Elizabeth says
No, the amount of salt and baking powder are correct as listed. If a full teaspoon of baking powder was listed, they would not have the classic, dense shortbread texture.
Glad you enjoyed them!
Donna Scher says
This dough is not good for rolling cookies. After the 3 minutes you can sort of force it into a ball but when you try roll it is crumbles. You can force it into a flat solid piece if you take a few minutes just with about 1/4 of the dough. If you use a cookie cutter, it takes about 30 seconds to ease it out of the cookie cutter on to the baking sheet, still with a break or two that has to be pushed back into place. Re-rolling the bits is even worse as the bit of rice flour on the board just makes it more crumbly. And yes, I measured the butter exactly and all ingredients were at room temperature. Don’t try this recipe unless you have a high frustration tolerance. There is something about the recipe that just doesn’t work. Maybe in a very warm kitchen the dough would be workable.
Elizabeth says
Hi Donna!
I’m so sorry you experienced trouble with the recipe. Your comment inspired me to re-test the recipe this afternoon. I did and posted the video to facebook.
I used cool butter (About 63 degrees) and did not work in a warm kitchen. In fact, I didn’t work in a kitchen at all. I worked in the area where I develop recipes, which is decidedly cool in an upstate NY winter.
My dough rolled out really well.
I’m not sure what would have caused your dough to be so dry and crumbly. What brands of gluten-free flour did you use?
If you’d like to see the video, I posted it here: https://www.facebook.com/GlutenFreeBaking/posts/4171611109521296
Helen says
I’ve made this recipe numerous times using coconut oil rather then butter. Often this means adding a little more rice flour, but I had a good result everytime! I’ve also never used the gum, as my husband can’t tolerate it (nor dairy, hence the coconut oil). Sometimes I sub a bit of the rice flour for almond or oat flour which I find alters the texture a bit and it still holds up. And usually I put in only half a cup of sugar or less, as we are trying to reduce sugar. I even made them once with half coconut oil, half bacon fat, as I didn’t have enough oil! These cookies are pretty hard to screw up if you pay attention to the dough texture.
One thing I do that isn’t in the recipe, but might make things easier for some people, especially in summer or if they live in a warm climate, is that before I chill the dough I roll it into a fat sausage. Then after it’s been chilling for about 20 minutes I take it out and slice it into rounds rather than rolling and using cookie cutters. This reduces handling time, and the biscuits go in the oven still cold. They keep their shape well and don’t spread really, even without the gum, though they will be a bit more rustic in shape. I slice them about a centimetre thick.