Sunday, January 20, 2013

Shortbread (grain-free : primal : gluten-free)

I love shortbread.  Buttery, crispy and mildly sweet, it is my favorite cookie these days.  I enjoy it for breakfast, for a snack, alongside a square of dark chocolate, even as a crust for a pumpkin pie clafoutis. I bet it would be good dipped in coffee or hot cocoa, too.

I've been working on this shortbread recipe for a couple months, trying to get just the right texture and flavor.  It's been a tough job eating a batch of shortbread every week, but somebody had to do it.

Shortbread
Serves 8-10
  1. In a medium bowl, combine the arrowroot, coconut flour, ground nuts, and salt.  Whisk it all together.  Beware, the very fine arrowroot has a tendency to poof out a bit if you whisk too vigorously.
  2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  
  3. Butter your baking dish.  I like to cook the shortbread in a 9-inch glass pie plate; a square 8-inch glass dish would work too.  Just make sure there is enough room to spread the batter out to about 1-inch thick or so.
  4. Beat the softened butter until it is light and fluffy.  I like to use my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer to put this recipe together, but you could also use a regular hand mixer.
  5. Add the honey and maple syrup to the butter and beat until well-incorporated.  If you are using a stand mixer, use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix a bit more to make sure everything is mixed well.
  6. Add the egg yolk and beat until fully incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl once more and mix a bit more.
  7. If you are using a stand mixer, put on the pouring shield (or maybe loosely cover over the whole machine with a clean kitchen towel, but make sure it doesn't get caught up in the spinning action). If you are using a hand mixer, cover over part of your bowl with a clean kitchen towel (making sure not to catch the towel in the mixer). The reason for covering the bowl with the pouring shield or towel is that the fine texture of the arrowroot can make it go airborne while it is being mixed into the wet ingredients.
  8. With the mixer running, pour in the dry ingredients.  Mix until thoroughly combined. 
  9. Use a silicone spatula to spread the batter evenly into the greased baking dish.    
  10. Bake the shortbread for 22-30 minutes at 325 degrees F.  It is done when the edges are nicely browned and the center is fully cooked and not too wet-looking.
  11. Cool to room temperature before cutting.  Cut into wedges and enjoy! Store leftovers in the fridge.
*If you are using raw honey and it is very crystallized (to where it is no longer pourable), make sure you warm the honey over a bowl of warm water before adding it to the recipe.

10 comments:

Jill said...

Gracious, I'll bet these are heavenly! And I have EVERYTHING needed to make them. Guess what I'm doing this week? :-) Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

would love to know if there is a substitute for arrowroot,perhaps almond flour? we are GAPS and do not eat starch. I so miss shortbread!

Sarah Smith said...

Sorry, but I haven't tried making a GAPS-legal shortbread, so I don't know what ingredient you could substitute. For sure, I don't think just using almond flour in place of arrowroot would work, as I think the shortbread would be too crumbly and fall apart. If you experiment with this, let mw know how it goes!

Jenny L. said...

Anonymous commenter: there is a GAPS/SCD shortbread recipe in the recipe book "RECIPES FOR THE SPECIFIC CARBOHYDRATE DIET" by Raman Prasad. It's the only baked good recipe I use from the entire book, it's fantastic!

Anonymous said...

I've seen other recipes (bread, not shortbread) that use ground psyllium seed husk (which I know is not GAPS legal) but I think psyllium seed (just the seed not the husk)is GAPS legal.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, I will look that recipe up!


Unknown said...

*sigh* why is GAPS so hard? thank you jenny l for sending along the book title of the SCD recipe collection. i'm on it!

Sarah Smith said...

Ariyele, sorry this made you discouraged! There are lots of GAPS-legal baked goods on this site. Have you tried the GAPS muffins, clafoutis,or peanut-butter cookies?
http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/03/blueberry-banana-muffins-gaps-legal.html
http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/02/apple-or-pear-clafoutis-gaps-legal.html
http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2012/04/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies_13.html
http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2012/03/strawberry-chocolate-layer-cake-gaps.html

Becky said...

Made this tonight with tapioca flour as I was out of arrowroot (swapping tubers, hehe). Turned out great! This was after making your cinnamon raisin bread. My family is loving your recipes, thank you! Looking forward to trying more.

athletic avocado said...

glad I came across your blog! love your recipes!