GF Friday- Sugar Cookie Review (Yum!)

Cookies are a huge part of my existence. I love them. My bff and I used to be pretty good at taking down entire tubs of fundraiser cookie dough in our day. However, this whole gluten-free thing has really put a kink in my ability to eat cookies.
For our traditional Christmas party, I absolutely had to have sugar cookies. Decorating them is one of the best parts of the whole shindig! 
I found a boxed mix from Cherrybrook Kitchen at Meijer; it was pretty expensive, around $6 for one box (which made 12-ish large cookies). I thought I'd give it a try, though, since it's the first I've seen of its kind. Even my beloved Horrocks doesn't carry a sugar cookie mix (though there are several other GF varieties!)

Shaping the cookies

I'll tell you what. We made a few substitutions (I didn't have enough butter, so we supplemented with applesauce. Also, I added an extra tsp of almond extract) and they worked out well. They were definitely more crumbly than normal cookies. You'll have to shape them with cookie cutters rather than cut them. (1) We put our cookie cutters on the cookie sheet (2) dropped balls of dough inside and (3) spread the dough around to fit the mold. We removed the mold and they held their shape.

Out of the oven!

Baking these buggers was hard as well. The instructions said that they would be done once "golden brown", but even after 5-7 extra minutes in the oven, they weren't ever golden brown. Ours were a *tiny* bit more done than I would have wanted. I suggest that you keep a super close eye on yours. You may find they need some extra oven time, but beware that they don't really color change to cue you.
Lastly, we SMOTHERED these with icing. We used a firm icing to pipe with and then filled it in with a powdered sugar/water/extract concoction. They tasted really good. They did have a bit of an aftertaste (somewhat oily?), but it wasn't that bad at all. The more icing, the better. And if the longer they sat, the least likely they were to have an aftertaste. I think they hadn't fully solidified yet.
Now that I've had these, I'm going to try my own sugar cookie recipe using the flours in this mix. Hopefully I can recreate it for MUCH less and then share it with you! 
If sugar cookies are on your agenda for Christmas, I give these the star of approval. Add a little extra extract and you'll be golden! If you can tolerate dairy, definitely throw on some buttercream frosting. That will make these babies shine!
As always, enjoy your day and thanks for reading!