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Gluten Free Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies With Naturally Dyed Frosting

February 6, 2016

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with these special sugar cookie hearts with naturally dyed frosting!

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies With Naturally Dyed Frosting

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Happy Valentine’s week to you!

I did the volunteer thing for the classroom Valentine’s Day treat this year, so I figured what better way to get *all* these cookies done…than with a couple sweet little 6 year olds?!

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies With Naturally Dyed Frosting

Little kids and cookie decorating!

Chloe got to invite a friend over to decorate these cute little hearts and these girls are just too fun. The giggles were endless, and the cookies turned out so great.

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies With Naturally Dyed Frosting

This is my go-to gluten free sugar cookie cut out recipe – it is so easy to work with!

I am not much of a baker and don’t really like to mess around with fussy recipes. This dough is very forgiving and very nice to work with – especially for a gluten free dough. I found this little heart cookie cutter that is perfect for a class treat – not oversized and not too tiny.

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies With Naturally Dyed Frosting

Natural *beautiful* color!

We used freeze dried raspberries for the great Valentine’s Day frosting color, and left a handful of them frosted white in case any of the little guys in class were afraid of pink 😉 Freeze dried strawberries would work for that pretty color if you want too!

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies With Naturally Dyed Frosting

The frosting is just delicious!

Soft and sweet with amazing raspberry flavor – and that color! So pretty! Completely free of artificial dyes – because I don’t know about you, but if I were a school teacher I don’t think I would want my classroom all hopped up on Red 40 for the afternoon! I also think swapping the butter for cream cheese would make a delicious, tangy raspberry cream cheese frosting.

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies With Naturally Dyed Frosting

And since my kitchen was full of little girls for the afternoon, we of course had to break out the sparkly sprinkles!

You can get naturally dyed sugar sprinkles and they are so fun to keep on hand for holidays! There are so many to choose from!

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies With Naturally Dyed Frosting

Print Recipe
5 from 6 votes

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Sugar Cookie Hearts With Naturally Dyed Frosting

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with these special sugar cookie hearts with naturally dyed frosting!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time11 minutes
Total Time21 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: gluten-free sugar cookie recipe, gluten-free sugar cookies, gluten-free Valentine's Day cookies
Servings: 24 cookies
Author: Renee - www.raisinggenerationnourished.com

Ingredients

FOR THE COOKIES:

  • 1 cup softened butter if you are dairy free, you can use palm shortening
  • 1 cup organic pure cane sugar could use sucanat but the color will come out darker
  • 1 egg if you are egg free you can use a flax egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
  • 1 cup tapioca flour
  • ½ cup white rice flour
  • ½ cup sorghum flour
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum Do NOT leave this out – it helps the cookies rise. You will have a melted mess without it...I have the mess to prove it! It also makes rolling out the dough so much easier.

FOR THE RASPBERRY FROSTING

  • 3 TB blended freeze dried raspberries Just put them into a blender and blend into powder. I used about 3/4 of a 1.2oz bag of freeze dried raspberries. You can add the rest if you want a deeper color. I blended the whole bag and am keeping the leftover powder in an airtight container for another time.
  • 2 cups organic powdered cane sugar
  • 1/4 cup softened butter
  • 3-4 TB milk or coconut milk

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.
  • Add the egg, vanilla, and salt and blend.
  • Add the flours and xanthan gum. Mix until well combined.
  • Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Take the dough out of the fridge, and let it come to room temp for about 30 minutes.
  • Lay out some parchment paper on the counter and flour it with white rice flour. Flour your hands and use the warmth of your hands to gently knead the dough, and then roll out the dough. (Use white rice flour on the rolling pin and parchment paper to keep the dough from sticking)
  • Cut out your hearts and bake on a silpat (or parchment paper) lined baking sheet at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.
  • Let the cookies cool completely before decorating. To make the frosting, just blend the frosting ingredients until smooth. You can add more milk if you wish for a thinner, more royal icing type of frosting.

For more real food treat ideas you can follow my Treat Ideas Board on Pinterest!

More real food recipes you might like:
Gluten Free Chocolate Chunk Blender Cookies

Gluten Free Chocolate Chunk Blender Cookies
Chocolate Cake (Can be made cupcakes too!)

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Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

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DIY Whipped Cream

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34 Comments

  • Reply Steph February 6, 2016 at 5:06 pm

    Aw looks like they had a fun time! And that color! 😍
    I started using freeze dried strawberries for coloring but I bet raspberry is just delish. Can’t wait to try! 👍

  • Reply Norma February 7, 2016 at 4:47 pm

    What can I substitute for the x-gum ? Can’t wait to try these, looks yummy.

    • Reply Renee Kohley February 9, 2016 at 7:49 pm

      Hi Norma! There really is not a sub for that xanthan. In a recipe like this when you take it out they will become a melty mess. There isn’t anything quite like it that behaves like it. It not only binds but helps with rise. I have tried extra eggs in the past and it just doesn’t work. I’m sorry!

  • Reply Emily @ Recipes to Nourish February 8, 2016 at 12:00 am

    So fun! I bet the girls has a blast making {and eating} these. Such a fun school treat.

  • Reply linda spiker February 9, 2016 at 10:34 am

    5 stars
    Beautiful recipe and darling faces! Yum!

  • Reply Raia February 9, 2016 at 11:02 am

    Oh, my girls would love these! I love the natural dye… mmm!

  • Reply Tash February 9, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    5 stars
    Too cute for words! This looks like such a fun project not to mention delicious! Using dried raspberries as a natural food coloring is clever too!

  • Reply Megan Stevens February 9, 2016 at 7:58 pm

    Such fun photos! What a delightful recipe, tradition and time of year! Pinned and yummed!

  • Reply anna@greentalk February 9, 2016 at 9:26 pm

    I adore the photos of the girls! I just happen to have some frozen raspberries in the freezer. Love the idea of raspberries as natural food coloring.

  • Reply Dr. Karen L February 9, 2016 at 9:38 pm

    Aren’t you lucky to have such great sous chefs! And I bet they’re glad to be paid with food! These look so yummy!

  • Reply Sylvie February 10, 2016 at 4:52 am

    Such a pretty pink color and the touch of raspberry flavor sounds great!

  • Reply Green Moms Network Week in Review February 12, 2016 at 7:13 am

    […] Raising Generation Nourished has developed a gluten free Valentine’s Day sugar cookie! […]

  • Reply GiGi Eats February 26, 2016 at 10:44 pm

    5 stars
    Ha! These don’t have to just be for Valentine’s Day! I am all about these, YEAR ROUND! 😉

  • Reply Green Moms Network Week in Review February 3, 2017 at 6:53 am

    […] Raising Generation Nourished has gluten free Valentine’s Day sugar cookies with naturally dyed frosting! […]

  • Reply Real Food Valentine Treats – Paleo, Vegan, and Dairy-Free February 6, 2017 at 8:28 am

    […] Raising Generation Nourished has a great Gluten Free Valentine’s Sugar Cookie with Naturally Dyed Frosting.  […]

  • Reply Amanda February 11, 2017 at 11:36 am

    I cannot use xanthun gum either because it is a derivative of corn. So I use gaur gum. Think that would work?

    • Reply Renee Kohley February 13, 2017 at 10:57 am

      Hi Amanda! I’m not familiar with how guar gum works – are you usually able to swap xanthan for it in baked goods?

  • Reply Paleo Chocolate Nut Butter Tart :: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, and Egg Free - Raising Generation Nourished February 17, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    […] Gluten Free Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies with Naturally Dyed Frosting […]

  • Reply Jean January 28, 2019 at 6:06 pm

    5 stars
    These are too cute and so much fun! I love that you used natural dyes too.

  • Reply Tessa Simpson January 28, 2019 at 8:52 pm

    5 stars
    These are beautiful, and the raspberry frosting has me dying, yum!!

  • Reply Kiran Dodeja Smith January 29, 2019 at 8:56 am

    5 stars
    Perfect timing! Can’t wait to try these with my kiddos.

  • Reply Gluten Free Valentine's Day Brownie Cookie Cut-Outs - Raising Generation Nourished February 1, 2019 at 12:55 pm

    […] also make an icing if you prefer. Leave it plain white, or you can see how we dyed these great Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies with naturally dyed pink frosting […]

  • Reply Laura Duffy February 4, 2019 at 2:42 pm

    I use powdered, freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries quite a bit for things like this, but never raspberries for frosting. I bet it’s delicious and I cant wait to try it!

  • Reply Amy February 12, 2019 at 7:40 pm

    I can’t find the sourgum flour anywhere in GR. Any substitions? Thank you!

    • Reply Renee Kohley February 12, 2019 at 8:36 pm

      Hi Amy! I usually get it at Meijer or any of the health food stores – harvest health has it usually. You could swap all of the GF Flour for the Namaste GF flour blend too 🙂

  • Reply Amy Carr February 12, 2019 at 9:52 pm

    Great! I have that! Thank you!

  • Reply Amy C February 13, 2019 at 9:33 pm

    Thank you!

  • Reply Jodie February 12, 2022 at 11:11 am

    Is there something I could use in place of the white rice flour? 😬

    • Reply Renee Kohley February 19, 2022 at 7:41 am

      Hi Jodie! I typically swap all of the flour now for a GF Flour blend like Namaste – when I wrote this recipe those weren’t as readily available!

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