Gluten-Free Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies are perfect for the holidays and easy to whip up. Use a star or Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter for the festive season or make heart-shaped tender shortbread cookies for the upcoming Valentine’s day.
Little pieces of cranberries make these cookies even more special! These cookies taste too good to enjoy them only during one holiday!
Loving these? Try my Christmas Tree Brownies next!
Table Of Contents
There's something extremely comforting about making Christmas cookies. These Gluten Free Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies are a perfect base for your sugar icing decorations or just to enjoy like they are, as we did.
These shortbread cookies are soo soo good with a cup of tea or coffee. They are gluten-free, filled with sugar, butter, and cranberries and are tasty as they are! You can use any shape cookie cutters (i.e. heart, circle, square, star). The canvas is yours!
Loving these gluten-free cookies? Try these delicious sweet treats next time: Chocolate Chip Cookies With Pepper and Red Velvet Cookies, Chewy Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies.
Ingredients you’ll need for Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies
- ½ cup white rice flour
- ⅓ cup cornflour
- 4 tablespoon powdered sugar (or confectioner's sugar)
- 3 oz butter, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon water or plant-based milk
- 3 pcs egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder gluten-free
- 3 tablespoon dried cranberry (washed and dried)
How to make Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies
- Place cranberries in a small bowl with warm water and leave them to soak for at least 30 minutes. Then take them out and place them on a paper towel to dry out. This will help the berries to soften and remove the excess chemicals that are used for dried fruits. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add butter, powdered sugar and stir with a fork to combine.
- Then, add egg yolks to the mix, one by one. Keep stirring with the fork until all the ingredients are combined.
- Add water or milk, depending on what you prefer.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine 2 flours, baking powder, xanthan gum.
- When all of these ingredients are combined, strain the flour mixture and add portion by portion to the butter mixture.
- Keep stirring the batter (it should be easy enough to stir it with a fork). The batter should be tender, slightly sticky, and hold its shape. Finally, stir in the cranberries.
- In case your batter looks dry, add 1 more teaspoon of water/milk. If it’s more liquid, then a few spoons of rice flour.
- Roll the dough into a ball and wrap it up in a plastic wrap. Start rolling the dough until it’s even and to the desired thickness. (This dough makes about 14 standard size Christmas tree shape cookies).
- Place the rolled out dough into the fridge to chill for 2 hours.
- When ready, remove the dough from the fridge and cut the cookies.
- Transfer the cookies to the preheated oven to 350 F for 10-14 minutes.
- Let cool and decorate with frosting or eat as they are. Both ways are delicious!
Involve your kids in the preparation of these cookies, they can cut, decorate with frosting, and then help with cleaning too (my favorite part, shh don't tell anyone!)
Anyways, they'll love it! I hope you enjoy these Gluten-Free Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies. Happy baking!
More Christmas Recipes You'll Like:
- Cranberry Orange Mini Loaves Breads (Gluten-Free)
- Almond Cranberry Tart (Gluten-Free, Vegan, Dairy-Free)
- Pork Tenderloin With Lingonberry Sauce
- Homemade Lingonberry Sauce
For more festive recipes be sure to take a look at our Christmas recipes.
I would appreciate it so much if you left a comment about this recipe below! Subscribe to join the TYB newsletter and receive free recipes straight to your inbox! Let's connect via Facebook, IG & Pinterest!
Recipe
Gluten Free Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies
INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup white rice flour
- ⅓ cup cornflour
- 4 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 3 oz butter (room temperature)
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon water (or plant-based milk)
- 3 pcs egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder (gluten-free)
- 3 tablespoon dried cranberry (washed and dried)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place cranberries in a small bowl with warm water and leave them to soak for at least 30 minutes. Then take them out and place them on a paper towel to dry out. This will help the berries to soften and remove the excess chemicals that are used for dried fruits. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add butter, powdered sugar and stir with a fork to combine.
- Then, add egg yolks to the mix, one by one. Keep stirring with the fork until all the ingredients are combined.
- Add water or milk, depending on what you prefer.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine 2 flours, baking powder, xanthan gum.
- When all of these ingredients are combined, strain the flour mixture and add portion by portion to the butter mixture.
- Keep stirring the batter (it should be easy enough to stir it with a fork). The batter should be tender, slightly sticky, and hold its shape. Finally, stir in the cranberries.
- In case your batter looks dry, add 1 more teaspoon of water/milk. If it’s more liquid, then a few spoons of rice flour.
- Roll the dough into a ball and wrap it up in a plastic wrap. Start rolling the dough until it’s even and to the desired thickness. (This dough makes about 14 standard size Christmas tree shape cookies).
- Place the rolled out dough into the fridge to chill for 2 hours.
- When ready, remove the dough from the fridge and cut the cookies.
- Transfer the cookies to the preheated oven to 350 F for 10-14 minutes.
- Let cool and decorate with frosting or eat as they are. Both ways are delicious!
PRIVATE NOTES
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Marge
I absolutely loved these! They have nice texture with not being too dry as most of gluten free shortbread cookie recipes out there!
Julia
Thank you so much Marge, I'm so happy that you like this recipe.
Laurel
can you use a liquid sweetner like honey or maple syrup instead of powdered sugar?
Julia
Laurel, I am not sure, I haven't tried liquid sweetener for this.
Laurel
what is sugar powder? is there a substitute?
Julia
Sorry I meant powdered sugar )