For the GF cookie tray: surprise package cookies

While I used to enjoy these cookies each Christmas season, they were more important to The Man and The Stepson. I skipped making them last year because of the whole unfamiliar-with-gluten-free-flours thing, but I decided that since I have had other cookie successes, I could slam-dunk this one. And I did. Gluten-eating taste-testers gave these two thumbs up.

Surprise Package Cookies
Adapted from The Vault

½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp GF baking powder
1/3 tsp kosher salt
2/3 cup white rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
¼ cup cornstarch
2 tbsp sweet rice flour
1 ¼ tsp xanthan gum
1 pkg Andes Candies

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together. Add the egg and beat well. Add the vanilla.

In another bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until completely incorporated. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. With rice-floured hands, shape a tablespoonful of dough around 22 candies, forming rectangular cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies just begin to turn golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

When the cookies have cooled, melt the remaining Andes Candies and drizzle over the cookies.