Easter is just around the corner, and I am always put in charge of bringing pasta salad and dessert to our huge family potluck each year. This year I have a few gluten-free relatives that will be attending the party, so I wanted to come up with a delicious sweet treat that everyone could enjoy. The result? Melt-in-your-mouth gluten-free vanilla bean sugar cookies decorated with colorful sugar syrup paint.

Gluten Free Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup Butter, cold and cubed
1 cup Sugar In The Raw Organic White® (or white sugar)
1 Egg
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract + Seeds/Paste from 3 Vanilla Beans
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
3 1/2 cups Gluten-Free Flour (I use Cup4Cup brand)
1 tsp Salt

Instructions

Cream together butter and Sugar In The Raw Organic White in a chilled mixing bowl. Add one egg, vanilla extract, vanilla bean, and lemon juice, and mix well.
In a second bowl, combine gluten-free flour and salt.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and stir until well combined.
Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until it is approximately 1/4" thick.
Use a cookie cutter (mine are from Williams-Sonoma - newer version) to cut the cookie shapes. Trim excess dough, and place cookies on to a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes until edges are lightly golden.
Cool on a wire rack.

*Tip: cooling the mixing bowl in the freezer for 15-30 minutes before mixing will allow you to roll the dough right away without needing to chill it!

The cookies are yummy as-is straight out of the oven, but I wanted to dress them up for the Easter party, so I came up with a way for my boys and I to easily decorate them while still retaining the same delicious flavor.

I made a simple syrup by boiling 1 cup of water and 1 cup of Sugar In The Raw Organic White until the sugar had dissolved, and the liquid was the consistency of a thin syrup. Once the syrup had cooled, I divided the mixture into small plastic containers and colored it with food coloring (about 1-2 drops of color per 1 oz of syrup). Sugar In The Raw Organic White and most food colorings are gluten-free, so they’re a great option for decorating gluten-free cookies!

It was quick and easy to add color and pizzazz to our cookies with the sugar paint and a small paintbrush.

The boys had a blast decorating the cookies, and they even added some homemade pink sugar sprinkles (one drop of food coloring mixed into 6 tbsp. of Sugar In The Raw Organic White) to some of them.

The best part about these cookies is that they taste as good as they look! I have to admit that I’m not normally a huge fan of sugar cookies myself, but I’ve discovered that these are just perfect with a cup of tea! They’re really good, and the vanilla bean gives the cookies a delectable flavor without being overpowering.

I’m excited to be partnering with In The Raw this year to bring you several must-make recipes from the In The Raw family – Sugar In The Raw®, zero-calorie Stevia In The Raw®, Monk Fruit In The Raw®, and Agave In The Raw®. For more information about the In The Raw family of sweeteners, be sure to visit them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.