Gluten Free Christmas Baking Edition

A round up of gluten free recipes that never fail.

Hope you’re having a wonderful month so far. Perhaps like me, you’ll soon be elbows deep in flour baking up Christmas pies, cakes and cookies. Without further ado, here are a bunch of recipes that I reach for whenever it’s time to bake something delicious, in no particular order.

For all of these recipes, I have only used King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure flour, regardless of whatever flour is listed in the ingredients including regular gluten flour. So, if you’re using a different GF flour blend, I can’t guarantee results If you can’t find it at a store near you, you can order it from Amazon. It’s a good two dollars less than the same bag of flour at my local grocery store. Here’s a link:

Gluten Free Flour I Use

Fail Safe Gluten Free Pie Crust

I used this crust recipe with King Arthur flour last month for Thanksgiving. I made two pies and no one at the gathering guessed the crust was gluten free. It was light, flaky and wonderful just like pie crust should be. This is the only GF pie crust recipe that I could actually fold on itself and lift easily onto the pie plate. Now, not as easily as a regular gluten pie crust, but much easier than most GF pie crust recipes I’ve used.

Tips for success:

Use cold butter right from the fridge. For the water, get a bowl of ice and add water to that. The water you add to the dry ingredients needs to be ice cold. Keep adding water to the dry ingredients and mixing until it holds together in a moist ball. I have found that GF pastry just needs more water than regular. Don’t skip chilling the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes prior to rolling it out! Use plenty of flour underneath the crust while rolling it out. An egg yolk wash does a marvelous job of disguising this pie crust’s GF status from the casual observer (the taste and texture even more so), giving it a lovely warm brown color while baking. Finally, this recipe yields two 9-inch pie crusts. For whatever reason, this isn’t stated specifically on the website.

The Absolute BEST Gluten Free Pie Crust

Lemon Brownies

I love it when I can simply swap out wheat flour for gluten free flour and have a recipe turn out great. Such is the case with these lemon brownies and with the following [3] recipes. All you have to do is use the King Arthur GF flour, and you’re good to go. I’ve made these many times and always have people begging for the recipe.

AMAZING Lemon Brownies

Molasses Cookies

These are the most wonderful, chewy molasses cookies! Dip them in white chocolate, add festive sprinkles and you’ll be all set for your Christmas cookie exchange! Once again, though the recipe calls for wheat flour, I have exclusively used gluten free flour and they’ve turned out wonderfully every time with no further tweaks.

Soft & Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

Pecan Pie Bars

One of my family’s favorite bars I make! Pecan pie is delicious, but that much cloying sweetness can be a tad overwhelming. But a small bar like this, is just right! Once again, swap out the wheat flour in the recipe for the gluten free flour, and you’ll be all set. I have made this recipe many, many times with only that substitution and they’ve turned out every time.

The Best Pecan Pie Bars

Cranberry Christmas Cake

Technically, this is more of a bar than a cake. There’s no icing or anything, just a delightfully fluffy, tart and sweet cranberry treat! This is another recipe where I swap the wheat flour for gluten free flour and it’s turned out great!

Cranberry Christmas Cake

The Best Ever Gluten Free Biscuits

I know biscuits don’t exactly scream Christmas. However, it sure it nice to have a bunch of sausage biscuits stashed away in the freezer for when a horde of family descends on the house. Pulling some out the night before can simplify a busy morning.

This biscuit recipe is my own. I adapted a scone recipe to create a gluten free biscuit that would be nice and light, flaky, and wouldn’t crumble in my hands at the slightest jostle. Here it is below:

Gluten Free Biscuits

2.5 cups King Arthur GF Measure for Measure flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg

3/4 cup cold butter

1.25 to 1.5 cups milk (or buttermilk or combination of both)

Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut cold butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter until butter chunks are the size of peas or smaller. Add egg and milk (start with 1.25 cups and add more if needed) and mix until a soft, moist ball forms. It will be quite sticky. If it’s not, add a bit more milk. On a floured surface, flatten out the dough with floured hands until the dough is about an inch thick. Cut rounds and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Eat and enjoy!

So there you have it! I hope these recipes are helpful to you. If I find more useful recipes this Christmas season, I’ll be sure to share them on Notes in the Substack app! Happy baking!

That’s all for now. Until next time, folks…

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