These Small Batch Sugar Cookies are super soft and chewy eggless sugar cookies that are also gluten free, nut free and can easily be vegan! They're delicious and sweet and take less than an hour from start to finish. The perfect recipe for when you only need a few sugary treats!
A small batch of sugar cookies is sometimes exactly what you need! This recipe makes 6 large or 12 small and only requires 15 minutes of chill time, just like my Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies!
The first day these cookies are soft and chewy in the middle with crisp edges. Once stored in an airtight container, the cookies are soft throughout. If you're looking for sugar cookies to use with cookie cutters, try my Cut Out Sugar Cookies!
For more sugar cookie recipes try my super popular Strawberry Sugar Cookies, my Sprinkle Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies, Sugar Cookie Blossoms and Apple Cinnamon Cookies.
Reasons to Love these Cookies
- Allergy Friendly- These cookies are gluten free, nut free, egg free and can easily be dairy free (vegan)!
- Soft & Chewy- These cookies are the most perfect texture.
- Covered in Sugar- The sugar coating gives a nice sweetness!
- Quick Chill Time- You only need to chill the dough for 15 minutes in the freezer!
- Small Batch- This recipe only makes 6 delicious treats just like with my Small Batch Brownies!
Ingredient Notes
- Gluten Free Flour- If you also have nut allergies, make sure to use a brand that’s made in a nut free facility. I really love to use this gluten free flour because it’s nut safe but it does contain dairy. It also contains xanthan gum which really helps give baked goods their bounce and stay together.
- Milk- If there are no dairy allergies or if you’re not vegan, you can use regular whole milk. For non dairy, use a non dairy milk of your choosing.
- Butter/Vegan Baking Stick- Only use room temperature. If you use melted or softened, the cookies will spread too much while baking. If using vegan butter, make sure to use only vegan baking sticks (not vegan butter in a tub) and make sure it's more on the cold side versus room temperature.
- Cornstarch and Water- These cookies have no egg so this mixture helps bind everything together.
- Granulated Sugar- It wouldn't be a sugar cookie without this main ingredient!
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Substitutions and Variations
How to Make these Cookies Vegan
- Use a gluten free flour that’s free from dairy.
- Make sure the brand of sugar you use is vegan.
- Use vegan baking sticks instead of butter.
- Only use a non dairy milk of choice.
How to Make this Recipe with All Purpose Flour
- Use ¾ packed cups plus 2 tablespoons AP flour (126 grams plus 2 tablespoons).
- Only use ½ tablespoon milk.
- You still need to chill the dough due to the lack of eggs.
Make Smaller Cookies
- Use a small cookie scoop or roll the dough into 1 inch balls.
- Bake the cookies at the same temperature but for 12-13 minutes. Reshape as needed. Should make 12 cookies.
For Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Check out my recipe for Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookies!
This recipe has not been tested with these substitutions and/or variations due to celiac disease and food allergies. If you change any of the ingredients, please let us know how the recipe turned out in the comments below!
How to Make Small Batch Sugar Cookies
Here are the step by step instructions to make these cookies!
Step 1: Whisk Together the Dry Ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Step 2: Make the Cornstarch Water
In a small bowl, using a spoon, mix together the cornstarch and water until thin and watery. It will be thick and tacky at first. Set aside.
Step 3: Cream the Butter and Sugar
In a large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter or vegan baking stick and ¾ cups of the granulated sugar until it is soft and creamy. About 2-3 minutes.
Step 4: Mix the other Wet Ingredients
Slowly beat the cornstarch water mixture, the vanilla and milk into the creamed butter and sugar. It will look chunky; that's normal.
Step 5: Add in the Dry Ingredients
With the mixer on low speed, slowly beat in the gluten free flour mixture a little at a time until just combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and combine again.
Step 6: Chill the Dough and Preheat the Oven
Pop the entire bowl of dough in the freezer for 15 min.
While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 7: Scoop the Dough and Coat with Sugar
Take the dough out of the freezer. Using an ice cream scoop or a large cookie scoop, scoop the dough out into 6 scoops.
The cookie dough will be quite sticky and may stick to your hands if they're warm. If this happens, rinse your hands and then shake off any excess water. You want them slightly wet but not dripping wet. This will help prevent the dough from sticking. You can also wash the cookie scoop half way through to get off any stuck on dough.
Once all scooped, roll each dough ball in the extra 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar and coat completely.
Step 8: Bake the Cookies and Cool
Place dough balls about 3-4 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake the cookies at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 14-15 minutes.
Immediately reshape the cookies when they come out of the oven by using a spatula to push them into a circle shape and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 min before transferring to a cooling rack. If you don't do this, the cookies will break apart into a giant mess. If the cookies appear a bit puffed up, gently push them down ever so slightly with the back of the spatula.
Expert Baking Tips
- Use Packed Cups of Flour- Normally in baking we do not use packed cups however, when working with gluten free, I've found using packed cups works best to help the baked goods keep their shape. For this recipe use packed cups or the gram amount.
- Use Room Temperature Butter- Do not use softened or melted butter/vegan baking sticks. The cookies will spread out when baking into a giant mess while in the oven. And as I mentioned earlier, if using vegan butter, make sure to use only vegan baking sticks (not vegan butter in a tub) and make sure it's more on the cold side versus room temperature.
- Chill the Dough- I know this seems like a step you could skip if you’re in a rush but please don’t. Cookies without eggs spread way more than cookies with eggs. If you don’t chill the dough for at least 15 minutes in the freezer, the cookies will spread and be flat and thin.
- Wash Your Cookie Scoop- If you noticed the dough is starting to get sticky, wash and dry your cookie scoop halfway through making the dough balls.
- Reshape the Cookies- If you want your cookies nice and round, reshape them as soon as they come out of the oven. Use a spatula to push them back into a circle shape.
Recipe FAQs
The main way is to chill that dough.
Second, make sure you do not grease your baking sheet. Only use parchment paper or a silicone mat with no grease.
Yes. You can make the dough the night before. Keep it shaped in a disc, wrapped in plastic and place in a zip top bag in the fridge.
If doing this, there is no need to chill it again, prior to baking.
Yes. You can make these cookies a day before!
Unlike most gluten free cookies, they’re actually so soft they stay fresh for several days!
I think the cookies are sweet enough as they are but yes of course you can add frosting if you desire!
I think they would taste lovely with my vanilla frosting, strawberry frosting, my lemon frosting or even my chocolate frosting!
If frosting them, make sure the cookies are completely cool prior to doing so.
Storing: Once the cookies have cooled, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Freezing: You can wrap the dough in plastic, pop in a zip top bag and freeze for up to 30 days. Thaw the dough in the fridge the night prior to using.
Freezing Baked Cookies: Once completely cool, place cookies (not stacked) on a parchment lined baking sheet and pop in the freezer uncovered. Freeze for 10 minutes or until the cookies are completely frozen. Once frozen, you can store them stacked in a freezer safe airtight container in the freezer for up to 30 days. To defrost, take the container out and leave at room temperature until soft.
Other Small Batch Recipes You'll Love
Did you try this recipe? Please leave me a ⭐ review below!
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📖 Recipe
Small Batch Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons multipurpose gluten free flour (I use a gluten free multipurpose flour with xanthan gum already in it)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick, room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar plus 3 tablespoons for rolling
- 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1.5 tablespoons water
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the ¾ cup gluten free flour, the ¾ teaspoon baking powder and the ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, using a spoon, mix together the 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch and 1.5 tablespoons water until thin and watery. It will be thick and tacky at first.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a hand held mixer, beat the ¼ cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick and the ¾ cup granulated sugar until soft and creamy. About 2-3 minutes.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly beat in the cornstarch water mixture, the ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract and the 1 tablespoon milk into the creamed butter and sugar. It will look chunky; that's normal.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly beat in the gluten free flour mixture a little at a time until just combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and combine again.
- Move the dough to a freezer safe bowl and pop the entire bowl of dough in the freezer for 15 min. While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Take the bowl of dough out of the freezer. Using an ice cream scoop or a large cookie scoop, scoop the dough out into 6 scoops.Note: The cookie dough will be quite sticky and may stick to your hands if they're warm. If this happens, rinse your hands and then shake off any excess water. You want them slightly wet but not dripping wet. This will help prevent the dough from sticking. You can also wash the cookie scoop half way through to get off any stuck on dough.
- Once all scooped, roll each dough ball in the extra 3 tablespoons sugar and coat completely.
- Place dough balls about 3-4 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake the cookies at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 14-15 minutes or until golden brown on the bottoms. Carefully use a cookie spatula to check.
- Immediately reshape the cookies when they come out of the oven by using a spatula to push them into a circle shape and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 min before transferring to a cooling rack. If you don't do this, the cookies will break apart into a giant mess. If the cookies appear a bit puffed up, gently push them down ever so slightly with the back of the spatula.
Isha
Yet another fantastic gluten-free recipe discovery! I doubled the recipe and opted to coat the dough in colorful sprinkles, adding a festive touch for the holiday season. Absolutely loved the outcome!
Jo
These look delicious. I am not sure why I would use gluten-free flour to make these vegan (as suggested). Wheat flour is plant based and should be vegan. Can you suggest an equivalency for regular all-purpose flour to be used in this recipe?
Lee
Hi Jo. I am a gluten free blogger. All of the recipes here are gluten free. I have a lot of followers that have dairy allergies, so in each recipe I suggest how to make my recipes vegan. In addition, if you check out the "substitutions and variations" section of this blog post, I explain how to make them with all purpose flour. Hope this helps!
Maddie
Can I put egg in this instead of corn starch?
Lee
Hi Maddie! Sadly, I cannot test this recipe with eggs due to my son's severe allergy. It actually took me years to try to mimic the texture of a cookie with eggs, so I am not truly sure what adding one would do. If you wanted to try, it's a bit of an ordeal because it wouldn't even be 1 egg. It would be half an egg so you'd have to crack and egg, whisk it up, measure how much that is and then only use half the liquid egg. If you want to try, I would use packed cups of flour (126 grams plus 2 tablespoons), no cornstarch water mixture, half the egg and no milk. Hope it works! Sorry I can't be of more help!
Liberty
I accidentally put 4 stars but meant to put 5!!
If you’re thinking about it, JUST DO IT!! It’s so easy and they’re the most amazing cookies I’ve ever had! I’m trying to eat less gluten because I’ve always had really bad bloating and I’m so happy I found Lane and Grey Fare! The texture of these cookies is perfect. I love a chewy cookie. Don’t forget to re shape them after they come out of the oven though!
Lee
Thank you so so much!!!! SO glad!
Jennifer Hickey
Another amazing gluten free recipe! Successfully doubled it and decided to roll the dough in sprinkles for the Christmas season! Loved them!
Lee
That sounds like an amazing idea! Thanks so much!!!
Donna
Great recipe. My grandchildren loved them
Lee
So glad!!
Steve
Easy to make and enjoyed by all!