If I were to do a blind tasting of these cookies, next to some traditional chocolate shortbread cookies, I think I’d choose these as the best. And certainly I’d think these contain flour. But no, they have no wheat in them. My cousin Gary (from the Bay Area) eats GF (gluten free), and he’s visiting for the weekend (by the time this posts, this will have been last weekend) with a group of his close friends who came for a college graduation. When Gary comes to visit I try real hard to make things he might not prepare himself at home or get out at a restaurant. Not only does he love cookies, but he loves chocolate. And there aren’t all that many GF cookies out there, or recipes for such. But GF AND chocolate, I knew this was a match!
Most of the GF people out there are allergic to gluten (an ingredient in wheat and lots of other things related to wheat), so the food manufacturers lump all of them together and make things GF. Gary thinks he’s allergic to wheat only, but he prefers to not test that theory. He eats lots of GF products. Thank goodness the food producers do make them. Like the latest GF pasta, for instance. And crackers. And a variety of bread products made from some of the weirdest stuff.
Anyway, I had eyed this recipe over on Kalyn Denny’s blog, Kalyn’s Kitchen. And looking at her cookies, they sure looked like regular cookies to me. Except they’re made with almond meal. She makes these because it’s a low-carb cookie (and she uses some Splenda in it). Gary doesn’t so much like the artificial sweeteners, so I made this batch with white and brown sugar. But what makes these GF and low-carb is the almond meal (a protein rather than a carb). Thank goodness for me, (and for Gary) almond meal is available and not that hard to find anymore at some markets (Trader Joe’s always carries it) and health food stores. Almond flour is another GF baking staple, but in this recipe you want the almond meal. It’s like finely – really finely – ground almonds, whereas almond flour is milled – like flour is – and it’s much lighter and fluffier – like flour. If you look very carefully at the photo at top you can barely discern lots of tiny flecks of almond in the middle.
This recipe starts off with a cube of butter and 2 cups of almond meal. Plus a bit of sugar, salt, vanilla and cocoa. That’s it. These are SO easy to make. The dough is quite soft, and my handy-dandy cookie scoop was a huge help in scooping about a scant tablespoon of the dough. You roll them, then press them down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. The recipe makes 20 (I got 21, even with the bit of dough that I sampled). I flattened each cookie with my hand, then gently pressed a fork across the tops (as in peanut butter cookies). I forgot to do the cross-hatching on the 2nd tray of cookies, and that’s what I photographed above. You don’t have to do that step, but it makes a more interesting looking cookie. They bake for 30 minutes (yes, 30, a whole lot longer than you’d bake a regular flour-laden cookie), then cool for another 10 or so.
The cookies are as tender as can be. Like crumbly light-as-a-feather shortbread cookies. They’re fragile, a bit, so be gentle with them. Even if you can eat flour and gluten and wheat, I’d recommend these cookies. I liked them a lot. I ate one cookie and gave the rest of the batch to Gary to take home with him (he and the family friends left the next day for the return drive). Kalyn said they will keep for a few days in a plastic container. They’d likely freeze just fine too. I doubt they’ll last long enough for Gary to freeze them at home.
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Flourless GF Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Recipe By: recipe adapted from 500 More Low-Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender via Kalyn’s Kitchen blog
Serving Size: 20
1/2 cup unsalted butter — (1/4 lb.) softened
2 cups almond meal — or almond flour (both will work although almond flour makes a stickier cookie that’s harder to work with)
6 tablespoons white sugar — or Splenda
2 tablespoons brown sugar — (or use 1/2 cup Splenda for sugar-free)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1. Preheat oven to 300F/150C. Put butter or margarine in a plastic bowl and let soften, or microwave for a few seconds on lowest power, then when it’s soft, cut into pieces. Add almond meal, Splenda, brown sugar (if using), salt, and vanilla and use stand mixer or electric hand mixer to beat until well combined. (This took much longer to combine with the almond flour than it did with the almond meal.)
2. When ingredients are combined, add the cocoa powder and mix again until it’s evenly mixed into the batter. When it comes together it will all stick to the beaters. Turn on high and let the dough spin off the beaters.
3. Put a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Scoop out less than one tablespoon of dough at a time and roll into balls, arranging on parchment and spacing them far enough apart that you can smash down the cookies (cookies don’t spread at all during baking). Smash gently with your fingers, then crosshatch with a fork so they’re about 1/4 inch thick.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove cookies, let them cool on the baking sheet a few minutes, then slide parchment off onto a cooling rack and let cool about 20 minutes more (30 minutes total cooling.)
5. Cookies will last for several days in a plastic container with a lid, or freeze.
Per Serving: 117 Calories; 7g Fat (52.4% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 55mg Sodium.
A year ago: Celery, Date, Walnut, Pecorino Salad
Two years ago: My mother’s (old fashioned) Nut Chopper
Three years ago: Apricot Ice Cream
Kalynskitchen
said on June 22nd, 2010:
So glad to hear you liked the cookies and were able to make a treat for your cousin!
I really DID like those cookies. I’ll be making those again, but not for my cousin, but for us . . . thanks, Kalyn. . . .carolyn t