I try not to use vegan butter substitutes in my recipes. That is not to say I don’t ever use it. I happily spread  it on my toast and I have been known to throw some in my mashed potatoes, but I consider it a sometimes food. As such, I try to make sure I’m eating mostly whole, plant based foods most of the time. But who’s perfect? And I am one to believe that sometimes something completely devoid of nutritional benefit is ok once in a while!

I’m not sure what the chemistry is behind it, but I’ve found that it does help with the texture and flavor of vegan cookies. Hence my dilemma. I wasn’t trying on purpose to make this recipe gluten-free, but after learning from my other attempts, I thought that using gluten-free flours would help achieve a crispier product. And it did!

This has quickly become a family favorite. While testing this recipe, even the ones I over baked were eaten up! And the best part is what an easy recipe it is. It literally takes 10 minutes to put all the ingredients together, and then it goes right into the oven. Its great for when you have to whip up something to bring to a gathering and is perfect for the holidays. Give it a try. Its so simple, there’s really no reason not to!

Gluten-Free and Vegan Almond Shortbread

Yield: 9- 3 inch square cookies- or the equivalent

Ingredients:

½ cup brown rice flour

½ all purpose gluten-free flour blend (used Bob’s Red Mill)

½ cup almond flour/meal

½ cup light organic cane sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon xanthan gum

¼ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

3 teaspoons water

¼ cup melted coconut oil

*(if you don’t like the coconut flavor, which it will add, use refined coconut oil)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 325

Lightly oil a 9×9 shortbread pan. Sprinkle with sugar.

In a food processor add the rice flour, gluten free flour mix, almond meal, cane sugar, salt, xanthan gum, almond extract, vanilla extract and water. Pulse to blend well, scraping down sides if needed.

Slowly stream in the melted coconut oil, scraping down the sides and bottom about every 30 seconds for 2 minutes.

Pour out the mix into the prepared pan. It is going to be very dry and crumbly still. Don’t worry- that’s how it is supposed to be.

Press into the pan. This is important to the texture of the shortbread. Not firm enough and the cookies will be very crumbly, too compact and the cookies will be hard. Just press firmly enough so that the crumbly mix holds together.

Bake for 28-30 minutes, or until edges just start to turn golden. Do not let them brown!

Remove to a cooling rack. Let sit for 10 minutes then using a round edged knife, run it around the edges. Let fully cool on rack.

To remove from pan, place a piece of parchment or wax paper on the top then a square dish. Invert the hole thing and the cookies should come out easily.

Using a large sharp knife, cut the cookies at the score lines. Pressing down firmly and evenly to avoid breaking.

Enjoy!