Are you looking for gluten free christmas/sugar cookies?   Though there are many good desserts are available for people on a gluten free diet, the Christmas holiday season can often be very difficult due to the lack of gluten free sugar cookies available. 

I was able to locate a tremendous recipe for these cookies.   If you try them out this holiday season, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Gluten Free Christmas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups shortening
• 6 eggs
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1/4 cup vanilla (yes, that much)
• 1 cup amaranth flour
• 2 cups potato starch
• 2 cups sweet rice flour
• 4 cups brown rice flour
• 2 Tbsp xanthan gum
• 3 Tbsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*. 
2. Mix together the flours, starch, xanthan gum and baking powder with a whisk until well-combined.  Set aside. 
3. Cream together the sugars, shortening, eggs, vanilla and salt. 
4. Add flour mixture, about 1/4 at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon. 
5. Once the flour mixture is mostly incorporated, knead the dough in the bowl, slowly punching the dough down in the middle and folding the sides of the dough into the middle.  You may also put the dough on a non-stick surface (like a silicone mat or a marble slab), and knead it on there.  The mixture should have the consistency of Play-Doh, but not too soft.  If it is too dry, add a Tbsp of water at a time until it will gather into a ball (Resist adding water if at all possible.  The dough works best if it is not very moist.)
6. After the dough is well-mixed, several things can be done with the dough. 
7. Unless a crispy cookie is desired, bake (preferably on insulated pans) at 325* until the edges are just golden. 

[Recipe Courtesy of Only Sometimes Clever]

Over the past decade, a large number of gluten free cookbooks have been released.   While browsing through reviews of several of these cookbooks (as well as thinking over my personal experiences), I’ve noticed a lot of negative feedback.   With that said, there has to be a few diamonds in the rough, right?  

Like most of you, I’ve got a favorite gluten free recipe book.   It is 200+ Gluten-Free Recipes.   I’m sure you’ve got yours as well, so I’d love to hear them.  What are your favorite gluten free recipe books?

Looking for a gluten free restaurant chain in your state?  Or maybe you are going to be traveling and you want to know where you can eat?  A lot of Celiacs find themeselves in one of these situations, and Gluten Free Resource is here to help!   This is one of 51 total posts that will be breaking down the gluten free chains found in each of the individual states within the United States. 

Each state will be released in alphabetical order, but if you can’t wait for us to get to your state, feel free to check out our Gluten Free Restaurant Menus page for a complete list of restaurants in your state that offer a gluten free menu.  We have provided a link to the gluten free menu of each restaurant within that state (based upon our research) and a link to their locations page.   The locations page can be used to find the restaurant closest to your area.

If you have any questions or would like to report a restaurant that has a gluten free menu within this state, please let us know!

Washington Gluten Free Restaurant Menus

• Bonefish Grill (Locations)
• Chili’s (Locations)
• Claim Jumper (Locations)
• Outback (Locations)
• PF Changs (Locations)
• Macaroni Grill (Locations)

Thanks to a heads up from one of our readers, I was able to verify that Donatos restaurants now offer a gluten free crustless pizza that uses soy flakes for the crust.   With that said, ordering something gluten free from a pizza restaurant carries a significant risk due to the amount of flour and other ingredients laying around.

I was unable to find information on their website, but I did find this statement from Donatos:

The Soy base in our NoDough pizzas do not contain any gluten,
however, they will not be baked in separate ovens from those used to bake
our Original Thin and Traditional crusts. That being stated, depending on
the severity of the sensitivity to gluten we cannot guarantee that there
would be an absolute prevention of cross contamination and unfortunately
would suggest that individuals with high sensitivity to gluten not take any
unnecessary risks.

Soy Protein Crisp (Low fat IP Soy Flour, rice pieces, sunflower oil, sea salt)
Thin Pizza Sauce (Tomato paste, water, sugar, salt, citric acid, xanthan gum, aquaresin paprika, basil, ground basil.)
Traditional Pizza Sauce (Tomato puree (tomato paste, water), salt, sugar, garlic powder, citric acid, black pepper, basil, oregano, Xanthan gum, basil leaf.)
Shredded Provolone Cheese (Pasteurized reduced fat milk, cheese culture, salt, powdered cellulose, natural smoke flavoring, enzymes (microbial derived rennet, lipase))
Donatos Sliced Pepperoni (Pork, beef, salt, spices, dextrose, lactic acid starter culture, oleoresin of Paprika, flavorings, sodium nitrite, BHA, BHT, Citric acid)

If you are highly sensitive to gluten, you should probably exercise on the side of caution before trying something like this.

While browsing on Amazon today, I noticed that there is a new book titled The 125 Best Gluten Free Recipes, which is now available for purchase. Based upon reviews I’ve been reading, this is many Celiacs new favorite book, so it may be worth checking out if you cook and are following a gluten free diet.

As of the publishing of this post, Amazon is having a special on the book, which is available for only $13.57 for a limited time. Check out The 125 Best Gluten Free Recipes.