This gluten-free recipe is a little less sweet than a typical shortbread cookie (which gets some natural sweetness from the wheat flour) but lends itself to some wonderful variations. The key to a great shortbread is to knead it very well…with lots and lots of love!
Classic Shortbread
Ingredients:
- ½ cup rice flour
- 1 cup fruit sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 lb unsalted butter
- 4 cups quinoa flour
Directions:
- Mix rice flour, sugar and salt together
- Beat 1 lb unsalted butter well and add in rice flour blend
- Slowly add the quinoa flour to other mixture and knead well (this is where you add the love).
- You can also place in food processor to blend initially and then knead after.
- Place in fridge for 20 mins to firm up if mixture becomes too soft.
- Roll out and cut into shape desired with cookie cutter
- Bake in 300 degree oven for 20 mins for smaller cookies and up to 30+ minutes for larger ones. Cookies should be light golden brown.
Variations:
Savory Lemon Thyme
This one would go wonderfully with blue cheese or a cheese platter
2 tbsp finely grated lemon
2 tbsp fresh thyme chopped finely
Chocolate-Dipped
Melt dark or milk chocolate according to your taste and dip half the cookie in the melted chocolate or add a thumb print into the cookie before baking and drop a piece of chocolate in when it comes out of the oven
Salted Chocolate
Simply sprinkle coarse sea salt over warm chocolate dipped cookies
Cinnamon
1 tsp cinnamon – add to dough mixture and blend well. Can add more or less based on your preferences.