Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cookies - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep gluten-free cookies from falling apart? ›

Chilling helps the flours and xanthan gum absorb liquid, which makes the dough sturdier and easier to handle. Without a proper rest, your cookies are likely to crumble. Think of mix-ins as the Spanx of the cookie world. They are a sly way to ensure that your cookies look like cookies, not misshapen gluten-free blobs.

13- Make sure your baking soda and/or baking powder are fresh. These are the leavening agents in your cookie recipe and if they are no longer active, your cookies won't puff up and may spread more. Try a fresh container if they've been open longer than 3 months. 14- Use a tried and true gluten free cookie mix.

Add more fat or liquid: It might just be that you need a bit more moisture in your recipe, especially if you're converting a regular “gluten-ful” recipe to gluten-free. Try adding anywhere from ¼ to ½ cup of liquid or fat to the recipe and see if that helps.

Chilling the dough for at least several hours results in cookies that are extra-thick and chonky because it allows the flours to absorb more moisture.

Add extra liquid: Gluten-free flours tend to absorb more liquid than regular flour, so you may need to add more liquid to your recipes to compensate. This can help to keep your baked goods moist and prevent them from becoming dry and crumbly.

Gluten's elasticity allows batters and doughs to trap air released by leavening agents (yeast, baking powder, or baking soda), which is how they're able to rise. Without this protein, gluten-free baked goods have the potential to be grainy, dense, and crumbly, but they don't have to be!

Using xanthan gum helps provide some of the stickiness that gluten free goods lack, replacing some elasticity. Xanthan gum mimics some of gluten's most essential properties by sticking to flour and its moisture. This helps create moist goods that hold their shape after being baked.

Your results may vary if using a different GF flour blend. The longer you let the dough sit in the fridge before baking, the better these cookies will be!

Instead of proceeding directly to baking, let the gluten-free cookie dough rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature. This resting period is crucial for hydration, not leavening. During this time, gluten-free flours absorb moisture from the wet ingredients, altering the dough's texture and consistency.

Moisture – for some reason gluten-free cakes tend to get a little dry. Any gluten-free cake will dry out super-fast and get hard on the outside if it's not properly refrigerated and covered. I swear by always using buttermilk and adding a little more fat into the batter to compensate for the dryness.

Why do gluten-free cookies taste weird? ›

Flavor Differences

All gluten-free flours have a different taste. Some gluten-free flours are naturally sweet, some are nutty, while others have a strong flavor. When you're just getting started baking gluten-free, experiment with as many different flours as you can.

While visual cues like the toothpick test and pressing the top of the cake will still help, the best way to determine if your baked goods are perfectly done is with a timer and oven thermometer. This is because gluten-free treats often look underdone and slightly wet inside after baking.

Tips for Making Perfect Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

If your dough is sticky: You may have a sticky dough if you're baking at high altitude. Incorporate 2-3 Tablespoons more flour into the dough then refrigerate until firm and bake.

Gluten-free goods tend to brown faster and take longer to cook through. So they need to be baked at a slightly lower temperature, for a slightly longer time. Every recipe is different, but in general, try lowering the temperature by 25 degrees and baking the item for 15 minutes longer.

One common reason is that gluten-free flours tend to be lower in protein than wheat flour, which means that they don't have as much structural support. This can result in a softer, less cohesive dough that is more prone to crumbling or falling apart.

Too much flour = crumbly cookies

If you don't want to measure by weight, try sifting your flour first and scooping flour into your measuring cup with a spoon, and don't pack it down into the cup. If all else fails, try reducing the amount of flour in the recipe by 10%.