Gluten-Free Cookies & Biscuits
Gluten-free cookies are where most home bakers hit their first wall: one recipe wants a weighed flour blend, the next wants almond flour, the next quietly relies on xanthan gum to hold together. Every cookie below has been read start to finish, and each entry tells you what it needs before you commit to baking.
How to choose: if you keep a standard gluten-free flour blend in the pantry, start with the classics — snickerdoodles, thumbprints, white chocolate macadamia. If you bake grain-free, the almond-flour cookies below will feel effortless. And if you just want something impressive for a plate, the copycat Girl Scout cookies never disappoint.
One note on how this page works: we don’t republish anyone’s method here. Each pick links straight to the original recipe on the creator’s own site — they earned the visit, and you get the full instructions, photos and tips in one click.
The cookies
Soft & Chewy Snickerdoodles (Vegan & Paleo)
Extra-soft cinnamon-sugar cookies with that classic crackled top. The base is almond and coconut flour with coconut sugar, so check the pantry for those three before you start — everything else is basic. Naturally egg-free and dairy-free.
Double Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
A brownie disguised as a cookie — rich, fudgy and loaded with chocolate and hazelnuts. You’ll want real chocolate and ground hazelnuts rather than a standard blend, but that’s the whole trick to the texture. Worth it for serious chocolate people.
Gluten-Free Tagalongs (Girl Scout Copycat)
The peanut butter patty with the chocolate shell, rebuilt gluten free. It’s a two-stage bake — shortbread base, filling, then the chocolate coating — so put it on a weekend list rather than a weeknight. A proper GF flour blend covers the base; the rest is supermarket-staple.
Gluten-Free Thin Mints (Girl Scout Copycat)
Thin, snappy chocolate-mint cookies with that cold, crisp finish. The dough is simple and the coating is just good chocolate plus peppermint — no specialty anything. They also freeze brilliantly, which the original method covers.
Crisp & Buttery Chocolate Shortbread
Sandy, buttery, proper shortbread texture — which is genuinely hard to get gluten free. No eggs, no raising agents, just butter, sugar, chocolate and a blend that behaves. If your cookies always spread, this one teaches you why.
Chewy Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Bright, chewy and rolled in powdered sugar, with real lemon in the dough rather than a faint hint. The crinkle crackle comes from the oven spring — the creator’s method explains exactly how to get it. A nice one when the baking tray is full of chocolate and you want contrast.
Soft & Chewy Vegan Lemon Cookies
Dairy-free and egg-free lemon cookies that stay soft for days. What earns it a place here is the write-up: the creator tested the dough every way and explains the substitutions properly, which is rare. Almond flour based, so check the pantry.
White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
The bakery classic, gluten free, and — unusually for this category — no xanthan gum and no almond flour required. If someone in the house is picky about textures, this is the crowd-pleaser on the list.
Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies (Lofthouse-Style)
The pillowy supermarket-style cookie with the thick frosting — the one kids remember from birthdays and school fairs. Grain-free flours do the lifting here, and the frosting is a simple buttercream. Make them for a plate and watch them vanish.
Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies (Dairy-Free Too)
A proper cut-out sugar cookie that holds its shape — the make-or-break test for any sugar cookie. Dairy-free as well, and the method covers chilling and rolling so the shapes stay sharp. Christmas-cookie-tray approved.
Gluten-Free Thumbprint Cookies
Buttery shortbread-style cookies with a jam centre, and honestly one of the best bakes to do with kids — pressing the thumbprint is half the fun. The dough is standard pantry, the jam is whatever’s open in the fridge.
Classic Monte Carlo Biscuits
The Aussie and NZ classic — two soft vanilla biscuits sandwiched with jam and a mock-cream filling. Getting the right soft-yet-held-together texture without gluten is the hard part, and this recipe from an Australian gluten-free baker nails it. Golden syrup in the pantry is a must.
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Three ingredients, one bowl, no flour of any kind — peanut butter, sugar and an egg do everything. If you’re new to gluten-free baking and want a guaranteed win tonight, start here. Check your peanut butter label: peanuts and salt, nothing else.
Before you bake
Two quick habits that save gluten-free cookie batches: weigh your flour if the recipe gives grams — scooping adds enough extra flour to turn chewy into dry. And let the dough rest for the time the creator suggests; gluten-free flours drink liquid as they sit, and cookies baked straight away spread differently than the ones in their photos.
Where to next
If the baking bug has bitten, try our Brownies & Blondies collection — none of those need xanthan gum or almond flour either. For something fruitier, the Brilliant Banana Cakes are mostly one-bowl recipes. And if you’re still setting up your pantry, the Gluten-Free Pantry Staples shopping list covers the flour blends and sugars worth buying first.
New to gluten free entirely? Our guides on labels, cross-contamination and kitchen setup will get you sorted.
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