You won’t miss out on those complimentary soft and chewy, covered with sprinkles, grocery store cookies with these Copycat Gluten Free Bakery Cookies. Bring on the kiddos!
Well we all know Valentines Day is coming up. I wish I could say that I was a little more festive with this holiday, but I’m not. Fact of the matter.
I wish I planned ahead more and took the time to print out cute love jokes for my kids like these, or decorate my mantle like this or this, or even plan a fun date night with Ben like one of these. But again, fact of the matter is…I don’t.
Here is what I do when it comes to the day of love:
First off, I bring alive the tradition of the Valentines Squirrel. Say what??? You didn’t know there was a Valentines Squirrel?
I hadn’t come to the realization that no other sane family participated in the fun of the Valentines Squirrel until I was like 20 and met my husband. He thought I was a little (or a lot) kookie when our first Valentines together rolled around and I left him goodies from what I like to describe as the “life size rodent of love”.
In fact, I don’t even know where the Valentines Squirrel tradition began. All I know is that every Valentines Day, when I returned home from school, there was a small pile of goodies (stickers, pens, jewelry, etc.) sitting at the foot of my bed along with some cute Hallmark card gushing over what a great kid I was.
And my mom’s simple explanation was, “Must have been the Valentines Squirrel!”
So there you go. I choose to continue the tradition with my kids by buying a few little dollar store knick knacks and sneakily leaving a stash of pink and red goodies at the foot of their own beds. Easy.
And what is the only other thing I do for the holiday of love??? I bake, of course!
One thing Braelyn misses out on after having been diagnosed with her celiac, are those good old complimentary bakery cookies at the grocery store. You know the ones I’m talking about? The ones where you grab one for your kid and, “Oops! I accidentally grabbed two. Guess I’ll have to eat the other one.”
Yeah, those ones.
The ones where you nonchalantly make your way past the bakery section just to secretly eye whether there is actually anything in those sometimes deceitful sample platters.
Yep, those ones.
The ones where even when you don’t have your children shopping with you late at night, you make a quick dart to the bakery to see if you can grab a leftover sample cookie before anybody sees you.
Uh huh, those ones.
And the ones that even when the sample platter is empty, you jump to your child’s rescue by asking the bakery worker whether they have any free cookies left in the back.
Yes, those are the cookies I’m talking about.
These Copycat Gluten Free Bakery Cookies are exactly like those soft and chewy, sprinkle filled little wonders that bring us joy in the chaos of the grocery store.
I love that these cookies are such a small size and not thick and overloaded with frosting like most sugar cookies. Although, there is a time and a place for those. Don’t get me wrong, I love myself an occasional Granny B’s Original Pink Sugar Cookie every once in a while. But for a small treat, these are the perfect option.
These cookies are loaded with a sweet, buttery, vanilla flavor and the sprinkles on top lend a little crunch to every bite. Since they are little and cute, they make for the perfect sharing treat as well.
And if you really don’t want to give up your frosting…go ahead and make a few without sprinkles to decorate for later. It makes for a great Valentines activity for the kids.
There’s nothing like frosting a few cookies and licking your fingers as you work, right? Well, as long as you keep your germs to yourself. Sheesh! Kids.
What are your Valentines traditions?
- 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup potato starch
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ½ cup white rice flour, plus more for dusting
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Optional:
- Frosting
- Sprinkles
- In a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl with a handheld mixer beat together butter, egg, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar until pale and smooth (about 1 minute) scraping down the sides as needed. Add vanilla and mix on low until combined.
- In a separate smaller mixing bowl sift together potato starch, tapioca starch, coconut flour, almond flour, white rice flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to wet and mix on low speed until combined. Beat an additional minute on medium speed, scraping down the sides as needed. Allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes to absorb the liquid. Mix again on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- Divide dough in half and form into a ball. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- While dough is chilling, line cookie sheets with parchment paper and prepare work surface by dusting with additional white rice flour. Make sure to use enough flour that dough will not stick to countertop when rolled out. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Once dough is done chilling, remove both balls of dough from fridge.* Place first ball of dough over flour. Dust top of the ball with rice flour. Roll dough out to slightly thicker than ⅛". Cut cookies into desired shapes (mine were about 2") and place 1" apart on cookie sheets. I was able to fit 12 cookies on each sheet. Press dough together with hands and roll back into a ball. Dust surface with flour again and lightly dust top of dough with flour. Roll to the same thickness and cut more shapes. Repeat until all dough from first ball has been used.
- Shake sprinkles on top of the cookies** and lightly press sprinkles so they stick to the dough without smashing the cookie. Bake cookies at 375 degrees one pan at a time for 7-9 minutes or until lightly golden on the edges. Slide parchment paper onto cooling rack and cool completely.
- Repeat steps with second ball of dough until all dough is gone.
**If you prefer to frost and decorate the cookies, omit putting sprinkles on the dough.
