From Chef Oonagh Williams of



Royal Temptations Catering

Makes about 18 cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter (4 oz, 115 g) soft at room temperature
• ¼ cup (25 g, 1 oz) powdered sugar
• 1+1/2 tsp. (8 ml) vanilla
• ¾ cup less 1 Tbsp. (2+1/2 oz., 75 g) Oonagh’s Gluten-Free Flour Mix
• 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) cornstarch
• ¼ cup (3/4 oz., 25 g) almond meal/almond flour/ground almonds.
• 1/8 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1 egg yolk or 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) gluten-free egg substitute
• Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar together until light and creamy, stir in vanilla and mix well.
2. Add flours, xanthan gum, egg yolk or egg substitute and salt and mix until a soft dough is formed.
3. Bake as directed (see options below). They are still soft when baked and firm up when cool.

Option 1:

Using a number 10, 8 point, food pipe in metal, this dough can be piped onto lined sheets in a small star, rose, whirl or finger pattern. Because of the almond meal in dough, I use the tip of a sharp knife to open the metal points up more, otherwise the almond meal makes the dough clog up. Makes about 18 cookies. Refrigerate until hard. Then bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until dough is very pale gold all over. Do not cook until they are dark brown. They will spread and lose some of the piped definition. Check your oven frequently after 20 minutes as they overcook easily.

Option 2:

No need to refrigerate dough. Using a number 60, 1+1/4 inch, 3.2 cm across, or 1 Tbsp., 15 ml volume, metal scoop, scoop dough into mini muffin pans. I like to line pans with 1.25 inch, 3.2 cm paper cases for ease of both clean up and eating.

Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips, toffee bits, chopped nuts as desired or leave plain. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, use a ‘tamp’ (small tool to make indentation in dough) so that cookie becomes a shortbread case that can be filled with whipped cream, jam, lemon curd or Nutella. Bake for another 10 minutes, remove from oven and use tamp to press cookie down again. Bake for another 5 minutes until nicely light golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before removing from the pan. You could also make these in regular muffin cup cases in muffin pans, pressing dough down to make larger shortbread cases to fill with even more fruit and cream. Adjust cooking time.

Option 3:

Take a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper, place spoonfuls of dough across plastic wrap/parchment paper and form into a log, only about 1 inch across. Roll up and use your fingers to smooth log from outside through the paper. Refrigerate until firm, then unroll from paper, use a sharp knife to cut cookies into circles less than ¼ inch, 1/2 cm across. Bake as above.

These are great when sandwiched with Nutella when cold.