If you are looking for the best, buttery, soft, gluten-free shortbread cookies, this recipe will be your new favorite. You will need a handful of ingredients and a couple of simple steps to enjoy your first batch of gluten-free shortbreads in 20 minutes!
Do you love cookies? We have more recipes you might like. Have you seen our Chocolate Dipped Gluten-free Coconut Cookies or our Gluten-free Lemon Cookies filled with Blueberry Jam or these yummy Gluten-free Thumbprint Cookies.
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That is the perfect question you should ask when deciding which gluten-free shortbread recipe to choose from. Well, if you try this recipe, you will get soft, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies with a hint of vanilla flavor. None of my family members or friends could tell that they were different from the classic wheat flour and dairy butter based recipe. They even said that these were better and more buttery.
Can I get a bonus points for making this recipe allergy-friendly as well? This is not only a gluten-free shortbread cookie, but a nut-free, dairy-free and soy-free one as well. Easy to mix. Easy to roll. 10 minutes in the oven and the first batch is ready.
Ingredients
No need to run to the store to buy specialty gluten-free flour blends, just grab a couple of things from your pantry and you are good to go. These shortbread cookies are not only gluten-free, but dairy-free and nut-free as well. So what do you need?
- white rice flour
- buckwheat flour
- cornstarch (you can substitute it with tapioca or other starches)
- cane sugar (you can use coconut sugar or other dry sugars)
- dairy-free butter (I haven’t tested it with dairy butter)
- vanilla extract
- salt
A quick note: There is really no need for xanthan gum or other similar ingredients. As these gluten-free cookies don’t need elasticity and there are really not too much wet ingredients, a gluten-free flour blend with xanthan gum is unnecessary.
I promised simple and it really is. I usually grab my food processor to mix the butter with the dry ingredients. I do it for almost all of my gluten-free cookie recipes. So what do you need to do here?
- Add all dry and wet ingredients (white rice flour, buckwheat flour, starch, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and dairy-free butter) to a food processor and mix until it reaches a crumb-like texture. (It will not likely form a ball like that.)
- Take a large bowl and add the dough from the food processor. Knead it with your hands for 2 minutes or so to form a cookie dough ball. If the ball is dry and crumble still after 2-3 minutes, add 1-3 tsp water, 1 tsp at a time. The dough should not stick to your fingers. If it is you added too much water. Add a bit of flour to compensate.
- Take your rolling mat and lightly flour it. Roll the cookie dough around 0,5-1 cm thick (approx. ¼-1/2-inch).
- Choose your favorite cookie cutter and cut out the shapes you want.
- Bake your shortbread cookies on parchment paper for 10-12 minutes. Baking time may depend on your oven, so check them around 8-10 minutes.
- Chill them on a cooling rack before serving!
You can make various shaped shortbread cookies, but you can also use a cookie stamp to make these cute captions
- Christmas – snowflakes*, gingerbread man and snowman* or traditional* like angels, bells, and mistletoe
- Halloween* – like pumpkin, haunted house, owl, witch, or ghost
- Easter*– like bunnies, eggs, chicken,
- Letter stamp*– to write your own messages
- Party – dinosaur*, cats*,or for baby shower*
- Engraved rolling pin – with cats*,for Christmas*, or floral*
Top tips to make them perfect every time
- Measure it with a scale – I always measure the ingredients on a scale and convert the recipe back to cups. I use King Arthur’s Weight Chart to make sure that the cup measurements are in-line with the grams. If you want to make these cookies perfectly ever time, make sure your measurements are precise.
- Flour your surface – White rice flour is my go-to flour here as it has a grainy consistency. When rolling the dough, it feels like rolling them on small balls. It makes the job so easy.
- Use a saran wrap or cling foil – If I have to roll out any gluten-free dough, may it be a cookie or a gluten-free pie crust or a gluten-free pizza crust recipe, I ALWAYS use a saran wrap/cling foil on the top so the dough will not stick to the rolling pin. If you do that, you can save so much time and hassle.
- Parchment paper instead of silicone mats – I recommend using parchment paper instead of a baking sheet or silicone mats especially if you are making multiple batches. The main reason is that gluten-free cookies right out of the oven are very vulnerable. If you try to transfer them, they may break or crumble. If you use a parchment paper you can move the cookies to a wire rack without touching them.
- Place them close – You can place them relatively close to each other as there is no baking powder, baking soda or any other type of leavening. Which means they will not rise significantly.
- When are they ready? – If they start to brown on the edges, you are too late.
FAQs and substitutions
Can I make it ahead of time?
Yes, these yummy gluten-free shortbread cookies last for a long time. Even if you don’t cover them, you can store them on room temperature for 1-2 days without any problems. They will last for approx. up until 2 weeks. I never stored them longer, so let me know if you do.
Can the cookie dough be frozen?
Yes, before rolling, be sure to take it out to thaw in the fridge overnight or on room temperature for at least 1 hour.
Can I substitute any flour or starch?
I have only tested it with tapioca starch and saw no difference. Read our Tapioca Flour Substitutes article for more starch options. As for the flours, you can use oat flour or millet flour instead of buckwheat, although the flour combination in the recipe card is the one I recommend the most.
Can I substitute cane sugar?
You need dry sugar for this recipe to work: white sugar, coconut sugar or anything that is fine and powder-like. I haven’t tested it with any liquid sweetener like maple syrup.
This Gluten-free Shortbread Cookies recipe is vegan, so dairy-free and egg-free as well. It is also suitable for soy-free diet. It is not WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) as the butter is not compliant. I haven’t tested this recipe with any nut butter, but please comment below if you tried it like that.
⇒ GET OUR FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN NOW! OR CHECK OUT ALL VEGAN MEAL PLAN RECIPES HERE! ⇐
- Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Hungarian Walnut Crescent Cookies
- Gluten-free Coconut Cookies
- Gluten-free Snowball Cookies
- Gluten-free Lemon Cookies (with Blueberry Jam)
- Gluten-free Thumbprint Cookies
Gluten-free Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup White rice flour
- ½ cup Buckwheat flour
- ½ cup Corn starch or tapioca starch and other substitutes
- ⅓ cup Cane sugar
- 5 oz Dairy-free butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Water optional – see instructions
Instructions
Making the cookies
- Pre-heat oven on 390 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).
- Add all ingredients (rice flour, buckwheat flour, corn starch, sugar, butter, salt, and vanilla extract) to a food processor and pulse until you get a crumb-like texture. (It will not likely form a ball yet.)
- Take a mixing bowl and add the dough from the food processor. Knead it with your hands for 2 minutes or so to form a ball. If the ball is dry and crumble still after 2-3 minutes, add 1-3 tsp water, 1 tsp at a time.
- Take your rolling mat and lightly flour it with rice flour. Roll the cookie dough approx. 0,5-1 cm (~¼-½-inch). Choose your favorite cookie cutter and cut out the shapes you want.
- Bake them on parchment paper for 10-12 minutes. Baking time may depend on your oven, so check them around 8-10 minutes. Let them cool on a wire rack with the parchment paper.
Notes
- Measure it with a scale – I always measure the ingredients on a scale and convert the recipe back to cups. I use King Arthur’s Weight Chart to make sure that the cup measurements are in-line with the grams. If you want to make these cookies perfectly ever time, make sure your measurements are precise.
- Flour your surface – White rice flour is my go-to flour here as it has a grainy consistency. When rolling the dough, it feels like rolling them on small balls. It makes the job so easy.
- Use a saran wrap or cling foil – If I have to roll out any gluten-free dough, may it be a cookie or a gluten-free pie crust or a gluten-free pizza crust recipe, I ALWAYS use a saran wrap/cling foil on the top so the dough will not stick to the rolling pin. If you do that, you can save so much time and hassle.
- Parchment paper instead of silicone mats – I recommend using parchment paper instead of a baking sheet or silicone mats especially if you are making multiple batches. The main reason is that gluten-free cookies right out of the oven are very vulnerable. If you try to transfer them, they may break or crumble. If you use a parchment paper you can move the cookies to a wire rack without touching them.
- Place them close – You can place them relatively close to each other as there is no baking powder, baking soda or any other type of leavening. Which means they will not rise significantly.
- When are they ready? – If they start to brown on the edges, you are too late.
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