Gluten-free Ladybug cookies are a cute and delicious choice for children and adults, ideal for Easter and Spring or for a creative afternoon in the kitchen. With a crunchy texture and
mild flavor, these cookies combine enjoyment with impressiveness.
The dough is made with Caputo gluten-free pastry flour (get it here if you live in Greece), butter, sugar, egg and is flavored with vanilla or lemon zest for extra freshness. After forming small round cookies, baked them until they get a light golden color.
I made these amazing cookies with Caputo gluten-free pastry flour (get it here if you live in Greece), which has changed its composition and has become a truly amazing mixture of flours that now contains: corn starch, rice starch, buckwheat flour, almond flour, corn flour as well as psyllium fiber, and guar gum, so you don’t need to add anything else to this flour. It is very easy to work with and very tasty.αι πάρα πολύ νόστιμο.
The most fun part is the decoration: with sugarpaste/ fondant, the characteristic “ladybugs” are created – a red surface with white dots and a small black head. You can use your own sugarpaste/ fondant or ready-made sugarpaste/ fondant in colors that you will find with the special gluten-free sign.
These cookies are not only delicious but also visually stunning, making them ideal for children’s parties, Easter tables or as a handmade gift. A combination of creativity and taste that will impress everyone!
Tip: Check off the ingredients you have used in the recipe or note the ingredients you have and add the rest to you shopping list to buy them. - Attention: All ingredients must be checked that are Gluten-Free and without traces of gluten.
Abbreviations: g=grams • kg= kilograms • cup=250 ml • tsp= teaspoon=5 ml • tbsp= tablespoon=3 tsp=15 ml • ml= millilitre= (1ml=0.034 fl oz / 1fl oz=29.6 ml) • l=litre/liter=1000ml
Melt the butter but do not let it get very hot.
In the bowl with the melted butter, add the eggs and mix them with a whisk.
Add the vanilla sugar and continue mixing.
In this mixture, sift the icing sugar, add the salt and continue mixing with the whisk.
Then sift about half of the flour with the baking powder and continue mixing.
Set the whisk aside, sift the remaining flour and mix/knead it by hand until it becomes a soft, pliable dough.
Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 1 hour. (see Tips for how long you can leave it)
Turn on the oven at 180°C/350°F to preheat.
Roll out half of the dough into a 3 mm thick, between parchment paper for convenience. The dough sticks a little to the rolling pin, which is why I recommend parchment paper.
Cut the dough for the cookies with a cookie cutter. I used a 5 cm diameter cutter. If you don't have one, you can use a glass, cup, etc.
Spread them on a baking pan which first have laid parchment paper.
Bake each baking pan for about 17 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F (convectional mode).
While you bake the first baking pan, prepare the next ones. If you prepare them too quickly or forgot to preheat the oven, then put them in the fridge with the baking pan for about 10-20 minutes, covered with cling film.
Let the cookies cool completely before adding the sugarpaste/ fondant on top.
Shape the red sugarpaste/ fondant a little in your hands and then roll it out into a sheet about 2-3 millimeters thick, 4 centimeters high and as long as your counter top, i.e. 30-40 centimeters.
Shape the black sugarpaste/ fondant a little in your hands as made before and then roll it out into a sheet about 2-3 millimeters thick like the red one, 1 centimeter high and as long as the red one. Join them side by side. If they don't stick together, you can moisten them with a wet napkin that you have wrung out well.
Shape the white sugarpaste/ fondant a little in your hands as before and then roll it out into a string about 1 millimeter thick. Cut into very small pieces and shape them into balls. I found it easier to make them into balls on a wet napkin that I have wrung out well. That way, when I put on and press them onto the red sugarpaste/ fondant, they will stick easily.
When the red strip of sugarpaste/ fondant is filled with the white dots, place a parchment paper on top and press them gently with a rolling pin to flatten them a little.
With the same cutter that we cut the cookies, we also cut the sugarpaste/ fondant.
We turn the sugarpaste/ fondant circles upside down.
In a small bowl, mix very well 1 tbsp. jam with 1 tbsp. water. This will make the glue for the sugarpaste/ fondant to stick to the cookies.
Brush a very thin layer of this mixture on the sugarpaste/ fondant and then place the cookies on top. Be careful not to press the cookies too hard because they will break.
Turn them over and press lightly so that the sugarpaste/ fondant sticks to the cookies.
Repeat the entire process until you have decorated all the cookies or until you have the strength for decorating the most of them.
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the butter but do not let it get very hot.
In the bowl with the melted butter, add the eggs and mix them with a whisk.
Add the vanilla sugar and continue mixing.
In this mixture, sift the icing sugar, add the salt and continue mixing with the whisk.
Then sift about half of the flour with the baking powder and continue mixing.
Set the whisk aside, sift the remaining flour and mix/knead it by hand until it becomes a soft, pliable dough.
Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 1 hour. (see Tips for how long you can leave it)
Turn on the oven at 180°C/350°F to preheat.
Roll out half of the dough into a 3 mm thick, between parchment paper for convenience. The dough sticks a little to the rolling pin, which is why I recommend parchment paper.
Cut the dough for the cookies with a cookie cutter. I used a 5 cm diameter cutter. If you don't have one, you can use a glass, cup, etc.
Spread them on a baking pan which first have laid parchment paper.
Bake each baking pan for about 17 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F (convectional mode).
While you bake the first baking pan, prepare the next ones. If you prepare them too quickly or forgot to preheat the oven, then put them in the fridge with the baking pan for about 10-20 minutes, covered with cling film.
Let the cookies cool completely before adding the sugarpaste/ fondant on top.
Shape the red sugarpaste/ fondant a little in your hands and then roll it out into a sheet about 2-3 millimeters thick, 4 centimeters high and as long as your counter top, i.e. 30-40 centimeters.
Shape the black sugarpaste/ fondant a little in your hands as made before and then roll it out into a sheet about 2-3 millimeters thick like the red one, 1 centimeter high and as long as the red one. Join them side by side. If they don't stick together, you can moisten them with a wet napkin that you have wrung out well.
Shape the white sugarpaste/ fondant a little in your hands as before and then roll it out into a string about 1 millimeter thick. Cut into very small pieces and shape them into balls. I found it easier to make them into balls on a wet napkin that I have wrung out well. That way, when I put on and press them onto the red sugarpaste/ fondant, they will stick easily.
When the red strip of sugarpaste/ fondant is filled with the white dots, place a parchment paper on top and press them gently with a rolling pin to flatten them a little.
With the same cutter that we cut the cookies, we also cut the sugarpaste/ fondant.
We turn the sugarpaste/ fondant circles upside down.
In a small bowl, mix very well 1 tbsp. jam with 1 tbsp. water. This will make the glue for the sugarpaste/ fondant to stick to the cookies.
Brush a very thin layer of this mixture on the sugarpaste/ fondant and then place the cookies on top. Be careful not to press the cookies too hard because they will break.
Turn them over and press lightly so that the sugarpaste/ fondant sticks to the cookies.
Repeat the entire process until you have decorated all the cookies or until you have the strength for decorating the most of them.
See the following video to found out how easy this recipe is:
- All ingredients should be at room temperature.
- For this batch, which makes approximately 50-60 cookies, you will need 2 large baking pans.
- Every oven heats different. My new oven is slower than the old one. The time I’m giving in every recipe is approximately. Watch them as they baking and adapt the time.
- If you wrap this dough tightly enough, you can keep it in the refrigerator for several days. The refrigerator must be well chilled, however. Specifically, I have left it for a week.
- If you leave the dough in the refrigerator for more than a few hours or days, you should leave it out on countertop for a while to get room temperature and you may need to knead it a little to make it elastic again.
- I used a yellow wet napkin because I lost the balls in the white one. However, if your eyesight helps you then use white too.
- The remaining sugarpaste/ fondant, you can mold it all together and have the colors red, black and white mixed and cut it with cookie cutters in designs and put them on cookies or cakes etc.
Good Luck and Bon Appétit!!!
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