Christmas Stars

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

2½ cups flour or 2½ cups Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour or 2½ cups America’s Test Kitchen flour blend + ½ & 1/8 tsp xanthan gum or 1½ cup Bob’s Red Mill GF flour + 1 cup Trader Joe’s GF flour + ½ & 1/8 tsp xanthan gum

At medium speed, cream butter & sugar until fluffy.

Whisk together GF flour, xanthan gum (f using) & salt.

At low speed, add flour to butter mixture until blended. This takes a few minutes, so be patient, it will come together!

 Shape dough into a ball & wrap in wax or parchment paper & chill. About 30 minutes to 1 hour for GF flour & a little longer if you are using regular flour.

 Roll out dough to 1/3 inch thick on lightly floured surface. You can use whatever flour you used in the recipe, or white rice flour.

Cut into stars. Or you can use whatever shape cookie cutter you choose! The cookie cutter should be about 2½ - 3 inches across.

 Bake on ungreased baking sheet or on parchment paper covered baking sheet at 300° for 12-14 minutes (may take up to 20 minutes if using regular flour).

Cool 2 minutes on pan, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

These cookies freeze well.

Notes: 

If you find your dough too sticky to easily roll out, you can place it between 2 sheets of wax or parchment paper, lightly sprinkled with flour.  

I know 1/3 inch thick seems really thick, but it works for these cookies!

These are a plain shortbread-type cookie. They are not fancy, but really good! They were my dad’s favorite, so making them every Christmas reminds me of him.