• Add the butter, salt and sugar into a medium bowl and beat on high speed until the sugar is dissolved and the butter is light and fluffy.
• Add in the egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, and milk. Beat on high until the batter is light and fluffy again.
• Into a small bowl, add in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and xanthan gum, and mix well.
• Sift in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat everything until well incorporated.

Technique 1

• Cutout 2 pieces of parchment paper large enough to roll the dough in between them.
• Press the dough between the two pieces of parchment paper and roll to a circular or rectangular shape quarter inch in thickness.
• Using cookie cutters, cut out the dough into the desired cookie shapes.
• Transfer the parchment paper with the cookies on top onto a sheet pan.
• Place the sheet pan in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
• Remove the sheet pan from the freezer. By now the cookie dough should have hardened enough where you can remove the excess dough from around the cutout cookies.
• Allow the remaining cookie dough to return to room temperature. Roll it again and cut out the cookie shapes. Repeat the previous steps to remove the cookie dough from around the cutout cookies.
• Transfer any remaining cookies that you have cut out onto the cookie sheet.
• Place the cookie sheet, cookies and all, back into the freezer for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 340 F
• Place the cookies onto the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely while still on the pan. When the cookies first come out of the oven, they will be very soft. As they cool, they will begin to harden slightly and hold their shape.

Technique 2

• The second technique to shaping the cookies does not require any rolling pins or cookie cutters.
• For this technique, simply take a small piece of dough about the size of a Ping-Pong ball, and roll between the palms of your hands to form a ball.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Take a glass cup with a flat bottom, dip the bottom of the cup into some powdered sugar.
• Place the dough ball onto the lined pan, and using the bottom of the cup, press the dough ball into a circle that’s quarter inch in thickness.
• Repeat these steps with the remaining dough.
• Place the cookie sheet, cookies and all into the freezer for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile preheat the oven to 340 F.
• Place the cookies into the oven on the middle rack and bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely directly on the pan.
• You can now decorate the cookies using royal icing, or any type of icing that you wish.