Gluten-free Corset Cookies

The Art.
    Several months ago, I found this cute corset cookie cutter from Copper Gifts. I immediately knew I just had to get it so I could make some cookies for Miss Michelle. Miss Michelle is my dance teacher, and in addition to being Generally Awesome, she also loves embellished girly things. However, shortly after I discovered the cookie cutter, tragedy struck and Miss Michelle had to restrict herself to a gluten-free diet. If I ever wanted to make corset cookies for my dance class, I would have to delve into the mysterious world of gluten-free baking. As a baker, this terrified me. But, as a scientist, I was intrigued. Like all other aspects of my life, science had its way in the end, and I managed to pull together my first gluten-free recipe just in time for Valentine's Day. I have to say I was quite satisfied with the result. The dough was a little tricky to work with, but baked up into a sturdy sugar cookie that had a delicate flavor imparted by the white rice flour.

The Science.
    Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley flours that gives dough elasticity. It does this by aggregating to form a fibrous network that binds both water and starch within the dough, thus thickening it [1]. Without gluten, cookie dough will turn into a sloppy batter. In order to make my sugar cookies gluten free, I not only needed to substitute a gluten-free flour, but I also needed to add other ingredients to make a protein network. I selected white rice flour for my cookies, since it has a mild flavor. Then, I added in cornstarch to absorb water and thicken the dough. I also added a small amount of gelatin, because the collagen would act as a fibrous protein network in place of the gluten. I increased the number of eggs from one to two, because the albumen in egg whites aggregates much like gluten does [1]. Finally, I went back to using only butter instead of combining butter and vegetable oil in my cookie dough, because I wanted to make the cookies more dense and less crumbly.

The Recipe.

2 cups white rice flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon gelatin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla


     Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until fluffy, then beat in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Cover and chill dough at least one hour. Meanwhile, make two batches of royal icing. Tint one batch pink with gel icing colors.
    Preheat oven to 350°F and grease two baking sheets. Dust countertop and rolling pin with plenty of rice flour, and roll dough out until 1/4-inch thick. Cut out cookies and very carefully transfer to baking sheet. Since the gluten-free dough is delicate, your cookies will lose shape if you handle them too much. Bake cookies for 13 minutes on middle and lower racks. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.


Decorating:

    Fill two piping bags with approximately 1/4 of the white and pink icing and add a #2 or #4 round tip. The #2 tip is good for small details, but the #4 is easier to pipe and gives a strong line for borders. Pipe a line around the perimeter of your cookies. Thin the rest of the icing with teaspoons of milk until it is the consistency of Elmer's glue. Flood the cookies with the thinned icing.

     After about 10 minutes the surface of the flooding icing will be dry, and you can begin piping details on your corsets. Be creative! If something you pipe doesn't look like it's going to work out, keep on embellishing it until it does. This is one scenario where more is more. Allow cookies to dry overnight, uncovered.

    Cookies can be stored in an air-tight container separated with parchment paper for a week at room temperature. To give these Valentine cookies to my friends, I placed them in party favor bags (Wilton, $1.99) and tied them off with pink curling ribbon.

1.  Zannini, E. et al. "Functional Replacements for Gluten." Annual Review of Food Science and Technology 2012, Vol. 3: pp 227-245.