These gluten-free Halloween cookies are my go-to butter cookies - shaped like pumpkins! Perfectly festive for Halloween or even Thanksgiving!
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Butter cookies are crisp, light, and highly addictive. They are similar to sugar cookies, but not as sweet, and definitely more creamy. My aunt makes delicious butter cookies for most holidays, and they were a dessert I truly enjoyed growing up until my celiac diagnosis in 2009.
Missing these delightful cookies something crazy, I decided to try making my own gluten-free butter cookies with Cup4Cup flour and a glossy frosting, in the shape of pumpkins for Halloween this year! I've also used this same exact recipe for heart cookies (Valentine's Day) and star cookies (New Year's Day). You'll see the same steps and ingredients listed here.
Here's what you'll need to make these gluten-free Halloween cookies!
Gluten-Free Flour: I use Cup4Cup multi-purpose gluten-free flour for this recipe. It is my #1 choice for cookies, pastries, and yeast-based baked goods. Cup4Cup has given me great success in the kitchen over the last eight years, helping me to create delicious empanadas, naan, chocolate chip cookies, galettes, pastries, and more. Please note if you use a different gluten-free flour your results may vary. Based on my own experience, I believe this recipe would also work well with Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour or King Arthur Measure For Measure.
Other Ingredients You Will Need:
Unsalted Butter
White Sugar
Salt
Egg Yolks
Vanilla Extract
Confectioner's Sugar, Light Corn Syrup, Gluten-Free Food Coloring (for the icing, if desired)
Tools & Tips For Making These Cookies
Rolling Pin: This helps for both rolling out the cookie dough when it's time to shape!
Baking Sheets: I recommend these from Nordic Ware. I have them in multiple sizes!
Silicone Mats: Not required, but helpful and less wasteful than using parchment paper. I use SilPat because they last forever!
Bench scraper: A bench scraper, like this one, really helps when transferring cut out cookies to the baking sheets.
Pumpkin & Fall Cookie Cutters: I grabbed this variety pack of Thanksgiving/Fall themed cookie cutters on Amazon. I also got this larger pumpkin cookie cutter too.
The Icing: While you can leave the cookies plain (and they are still very tasty!), frosting or icing on top makes them even better. And this icing from Sally's Baking Addiction is phenomenal! It sets so quickly that you won't even see marks from your knife. I always refer to Sally for her baking tips and this is one that definitely came through. Using her recipe, I then added drops of gluten-free red and yellow food coloring gel to make orange.
Decorations: Piping bags, tips, and gluten-free sprinkles are all super helpful to make these pumpkins even more festive.
The process to make the butter cookies is fairly straightforward:
Prep the dough. The dough is mixed together and then refrigerated, to firm up.
Roll out the dough. The dough is rolled out with a rolling pin.
Cut out Cookies. Using cookie cutters, the dough is cut into pumpkin shapes.
Bake the Cookies. The cookies are baked in the oven for just about ten minutes.
Cool Completely. The cookies need to cool overnight for best results!
Make the glaze and frost. Once the cookies have cooled, the icing is made, and it's time to decorate!
Here's how to make these gluten-free Halloween cookies!
If you love this recipe, please leave a review! Thank you so much!
Gluten-Free Halloween Cookie Recipe
Gluten-Free Halloween Cookies
Butter cookies so good you won't stop eating them!
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ⅔ cup of white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups gluten-free flour, like Cup4Cup, plus more for rolling out the dough
- For the Icing
- 1 and ½ cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup*
- 2 – 2.5 Tablespoons (30-38ml) room temperature water
- ⅛ teaspoon of salt
- gluten-free food coloring, of color choice
Instructions
Into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or using a hand-held mixer), beat the butter, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla extract for 3 minutes on medium-low speed. The mixture should be creamy and a light yellow color. Using a large wooden spoon, slowly add in the flour. The dough may be crumbly, and this is okay. Once all of the flour has been added and mixed as best as possible with a spoon, turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop.
Work the dough with your fingers, kneading as necessary to make everything incorporated and smooth. Shape the dough into a ball, then cut into quarters and wrap in plastic wrap (or bee's wrap for a greener alternative) and flatten with your hands, until they form a flat disk shape. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow the cookie dough to rest for 5-7 minutes at room temperature before rolling. Otherwise, it will crack.
Lightly flour a work surface with gluten-free flour. Roll out the dough until about ¼ inch thickness, then use cutters in pumpkin shapes or other shapes of choice. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with Silpat silicone baking liners. With the remaining scraps of dough, reroll and continue cutting out shapes until no more dough remains.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes but BE CAREFUL. Rotate the pans halfway through baking, and watch once you get to the 10-minute mark. They can turn dark and brown very quickly. We only want them to be lightly browned along the edges. As soon as you see that, remove them from the oven.
The cookies will be very delicate once removed. Allow them to sit on the baking sheet for another 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely overnight before frosting.
To make the icing, mix together the confectioners sugar, vanilla, corn syrup, and 2 tablespoons of water in a medium-sized bowl. Have another bowl out and handy if you plan to make different colors. The icing should be thick. If it is too thick to work with, add another ½ tablespoon of water and whisk again. If it seems too thin, and 2 more tablespoons of confectioner's sugar. Add food coloring as desired and pipe. Please check the recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction for more information.
Notes
Gluten-Free Flour: This recipe uses Cup4Cup gluten-free flour for the best results, and it is my #1 recommendation. You can also try Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour which I believe would yield positive results. If you use another gluten-free flour, please note your results can vary.
Shapes: These cookies don't only have to be pumpkins! You can use whatever cookie cutters you have.
Icing: This icing recipe comes from Sally's Baking Addiction. I've linked the post in the recipe but you can find it here as well.
Storage: After decorating, store cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for 3-5 days. You can also try freezing them for up to one month, but I cannot comment on how well they will defrost. Butter cookies never last long enough in our house to freeze!
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 332Total Fat 18gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 61mgSodium 157mgCarbohydrates 40gFiber 1gSugar 14gProtein 3g
The nutrition information on each recipe card is provided as a courtesy and for your convenience. The data is calculated by Nutritionix. You are encouraged to make your own calculations based on your ingredients and preferred nutritional facts calculator. While I try to make sure they are accurate, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of these calculations.
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