Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies

These cookies were created for two reasons. First: they are the 12^th post for my holiday “12 Days of Cookies” on my Facebook recipe page (I saved the best ‘til last!)  Second: they are one of my husband’s favourite kinds of cookies, and I thought it would be a nice Christmas gift for him! 

I sweetened them with pure dark Maple syrup, and the flavour, while not quite traditional, is divine!

As for making them grain free, as is more the norm for my baking, that was a struggle. I couldn’t seem to strike the right combo of ingredients. But, when I added in the rice flour (which is still a traditional shortbread ingredient) the whole cookie came together beautifully. Chill the dough thoroughly to make rolling out a breeze!

They do make a very tender cookie, so take care when handling the finished product, as I had a few that broke when I was plating them for a gathering.Let them cool completely before attempting to move them at all...unless you are taste testing of course!!

Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies

1 cup Butter, room temp

½ cup Maple syrup

1 ½ cups Arrowroot flour (plus a bit more for rolling out the dough

1 c white rice flour

Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350F

Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until nice and creamy. 

Add the maple syrup and mix until well blended.

Turn mixer off, add flours and salt, turn mixer on low (to avoid a large cloud of dust!!) and mix until it all comes together into a nice dough. 

Do not over-mix!

Shape dough quickly into a disk and refrigerate for 

at least 30 minutes or until firm.

On a lightly  arrowroot or rice floured board or piece of waxed paper, roll out dough into a ¼ inch flat disc. Cut into desired shapes, re-rolling scraps(and chilling if needed) until all is used up.  

Carefully place on parchment lined cookie sheet, prick with fork 

if desired for a more traditional look.

Bake in preheated oven for 12-13 minutes or until they just slightly start to turn brown at the edges.

(You don’t want much colour at all!!)

Carefully remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container on the counter for a few days, or in the freezer for longer storage.

Grain Free Maple Pecan Cookies

These little beauties are made start to finish in a food processor. If you don’t have access to one, you could use your blender to process your pecans, just pulse until they are fairly uniformly ground. (If you go too far they will become pecan butter!)They keep well at room temperature for a few days, and freeze wonderfully too. 

Grain Free Maple Pecan Cookies

1 cup pecans

¼ cup butter, slightly softened

½ cup arrowroot flour

3 Tbsp coconut flour

2 Tbsp maple syrup

2-3 Tbsp coconut sugar (use 3 for a slightly sweeter version)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

In the bowl of a food processor measure your pecans and pulse until they are fairly fine crumbs. You still want them dry, if you process too much you will make pecan butter!

Measure in the rest of the ingredients and pulse until it all comes together into a sticky dough.

Scrape out of food processor onto a plate or bowl, and chill for 30 min plus to firm up the dough.

Preheat oven to 350F

Roll chilled dough into balls and palace on parchment covered cookie sheet. Press a pecan into the top of the ball and bake in preheated oven for 10 -12 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Keep leftovers in airtight container for a few days, or freeze for later use. 

Grain Free Maple Bacon Cookies with Thyme

These grain free lovelies are a palate pleasing combination of sweet and savory. The bacon marries the maple syrup and thyme into a wonderfully different cookie, in a very good way. Use dried thyme if you must, but try to find fresh if you can!  If you don’t have bacon fat, you can sub in a good quality lard, coconut oil or butter, but the bacon fat contributes to the uniqueness of the cookie!

Grain Free Maple Bacon Cookies with Thyme

1 cup almond flour

½ cup arrowroot flour

1 Tbsp coconut flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Pinch of salt

¼ cup dark (grade b or c) maple syrup

¼ cup cooled bacon fat

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, woody stem and big peices removed, (sub ½ tsp dried thyme)

¼ cup + 2 Tbsp diced precooked bacon, separated.

Preheat oven to 350F

Whisk dry ingredients in medium mixing bowl. Add bacon fat and maple syrup,
 and mix with wooden spoon until well combined.

Fresh thyme has a bigger flavour profile than dried, try and find it if you can!
Luckily I still have some in the garden :)

 Add the fresh thyme and the  ¼ cup diced bacon and mix in well. Dough should be slightly sticky.

Using 2 spoons place approx 1 tbsp cookie dough on pan,

Top with a smidgen of the leftover bacon, pressing down slightly into the top of the dough to secure. 

Bake in preheated oven for 12-13 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
Remove to a wire rack to cool. 

Store any leftovers in the fridge for a few days or freezer for a few months,
if you can keep them that long!

Makes approx 16-18 cookies.

I keep bacon drippings in an empty jam or mason jar
in the fridge until I have enough to use

Cranberry Maple Pecan Cookies

When I have a free morning, you're pretty much guaranteed to find me in my kitchen, baking something yummy (well, most of the time the results are yummy....) So, on one dreary Wednesday morning, I set out to bake a few things. I started with two loaves of my Amazing Grain Free Nut Free Banana Bread, (I had a request from my eldest son...he was feeling banana bread deprived again, poor thing :(  I also wanted to take in a treat for my co-workers, as a bunch of us were working late for our annual inventory...banana bread makes every daunting task better!!  While the banana bread was baking, and making my kitchen smell heavenly, I searched for another recipe to make. I remembered my recipe for these Grain  Free Cinnamon Raisin  Cookies, but was out of a few key ingredients (raisins for one!) I did have cranberries, and a bag of pecans, so I used my original recipe as a jumping point, and these cookies were born. Other notable substitutions were swapping out the coconut sugar for maple syrup, and the coconut flour for arrowroot, as the last of both went in the banana bread. The subs worked beautifully, these cookies are as good as the original recipe, if not better! I did increase the baking time a bit from the original recipe to crisp them up a bit more. This also increased the shelf life on them, and they stored at room temperature for 4 days without softening like alot of grain free cookies do.
One of the joys of baking is being able to think outside the proverbial box and not let a lack of ingredients deter you from creating something delicious!!

Cranberry Maple Pecan Cookies

½ cup quinoa flakes

½ cup softened unsalted butter

½ cup maple syrup

1 cup  almond flour

½ tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp arrowroot starch

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt (omit if your butter is salted)
---------
½ cup dried cranberries (fruit juice sweetened)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat your oven to 350F

In a cast iron pan, toast the quinoa flakes over medium heat, stirring constantly until the flakes become fragrant, and are just starting to turn a slight golden colour. This will only take a few minutes, and they will burn quite easily, so you will need to pay attention! Remove to a plate to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and the maple syrup until really well combined. (i used my immersion blender to get them to combine well) Add the rest of your dry  ingredients, and mix well, Stir in the cranberries and pecans.

Scoop out onto parchment lined pan in about 1 tbsp spoonfuls. This makes approx 18 cookies.

Bake for 15-16 minutes. or until they are nicely browning around the edges and over the surface of the cookie. 

Let cool  on the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a coloring rack. They will be fragile when still warm, but firm up nicely when completely cooled.

Quick Maple Chipotle BBQ Sauce

This sauce goes together quickly and has a nice thick consistency that goes amazingly well on pork ribs (and probably anything else that could use a thick slather of sauce!) Play with the chipotle powder and make it as hot (or not) as you like. 

Quick Maple Chipotle BBQ Sauce

1 med onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

2 tbsp coconut oil or butter 

1 can tomato paste (156ml)

2/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2/3 c maple syrup

4 T molasses

1 tsp salt

½ tsp chipotle pepper powder (increase or decrease by ¼ tsp depending on your love of heat!)

Sauté onion over med high heat until starting to soften and brown, add minced garlic cloves, sauté 1 min more. Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir well, bring to a boil then reduce heat to med low. Simmer for 15-20 min. puree with hand blender until smooth. Use right away, or Keep in fridge for up to a week.

Simple Baked Maple Egg Custard

This recipe is so simple, I am not sure why we don’t enjoy it more often. With 4 ingredients that we usually have on hand, it is easy to throw together and throw in the oven to help warm up the kitchen on a blustery rainy day. This recipe does make a large batch, feel free to half it and bake in a 8X8 glass dish instead. This custard needs to bake in a water bath, much like a typical creme brule. This helps to give a nice, moist, steady temperature to cook the custard evenly.  A lot of custard recipes on the internet use a longer slower bake, with lower temperatures, but I haven’t had an issue with the higher heat of my recipe.

Simple Baked Maple Egg Custard 

4 cups milk, preferably full fat and non homogenized

8 Large eggs,  preferably pastured

Served with Roasted Pears

½ cup pure organic maple syrup

1 tsp Vanilla powder or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F

Break eggs into a medium mixing bowl and whisk well. Whisk in milk, vanilla and maple syrup. Pour into 9X13 glass pan. Set this pan inside a larger 10x15 glass pan.

When oven is preheated, fill a pour-able vessel (I use a glass measuring cup) with very hot tap water.

Carefully place pans into the preheated oven, and fill the outer glass pan with the hot tap water until it reaches just over halfway up the inner glass pan that is holding the custard.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the custard is set in the middle. It should jiggle a bit like jello, and a knife inserted in the middle should come out damp but clean.

Let cool before enjoying.