Low-FODMAP cut-out butter cookies with orange

Low-FODMAP cut-out butter cookies made with rice flour, potato starch and a few ground almonds, flavoured with orange zest and maple syrup. No honey, wheat or spelt; makes about 48 cookies.

At a glance

• Serves 16
• Prep time: 105 min
• Cooking time: 30 min
• Total time: 135 min
• Calories: 157 kcal per serving
• Protein: 2 g
• Fat: 10 g
• Carbs: 15 g

Ingredients

• 180g rice flour
• 60g potato starch
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 unwaxed orange
• 150g butter
• 80g maple syrup
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 pinch of salt

Method

You’ll need: oven · baking tray · knife · mixing bowl · grater

1. Finely grate the zest of the orange. Mix the rice flour, potato starch, almonds, orange zest and salt in a bowl.
2. Add the cold butter in pieces and rub it in with your fingertips until crumbs form. Quickly knead in the maple syrup and egg yolks until the dough is smooth.
3. Divide the dough into two halves, flatten them, wrap them and chill for 1 hour.
4. Roll out one half between two sheets of baking paper to 4 mm thick and put it in the freezer for 15 min. Preheat the oven to 175 °C (155 °C fan).
5. Peel off the top sheet, cut out the cookies and lift them onto a lined baking tray with a knife. Briefly knead the trimmings, roll them out again and do the same with the second half.
6. Bake the cookies one tray at a time for 9–11 min at 175 °C until the edges are pale golden.
7. Leave them on the tray for 5 min, then lift them onto a rack – they break easily while warm.

Good to know

Cut-out butter cookies belong to every Christmas baking session, but usually with wheat flour. Here rice flour and starch hold the dough together, and the orange brings the scent. You roll it out between baking paper and cut it while cold, so the edges stay sharp.

Swaps

Almonds → 50 g more rice flour (nut-free, a little sandier). Orange zest → lemon zest. Potato starch → cornflour. Butter → ghee (almost lactose-free). All swaps stay low-FODMAP.

Cooking tips

If the dough cracks as you roll it, leave it at room temperature for 5 min. Cut the cookies close together so you need to re-roll the trimmings less often.

Storage

Keeps for 2 weeks in a tin; wrapped, the dough keeps for 3 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.

Allergens

Contains milk (butter), egg and almonds; no ingredients containing gluten – with coeliac disease, use rice flour and starch labelled gluten-free. Suitable for children and during pregnancy, as the egg yolk is baked through.

Frequently asked questions

Are butter cookies low-FODMAP?

Classic ones aren’t: wheat flour contains fructans, and honey is often added. This version uses rice flour, potato starch and maple syrup; per portion it stays below the limits of our low-FODMAP rule, based on data from Monash University. What you tolerate is individual.

How do you roll out gluten-free cookie dough?

Between two sheets of baking paper, so nothing sticks and you need no extra flour. Put the sheet in the freezer briefly and cut it while cold so the cookies keep their shape.