This recipe for gluten free sandwich cookies is easy to make, and SUPER customizable. See the post for variations on cookie & filling flavours - you can even mix and match, to suit your tastes!

Today’s recipe is a taste of nostalgia for me.

My grandma used to buy sandwich cookies at Zellers, as a sweet treat for us grandkids. Remember those crisp creme filled cookies?

They were cheap as dirt - and half the time tasted stale - but for some reason... I still think of them as a classic treat.

I just remember how they were present at every birthday party, and most of the less-food-related holiday get togethers.

When you get to adding real Oreos to the scope of “sandwich cookie”, then we’re going from “classic” to “Iconic treat” - “Milk’s favorite cookie”, and all.

Anyway, all of that - the good and the bad - was immediately off the table when I discovered my gluten allergy. Obviously, I had to design the perfect sandwich cookie ... in gluten free form!

This simple dessert recipe definitely scratched various itches - both for those grocery store sandwich cookies, AND any time I wanted a chocolatey Oreo cookie.

Since originally publishing this recipe in Beyond Flour 2: A Fresh Approach to Gluten-Free Cooking and Baking, Nabisco released Gluten Free Oreo Cookies, to the delight of gluten-free Oreo fans everywhere.

Still... I prefer my own. No store bought product really touches a homemade cookie, so these will still have a place in my goodie jars for a long time to come.

Ingredients

Gluten Free Flours

As with the rest of my recipes, I use a custom blend of gluten free flour types for this recipe. This is the best way to ensure great flavour and texture.

It’s also a great way to ensure the recipe turns out as intended - the commercially available gluten free flours out there all have different flours and proportions involved, and will all act and taste a bit different from each other.

Brown Rice Flour*
Sorghum Flour
Coconut Flour
Tapioca Starch / Tapioca Flour
Xanthan Gum

Also, you’ll need a bit of Corn Starch for rolling.

* While brown rice flour is my first choice because of the flavour, you can use a find grind White Rice Flour if that’s more convenient.

Everything Else

Once you’ve got the flours handled, you’ll just need a few more simple ingredients, readily available in your favorite store:

Confectioners’ Sugar / Icing Sugar / Powdered Sugar
Granulated sugar
Butter
Vanilla extract
Eggs
Baking Powder
Salt

If you’re looking to make one of the variations, see that section below for the specific ingredients you’ll need for what you’re aiming for.

Equipment

You don’t need a lot of equipment to make these cookies, but having the following on hand is recommended for the best experience with this recipe:

Mixer

You’ll want either a stand mixer, or a handheld electric mixer for this recipe, for both the dough and the frosting.

Rolling Pin

I use a Rolling pin with adjustable thickness guides.

It’s PERFECT for this recipe, as the guides make it super easy to roll perfectly level, perfectly consistent thickness cookies.

Cookie Cutters

For the sake of nostalgia and accuracy to those grocery store sandwich cookies, I like to use round cutters with a scalloped edge for these. I think it just makes them more fun to eat, too!

If you don’t have any on hand, the term you want to look for is “Fluted Round Cookie Cutter” (that link will bring you right to a ton of options!).

These usually come in sets of a few sizes, and you can choose the size you want. If you want to be really accurate, know that Oreo cookie waters are 1 ¾" diameter.

I’m pretty sure the other types of sandwich cookies are similarly sized.

Cookie Sheets & Parchment Paper

I like to line each baking sheet with parchment paper.

Piping Bag

You’ll want a Large Pastry Bag for filling the cookies. Sure, you can spoon it... but this is so much easier for getting a perfect little round of cream filling in each.

Gluten Free Sandwich Cookie Variations

These sandwich cookies are highly customizable.

Below, you'll find suggestions on how to make all of the common types of sandwich cookie you'll see in stores, but feel free to mix and match the cookie and filling flavours.

One of my favourite options as a kid was 1 side chocolate cookie, the other vanilla!

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Swap out ¼ cup of the brown rice flour for ¼ cup real cocoa powder (Not hot chocolate/cocoa mix!).

Chocolate Filling

¼ cup Butter, softened
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
Pinch Salt
1 ¾ cups Icing (Powdered) sugar
¼ cup Cocoa powder
2 tablespoon Water
Whip butter until smooth. Add vanilla extract and salt, and mix until incorporated.

Whisk together powdered sugar and cocoa. Slowly add powdered sugar mixture to butter a bit at a time, until incorporated completely.

Beat on high for 1 minute – mixture will be very, very thick.

Lower mixer speed to lowest setting, and slowly add water. Once incorporated, check for consistency. Add more water or powdered sugar to achieve the consistency you want.

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Homemade Gluten Free Oreos

For a fresh version of Oreo gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies, make the chocolate cookies with the above swaps, and use the vanilla filling in the recipe card.

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Maple Sandwich Cookies

Missing those maple sandwich cookies? Swap maple extract for the vanilla in both cookie and filling.

For added authenticity, use Maple Leaf Cookie Cutters!

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Lemon Sandwich Cookies

Swap the vanilla extract out for some Lemon Extractin both cookie and filling.

I like to use a bit of yellow food colouring in both the cookie and filling when making the lemon ones - I could have gone a bit more liberal with the colour in the lemon cookies pictured. (The filling is perfect, IMHO!)

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Nut Filling

Use Nutella or peanut butter instead of butter! (This also works great with the chocolate filling!).

I love the combo of the gluten free chocolate wafer cookies with a Nutella filling.

More Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes!

Looking for even more recipes for fantastic gluten free cookies that *everyone* will love? Look no further!

... and there’s even more - be sure to check out our Gluten-Free Cookies and Bars recipe section!

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A mixed plate of gluten free sandwich cookies - lemon, chocolate, and vanilla.

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5 from 1 vote