Almond flour is a great
alternative for baking when you want to avoid gluten or grains. Unfortunately, when
opting to create crispy and flaky cookies, using almond flour by itself will
not yield the desired results; it’s very moist and soft. After some experiments
in the kitchen, I found that mixing equal parts of almond flour with arrowroot
powder makes the perfect gluten free flour to use in your favorite cookie or shortbread
recipes. You can buy arrowroot powder online or in health stores. Since I bake a lot, I prefer Anthony's Goods 5lb bag arrowroot powder. The following recipe is very versatile, but here I chose to use it to
make one of my favorite cookies – Jam Sandwich Cookies
For those of you who need to be
careful with their sugar consumption, use coconut sugar instead of regular
sugar. Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than cane sugar and has enough
sugar to caramelize and contribute to the crispiness of the dough while baking.
For the dusting you can use Xylitol. Use a coffee grinder to turn it into
powder. For the filling use fruit jam without added sugar, like St. Dalfour.
Preparation time: 1 hour
Yields: 10-12 large cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
2 cups arrowroot powder + ¼ cup
for dusting
1/3 cup sugar or coconut sugar
2 butter sticks (8oz/225gr) or 1
cup coconut oil.
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup fruit jam of your choice (I used orange marmalade and
strawberry)
2 tbsp powdered sugar/Xylitol
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350f/180C
Melt butter in a pan on medium
heat – careful not to burn it.
In a large bowl, mix together
almond flour, arrowroot powder and sugar.
Add the melted butter and vanilla
extract to the dry mix.
Kneed until you receive smooth
yet flaky dough.
Take half of the dough, dust it
lightly with arrowroot powder and place it between two sheets of parchment/wax
paper.
Roll out the dough 1/3 inch/0.8
cm thick.
Use 3-inch/7.5cm diameter cookie cutter to
cut out the bottom part of the sandwich.
Repeat the process with the other
half of the dough.
Use 1.5-inch/3.8cm diameter cookie cutter
to cut out the center of the round cookie to create the top part of the
sandwich.
Repeat the process until you have
used all/most of the dough. Create equal number of full cookies and cookies
with a whole.
Place on a flat baking sheet.
Bake for 12-14 minutes.
Let cool.
Flip the full round cookies over,
so you the flat part is facing up.
Place 1 tsp of jam on the surface
of each and use a knife to spread it evenly.
Cover it with the punctured cookies, flat side touching the jam.
Dust top with powdered sugar/Xylitol.
Store in an airtight container in
the refrigerator for up to a week.
