Gluten-Free French Butter Cookies Recipe | G-Free Foodie (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to baking with gluten-free flour? ›

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

After adding your dry ingredients, mix the dough for a few minutes (instead of just until combined). This will help the dough develop a bit more structure and get rid of any gritty texture from unincorporated ingredients. After all, you can't develop too much gluten if there's no gluten to begin with.

Remember: Xanthan Gum is Your Friend

It helps bind together the ingredients, preventing your cookies from falling to pieces. Be careful to not use too much; no one likes gummy baked goods.

This is an important tip to know as a gluten-free baker. When trying a new recipe, and the resulting texture is a bit dry or gritty, consider letting the dough rest and compare the results. If it's still dry, you'll want to try changing up your flour mixture (or adding more fat/liquid).

Brown rice flour is about as close to a 1:1 substitute for all-purpose flour as it gets since it provides structure and a “wheat-like” flavor.

Oat Flour. With its creamy, earthy flavor and delicate texture, gluten-free oat flour is a staple of my gluten-free baking recipes. It bakes up soft and smooth, adding necessary starch to many GF baked goods and keeping them moist and tender due to its high fat content and stable protein structure.

Xanthan Gum adds thickness and viscosity to gluten-free breads and other baked goods. Without xanthan gum, your gluten-free baked goods would be dry, crumbly and flat. Because xanthan gum is gluten-free and vegan, it's the preferred thickener for those home bakers with food allergies.

5- Chill your dough well before baking.

But it's a good idea in warm kitchens, if you're working with browned or warmed butter, or if you're rolling the dough. It reduces stickiness of gluten free doughs and also can enhance the flavor, but again, it's not necessary with gfJules Flour or Cookie Mixes.

You need a binding agent in your gluten-free cookies recipe; otherwise, your cookies will fall apart. Some flour blends may already contain a binding agent, so double-check the list of ingredients. If it doesn't, you can add flaxseeds, xanthan gum, or guar gum.

Timing is Key

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.

Why are my gluten-free cookies gummy? ›

Why your toothpick may be lying. With gluten-free baking, we use a combination of gluten-free flours, starches, and a binder (like xanthan gum). These ingredients take longer to set than regular gluten-containing flour, meaning they may remain slightly “gummy” or sticky until they have cooled.

Guar Gum Powder: A Binding Miracle

guar gum powder acts as a binding agent by increasing the viscosity of dough and batter, much like gluten does in traditional baking. This enhanced viscosity provides the necessary structure for baked goods to rise, hold their shape, and maintain a pleasing texture.

Any taste differences also depend on which flour or flours are used and in what proportions. The variety of gluten-free flours is advantageous in that they can be blended to achieve the results that bakers want. Baking with gluten-free flour will produce some slight differences in taste or texture.

Another reason is that gluten-free flours, such as almond flour or coconut flour, can behave differently than wheat flour in baking. They may absorb more liquid, for example, which can result in dry or crumbly cookies.

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.

Remember, baking times for gluten-free foods vary greatly, and it's important to keep a constant eye on your creation to monitor for the colors and textures that indicate doneness. These recipes often call for longer baking times at a lower temperature compared to traditional recipes.

One of the first rules of gluten-free baking is managing your expectations; traditional baked goods lean on gluten for their texture and rise. Replicating this is challenging and the results might not be identical, but it can get pretty close with the right flours.

Don't overmix: Overmixing can cause gluten-free baked goods to become tough and dry.

Xanthan Gum

Because gluten-free flours have less protein than wheat flours and are not capable of forming the same network required to stretch and surround starch granules, they need reinforcement. Xanthan gum strengthens these networks and also makes them more elastic.