From my humble corner of the web to yours, I hope these buttery and light gluten-free 4 ingredient shortbread cookies wrap you in all kinds of warmth and cheer.
Why you'll love these shortbread cookies
- These buttery, delicious bites are super easy to make
- Only requires simple pantry ingredients
- Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee!
- Versatile - endless customisation options , from a lemon glaze to chocolate dip
How to Make 4 ingredient Gluten-Free Shortbread Cookies?
The basic shortbread cookie recipe uses just three ingredients. The butter that makes it melt in the mouth. The icing sugar gives the deceptively simple cookies a sweet touch. And flour, that offers the nutty and utterly delicious hint.
Step 1
Start with softened, salted buttered, and whip in icing sugar until the mixture is fluffy. The key is not to use melted butter, not cold butter, but just softened butter. And if you have unsalted butter lying at home, simply add salt to the dough.
Step 2
Next throw in vanilla bean paste and almond extract. If you don’t have vanilla bean paste, extract works just as well. The almond extract is more part of my recipe. It is a totally optional step, but it does give the shortbread cookies an oomph.
Step 3
Last to go in is the flour to form a buttery dough. Amaranth flour has been my go-to gluten-free flour these days, but you can use any!
Step 4
Use your hands to pull the dough together gently and form a pliable dough. Divide it into two, wrap it in foil and then plonk it in the fridge.
Step 5
Once the dough hardens slightly, roll it out between two sheets of parchment/baking/wax paper.
Step 6
Use the cookie cutter to cut out small circles and carefully place these on a baking tray
Step 7
Bake for 8 -9 minutes until golden brown
Note on baking them:
The sheets are a necessary savior because the gluten-free dough is very crumbly.
The paper keeps it together and stops you from messing the prep area with oodles of flour flying everywhere. To cut the cookies, use a cookie cutter or a bottle cap – take your pick. Then let the oven do the work.
Gluten-free shortbread cookies bake really fast but are very fragile when piping hot. They will crumble if you remove them from the tray straight out of the oven.
So, let them cool for a bit and then prettify!
Amaranth Flour vs All-Purpose Flour
Besides the fact that amaranth is gluten-free, there is a difference in the texture. Shortbread cookies made of all-purpose flour have a smooth feel to them.
With amaranth, you get a lovely texture that just adds to the tad soft, nutty feel.
Serving the 4 ingredient gluten-free shortbread cookies
The straightforward combination of flour, sugar, and butter makes them pretty simple to bake. That doesn’t mean your hands are tied, though.
The basic recipe whips up a sort-of blank canvas that you can garnish to your heart’s content. Especially when there’s lemon glaze and edible flowers to be had! This is much more part of my recipe.
Lemon Glaze
To make a thick glaze, mix the icing sugar with lemon juice. Put half a teaspoon of it right in the middle of the cookie and then place a delicate edible flower on top.
Do not, I repeat, do not try to bake the shortbread cookies with the flowers. That way lies disaster!
Why decorate with the flowers, in the first case?
The added zing of lemon and the floral note pair exceptionally well with the buttery soft shortbread cookies. When you serve them with a cup of tea, it is like a garden on your plate – full of the joys of spring. Also, it helped that I had a boxful of beautiful organic, fresh from a farm, edible flowers lying in my fridge.
If you don't have fresh edible flowers available, you can sprinkle some dried rose petals or dried lavender on top. Some lemon zest on top of the glaze will look very pretty and add tons of flavor. Just plain glaze works well as does just the plain cookie.
A dip in melted chocolate is an appealing thought, right?!
These tender, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookies are very very addictive. Decorated or not, these have a tendency to disappear rather quickly!
More Easy Cookie Recipes:
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4 Ingredient Gluten-Free Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter, softened ( 110gms butter) I used salted butter
- 1/4 cup Icing sugar
- 1.5 cups Amaranth flour You can use any flour of your choice
- 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste/ Extract
- 1/4 tsp Almond Extract Optional
Lemon Glaze - Optional
- 2 tsp Fresh lemon juice
- 3-4 tbsp Icing sugar
- Edible flowers
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C and a line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat. Keep a 1" shape cookie cutter handy. You can use any shape though.
- Beat the butter in a large bowl, until smooth. Add the sugar. Beat until slightly fluffy.
- Mix in the vanilla bean paste/extract, almond extract, and amaranth flour. Use your hands to bring together the dough gently.
- Divide the dough into half. Roll each half into a flattish ball. Cover with foil and place in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes or so.
- Keep 2 sheets of parchment or baking paper handy. Place one dough ball between the 2 sheets and roll out into a rough circle, about 1/8" thick.
- Alternatively, you can also flour your work surface well, working with one dough ball at a time, roll out into a rough circle, about 1/8" thick.
- Use the cookie cutter to cut out small circles and carefully place these on a baking tray.
- Bake for 8 -9 minutes until golden brown. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
- The cookies are ready to eat. If you want to decorate them, simply spoon 1/2 teaspoon of icing on top of each cooled cookie and place a flower in the center. Let the icing set, about 3-4 minutes and enjoy the cookies!
Lemon Glaze
- Combine the lemon juice and icing sugar in a small bowl. Mix well to get a smooth, thick glaze.
Harshitaa says
Hi,
Can we substitute the icing sugar for coconut sugar or jaggery ?
Thanks!
Natasha Minocha says
Hi Harshitaa, icing sugar has cornstarch that helps with the binding of the dough. Since the flour is glutenfree and there is no egg, other sugars may not be able to help bind the dough well. Hope this helps. 🙂