The Very Best Gluten Free Christmas Cookies

A gluten-free cookie round-up of the best gluten-free cookies for the best gluten-free Christmas! more »

Here’s what I want you to do this weekend: Bake Cookies! Do it for all the little children. And while you’re at it, pick up a copy of Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Quick & Easy! While you’re planning for the holidays, you need quick & easy everyday food more than ever. No time to fuss! And you know how I love it when we support each other.

There are 11 days until Christmas! But don’t worry. That’s plenty of time to bake all the cookies we need to make 2012 merry & bright. And not for nothing, but I’ve got more holiday cookies coming next week, so you’d better catch up now! I’m sorry. I just thought I should give it to you straight. And by “I’m sorry,” I mean, “too bad, sister!” I can’t stop now. But to make things easier, I made you a clickable collage of some of my very best gluten-free Christmas Cookies (so far): for serving, for eating, for stashing, for gifting. Hover over each photo, then click to open a new window with that post and recipe:

If you’re digging the clickable collage (thank you Mel!), if it makes it easier to keep track of ideas and recipes, I’ve got more in the works. And if you’re thinking of packaging your cookies for gifts (except not to the mailman who really just wants cash (true fact)), I’ve got some tips for that, too.

Oh, and bonus! Every single one of the cookies above Freezes Beautifully. Make them, and freeze them (for tips on food storage, see this post) until soon before you’re ready to gift them or serve them. The freezer is much better than the refrigerator, as the refrig can be very drying.

You know what to do. Get to work!

Love,
Me

P.S. Don’t forget the Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Cookbooks! You are the wind beneath my wings.

Jennifer S.

This weekend, I am making the chocolate thumbprints and the chocolate chocolate chip cookies but with mint chips instead! You’re the best and keep these cookies coming, sister! : )
- gfshoestring
  
  Mmmm the bittersweet chocolate cookies with mint chips sounds fab, Jennifer. And those chocolate thumbprints are the perfect little bites. I like your style, as always. :)
  xoxo Nicole
JoAnn C.

Okay, I think my brain is fried. Yesterday I baked a pumpkin bread and forgot to put the sugar in. We ate pumpkin bread french toast for dinner. Today, my last two eggs rolled themselves off the counter. They looked proud of their effort sitting there in their own goo on the floor. I think I’ll take the weekend off and start back again on Monday. Happy Happy Joy Joy.

Love.
- gfshoestring
  
  Ew. Totally-every-type-of-sugar-free-not-even-a-substitute pumpkin bread doesn’t sound too lovely, JoAnn. That’s the sort of day that my trash is rather heavy and sad. :( Next week will be better.
  xoxo Nicole
Wendybright76

Thank you so much for all your Christmas recipes. This is my first GF Christmas and you have given me hope of making some of my favourite foods. Especially can’t wait to make the panettone! God Bless you Nicole.
- gfshoestring
  
  Thank you, Wendy! I’m so glad you’re feeling hopeful. I want nothing more than to give you back nostalgia. :)
  xoxo Nicole
Mel

Yay! The collage looks awesome! A lot of work but kind of cool since clickable collages are hard to be found. I’m proud of you!
- gfshoestring
  
  Thanks, Mel!! You are the best. I am embarrassed to even admit how long I have wondered how to click a collage. I’m so glad I made you proud, & a little ashamed that I’m not even kidding. :)
  xoxo Nicole
MeLissa Rocco

I just purchased your books and received them a couple of days ago. I made the buttermilk biscuits recipe this morning just on the fly and it was awesome! Wish I could have gotten them sooner with one of the sweet deals you were doing on the blog, but at least I finally got them and I’m excited to try more things including cookies! :)

~MeLissa
- gfshoestring
  
  Gotta love quick and easy for on-the-fly baking, MeLissa! Thanks so much for buying both books. I really appreciate your support!
  xoxo Nicole
momof3

So glad to stumble upon this . . . in charge of class snacks for both my kids and must be gluten free for both. You just saved all those kids from a veggie tray – my kids thank you :)
- gfshoestring
  
  I feel like a superhero, then, momof3! Veggies are very important – but not when everyone is expecting cookies. :)
  xoxo Nicole
http://celiackiddo.wordpress.com/ Dana Schwartz

Oh, cool collage! What a great resource for a quick cookie fix. I have been nibbling (um, okay fine, gorging) on those pretty white and red striped Hershey kisses, but fortunately I had enough left over to make a batch of your chocolate thumbprint cookies. Yum and so pretty! Thanks Nicole. This weekend I need to bake allergy free cookies (gluten, nut and egg free, oh my) for my girl’s class. It’s either that, or send her with those dust flavored Oreo knock-offs while all the other kids eat real Oreo’s. No thank you.
- gfshoestring
  
  Hey, Dana! The Gingerbread People recipe is egg, gluten and dairy free. Make those! lol about the dust-flavored Schmoreos. For, like, a million dollars. No thank you indeed.
  xoxo Nicole
  - http://celiackiddo.wordpress.com/ Dana Schwartz
    
    Thank you so much!! I just checked it out and those Gingerbread people look awesome. I bet the kids would love that. I actually have until Wednesday to make them, so this is perfect :)
http://www.vegetarianatlarge.blogspot.com/ Heavy Hedonist

Wanted to let you know, I found you through a link on FB, and used your cake mix cookies with M&M’s yesterday at a family bake & take. Good stuff, despite the fact that I usually don’t use mixes! Plus, I lucked out and found white chocolate peppermint M&M’s to use, in white and red colors, which made the cookies very pretty indeed.

Thank you!
- gfshoestring
  
  Glad you enjoyed them, Heavy. I don’t use a box mix myself – I use my make-your-own-mix recipe, but these work either way. :)
  xoxo Nicole
Teri

This is probably a silly question but if you only have large eggs can you add one more to equal 2 extra large eggs? I do not own a kitchen scale (yet), and just purchase 2 dozen large eggs for Christmas baking. I really don;t want to go to the grocery store again, but I am dying to make the cheesecake cookies.
- Anneke
  
  Teri — I think you can make the cheesecake cookies with either one or two eggs, so two larges should work just fine. Also, pick the largest of your large eggs. I think adding a third egg would be too much. Hope that helps! Anneke
http://www.facebook.com/brenda.crawshaw Brenda Crawshaw

Thank you SO much for this post. I had a very heavy heart today (the horrible event in CT) and I was moderating a discussion online for a group so I couldn’t really get away from it. Of course, my brain was COMMANDING me to consume sugar. I decided to poke around a little and – no surprise – ended up going no further than this post. It sounds ridiculous but I was almost in tears of relief to see all these happy little cookies looking up at me from my screen saying “Bake me! I will make you feel a little better!”. So now I have a GF Chips Ahoy roll in the freezer, Nutella Cookies in the oven, stuff for the Nutter Butters at the ready and Chocolate Cake mix and Bits ‘O Brickle ready to go. And, no, don’t worry! I don’t plan on eating all of them tonight! I plan to stash most for the holidays and use the rest to boost my spirits……………….
- gfshoestring
  
  I know what you mean about a very heavy heart, Brenda. I live not too far from that town in CT. I’m so happy to give you a break from the heartbreak with some badly needed cookies. :)
  xoxo Nicole
http://www.facebook.com/brenda.crawshaw Brenda Crawshaw

Ok, I know I am crossing over into cyberstalker territory but I just SAVORED a warm, delicious, slightly underdone so as to be soft GF Chips A Hoy and I can tell you that usually I need to eat about, oh, roughly forty-eleven of any GF cookie to be satisfied. Guess what? That one cookie will take me until my next break and then I will probably have one more. What a PERFECT balance of sweet and chocolate and vanilla and that nice floury crumble…………you made my night! Thank you!
- gfshoestring
  
  Those are my deserted-island cookies, Brenda! So glad you loved them, too.
  xoxo Nicole
Ginanorris

so great to come across a CURRENT GF blog! Im so excited to bake this weekend now!
Pingback: Gluten-Free Chocolate Gingerbread Cake | Gluten-Free on a Shoestring
Pingback: Gluten-Free Bûche de Noël yule log cake | Gluten-Free on a Shoestring