Gluten-Free Shortbread Cookies (egg-free, refined sugar-free)

Happy fall! I have a delicious gluten-free shortbread cookie recipe for you today! I recently became friends with a new family that came to our school. I began to talk this beautiful mama a few weeks ago at a birthday party and we could not stop talking about food! As it turns out she cooks just like I do, and creates many of her own recipes....all gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free! She gave me a loose recipe for these shortbread cookies. I then tested it to create a recipe someone else could follow. I'm so grateful for this recipe as it can be used in so many ways! Pictured here I have them made into sandwich cookies filled with my dairy-free Sweet Potato Buttercream Frosting and then drizzled with melted dark chocolate. You could also dip them in melted chocolate and then decorate with whatever you have on hand. Try shredded coconut, crushed walnuts, goji berries, powdered freeze-dried strawberries, or natural sprinkles.

You will notice that this recipe uses a number of different gluten-free flours. I usually like to keep things simple and stick to one or two for my recipes, however, I found that this particular combination works wonders for shortbread cookies. My boys find that the quinoa flour is slightly bitter for their tastes, which is interesting because they normally eat a lot of bitter greens. Quinoa flour is very light and fine, and lends a very good texture to these cookies, which is why I use it. You can replace it with brown rice flour if you are concerned about the aftertaste, though I don't notice it at all.

This shortbread cookie recipe would also be great to bake during Christmastime using holiday-themed cookie cutters. Or Valentine's day....or Easter! Have fun with this recipe! I hope you like it at as much as we do. :)

Banana Coconut Cookies (grain-free, sugar-free, vegan)

Using mashed, ripe bananas in recipes is a really simple, nutritious way to replace sugar. I've used it before in my sugar-free, grain-free Carob Banana Bars and in these lovely Teff Pancakes. My four year old twins keep asking to cook in the kitchen, and if I don't step in right away, they take over and begin cooking on their own. Hmm, I wouldn't have any idea why that would be! Lately cookies have been on their minds.

Yesterday one of them asked if we could make cookies "with that cookie flour" and bananas. The following recipe is what transpired. "That cookie flour" is blanched almond flour. We just ordered a box of it and split it with a friend. This is a good way to save some money.....buy in bulk and split orders between two or more families.

Stevia Sweetened Sugar Cookies (sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, vegan)

These beautiful holiday cut-out cookies are made with whole food ingredients and sweetened only with stevia. Not only are they gluten-free, but grain-free as well. I use a combination of almond meal and shredded coconut pulsed in the food processor to create a nutritious, low-glycemic, and naturally sweet "flour" blend.

These cookies certainly don't have that toothsome sugary bite even though they use naturally sweet ingredients and a little stevia to help boost the sweetness. My children are not accustomed to really sugary treats so they love these cookies and will devour the whole batch in one day if I let them. If you are accustomed to treats being a little on the sweeter side you may consider replacing 2 tablespoons of the applesauce with 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup or honey.

Carob-Banana Bars (grain-free + sugar-free)

These moist, delicious, high-protein gluten-free, sugar-free bars are made with almond flour, carob powder, and a touch of cinnamon. They are sweetened only with mashed banana and liquid stevia. Carob powder is naturally sweet unlike cocoa powder which is very bitter. This means that you do not need to add massive amounts of sweetener as you need to with cocoa powder. Carob is also a decent source of protein and high in calcium. Although carob doesn't taste like chocolate, it does have a sweet, nutty, molasses-like flavor that adds depth and a unique taste to your baked goods.

If you would like to replace the carob in this recipe with cocoa powder then I suggest either increasing the liquid stevia or consider adding about 1/4 cup of coconut sugar to the recipe. I use blanched almond flour in this recipe which is very different from the almond flour you find in most health food stores. It can only be ordered online and can't be substituted with other ingredients. I know many people who are gluten-free already use this flour. It is perfect for grain-free cooking and also adds tenderness, flavor, and nutrition to grain-based gluten-free baking.

Almond Flour Scones

Today I am excited to share with you a wonderful cookbook using almond flour. The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, by Elana Amsterdam. I have one signed copy to give away, see details below.

Have any of you baked with almond flour before? If not, it is a luscious gluten-free flour made from blanched almonds, also called blanched almond flour. It is a high-protein, low glycemic flour that creates rich, moist, and tender gluten-free baked goods. Blanched almond flour is not the same as Bob's Red Mill almond meal/flour. So be sure not to interchange the two in Elana's recipes.

You can purchase almond flour online at Lucy's Kitchen Shop or Honeyville or Benefit your Life. I feel lucky that Lucy's is right here in Bellingham, Washington! I call and place my order and then go pick it up...no shipping charges!



These scones are out of Elana's cookbook and are entitled, Orange Apricot Scones. I love that they are predominately sweetened with pureed dried apricots and orange juice. I was busy working on my new cookbook when these scones were baking and forgot about them. They were supposed to bake for only 10 to 15 minutes but I baked them for over 30 minutes! Every timing device I have purchased has been dismembered or dunked in the toilet by one of my toddler twin boys so I go by the clock and my sense of smell. This time I was distracted and you'll notice the burned bottoms and golden color of the scones. Totally my fault, not the recipe's.

The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook is filled with healthy grain-free recipes from cakes and cupcakes to salmon burgers and quiche. The Olive Rosemary Bread and Pancakes are next on my list to make. The photos in the book are so enticing! A good portion of the recipes use eggs but there are also many vegan recipes. If you are egg-sensitive, please still consider this book, you'll find many outstanding, nutritious recipes to choose from.

Elana also has a gluten-free, whole foods blog: www.ElanasPantry.com. You'll find simple, healthy, grain-free recipes there that are all family-friendly.

To be entered in this giveaway to win a signed copy of The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, please leave a comment below. Be sure to include your name or initials. Anonymous comments with no name attached will not be counted. Also, be sure to check back later this week to see if you have won! I have no way of contacting you, unless you have an email address in your Blogger profile (if you have one). The giveaway will be open until this coming Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 at 9pm PST.

Please Note: all blog comments go into moderation which means once you add your comment below it won't appear until I publish it. I do this to avoid the gazillion spam comments that come through every day from appearing on the blog. Thanks for understanding! :)

Update: This contest is now closed. We have a winner! Joy Gilraine can you please email me with your mailing address so I can get this wonderful cookbook sent to you? Thanks everyone for entering! Here is the winning comment: Goldwood Gardens said...Thanks for always leading me to great new cookbooks! I would love to win this book! Joy Gilraine


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Vegan, Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

You are in for a real treat today! The other night I had an early morning dream of these cupcakes with the recipe clearly spelled out for me. I was in sort of a lucid dream-like state and knew I needed to write it down. But alas, I have been exhausted caring for my children who have the chicken pox (and Tom who apparently did not have them as a child). So I fell back asleep with them playing on the bed. The next time I awoke I had the recipe in the forefront of my now awake mind. I asked my seven year old, Lily, to run and get me a pen and paper. I quickly wrote it down before it disappeared into my daily routine.

I don't know if it was because I was reading Shirley's GFE blog the other night and looking at her delectable chocolate cake or what - but this type of recipe is not the norm for me. I have never made anything completely from almond flour and vegan nonetheless!

But here it was, so I thought I should at least try it out. Since the only almond flour I had was Bob's Red Mill (a rather coarse blanched almond flour) this is what I used. The result was very tasty and brownie-like but too chunky. I knew there were finer ground almond flours out there, so I googled it. Lucy's Kitchen Shop popped up. I had heard of Lucy before because she is local and has written a Specific Carbohydrate Diet cookbook that was displayed next to our cookbook at our local Co-op when it first came out.

Naturally, I called her up to see how soon I could get some of this very finely ground flour. She was lovely to speak with and I paid over the phone and stopped by her house a few hours later to pick it up!

Today I tried them with my new flour and they are oh so delicious! Simple ingredients but the end result is rich and delicious with a full-bodied chocolate flavor. This cupcake is not for the faint at heart! I had planned on posting my Lemon Poppy Seed Tea Bread for Easter but since this recipe came to me I thought I would share this one.

Now, if you are willing, I would love to know what interests you the most as far as gluten-free baking goes. Vegan? Sugar-Free? Grain-Free? Nut-Free? Everything-Free? Just Gluten-Free? Your feedback will help me with the next book (hint, hint) I have been working on. I would love to hear from you! There is a "Comment" section you can click on at the bottom of each post where you can leave a little something for me to read. You can also email me but your note may get lost in the sea of emails I receive. (If I have not responded to an email you sent, I am very sorry, just busy, please send it again!)