Shortbread Cookies

[missy'smom]

I just made some shortbread cookies with a recipies from"125 Best gluten-free Recipies" by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt. They had rice flour, 3 starches powdered sugar and butter, no gum. I halved the recipie and added a little cranberry orange sugar in the bottom of the measuring cup when I measured the powdered sugar. It said to bake them until set but not brown. The cookies spread more than I expected. I was supposed to use softened butter and I did. They were suppose to be removed from the cookie sheets right away but the first one fell apart so I waited and the rest came off more easily but were still too crumbly. I've made shortbread before gluten-free and never had problems. Was my butter too warm? Did I not bake them long enough? What are your experiences with this type of recipie?

[lonewolf]

I'm not familiar with that recipe, but when I make mine I always use xanthan gum in the flour mixture. I add about 1 Tbs. more flour than it calls for and definitely let them cool before removing from the cookie sheet. Your butter may have been too soft also. It can be hard to tell. Keep trying though - you can always use the cookie crumbs for a crumb type pie crust.

[missy'smom]

Crumbs they are, but tasty ones. I'll sprinkle them on peaches tomorrow. Thanks for the encouragement.

[Sophiekins]

I've not used that particular recipe, but I'm betting that the problem was the halving - shortbreads are tricky recipes to tinker with, and halving rarely works well with them. (I mentioned your problem to my nan, who makes to-die-for shortbreads. . .sadly not gluten-free. . .and she suggested this as well). If you must halve them, you need to slightly-more-than-halve the fat, and slightly-less-than-halve the flour. Alternatively, you can make flourless cookies with almond butter (1c almond butter, 1c sugar, 1 egg and 1 tsp baking powder) which have the right flavour and texture but without the dairy and the hassle.

[missy'smom]

Thanks for the input. I never thought of using almond butter but that would be good for a change. Would you bake them as per flourless PB cookie recipie? Same temp and time?