A Paleo Cookie Experiment
Almond Shortbread Cookies
They kind of resemble something a constipated moose would pass; that fact alone endeared these cookies to me.
For some reason I really wanted an almond flavored cookie today. As I really don't eat added sugar or starches, that want was a bit of a challenge.
Never one to shy from a food experiment, I set some parameters for my cookie recipe:
It had to be low carb
It had to be grain free
It had to be sugar free
It had to be dairy free
It really needed to taste at least somewhat like the almond butter shortbread cookies that I enjoyed in Chinatown in San Francisco a long, long time ago.
So, almond flour makes an entrance into this cooking fracas. I don't know about ya'll, but as appreciative as I am for almond flour, I am kind of burnt out on it. So I threw a cup of it in my mixing bowl and decided to let it have a mixer with a friend.
That friend would be coconut flour. I use the Bob's Red Mill kind, but instead of buying it in little bags, I get it in bulk from this fabulous store that we have in the Pacific Northwest, Winco.
Now, Bob's website says that coconut flour should replace up to 20% of your flour in a recipe. Since I am just seat of the pantsing this whole little experiment, I plopped a whole cup of coconut flour into the mixing bowl.
On top of that I added an 1/8th of a teaspoon of stevia powder and 1/8th of a teaspoon of sea salt. Then I turned on my trusty old Lime-aid mixer and gave the dry ingredients a whirl.
Next, I added 1/2 cup organic, extra virgin coconut oil, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of almond extract, and mixed until the mixture resembled the crumbs at the bottom of a cake plate. I didn't like the consistency, so I added 2 Tablespoons of unsweetened almond milk and mixed it some more.
Now we were getting somewhere! I was able to make a little teaspoon sized ball.
Well, I made a bunch of round little cookie shapes out of my crumbly dough and baked them on a parchment lined tray at 300 degrees for 12 minutes.
Verdict:
The Good:
Butter and almond flavor explosion! These cookies could double as an air freshener.
Husband grabbed one, popped it into his mouth, and said. "Whoa! These are good!!!"
Relevant Side Note: Husband is honest to the point of needing censorship in public places. He will tell you his complete, unadulterated opinion on anything at anytime. This is not an exaggeration.
After eating a couple, I no longer craved any cookies.
The Not So Good:
There's something about coconut flour that really gets to me. When you are chewing it, it's like you have ran face first into a sawdust pile and are attempting to give a soliloquy on the merits of developing a blog post on a semi-okay paleo cookie recipe on Steemit with a mouth full of ground tree dust.
I just used stevia, as I am not using any sweeteners at all as of late. It's okay, but there is a bit of an aftertaste that I don't like.
Almond flour: "You are so awesome, yet I am bored of your texture and taste. It's totally you and not me, we might have to have a trial separation for awhile; I need to hang with other ingredients."
All in all, it wasn't a failed experiment, and I even enjoyed my little snack. They would be very tasty dipped in chocolate. Also, like everything that is made with stevia, it totally tastes better after sitting for awhile, so I have that to look forward too.
I'll include the recipe in the name of transparency. Perhaps one of the amazing Paleo Steemians have an fantastic cookie recipe that they wish to share or could augment this one into something even tastier than it is!
Almond Shortbread Cookies
(gluten free, grain free, dairy free, sugar free)1 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 and 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/8 tsp stevia extract (powdered)
1/8 tsp salt
2-6 Tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (You get to choose the consistency of your dough, there isn't much difference taste and texture wise no matter how much or how little milk you add.)Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix dry ingredients together, then beat in coconut oil and almond extract until mixture is thoroughly crumbly in appearance. Beat in almond milk. Roll dough into 1 inch sized balls and bake on a parchment lined, greased, or silicon lined cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes. Remove and enjoy! This recipe made about 24 moose nugget sized cookies.
As always, the photos in this post were taken on the author's coconut flour dusted iPhone.
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these look like they would pair great with my almond butter... hmmm maybe ill try making some but i sure ain't good at baking LOL
HA! Neither am I, but it didn't stop me! You'll have to let me know how it goes if you choose to make some, for you have almond butter on your side and it makes everything better!
Hmm looks tasty! I was thinking of experimenting with cookies myself, today. Though I don't have the ingredients for these atm, I'll definitely try them sometime!
I hear you on the ingredients thing, I had to really scrounge the cupboards and do some thinking before I could even come up with the almond things. Hope your experiments turn out well, and thank you so much for the kind words:)!
Looking good!
Looks like you missed the coconut flour out of the ingredients list, though?
I know what you mean about coconut flour. I find it rather dry, no matter how much fat you add. Though usually, cut with almond flour, it's not too bad. I usually do 2 parts almond to 1 part coconut. I used to sometimes a bit of arrowroot as well, but depends how low carb you want to be.
Personally I can't stand stevia. But hard to know what else to use for very low carb. I might try a little carob instead of some of the coconut flour, which would give a little sweetness, though it might mask the almond flavour a bit.
I may have some other similar recipes but would have to dig around. I don't think I've come with anything better looking than yours though. What sort of texture are they in the middle? I'm wondering if they would be a bit different if flattened.
LOL! I have to have at least a couple of derp moments every day:o). I think I accidentally cut the coconut flour out of the recipe when I was editing that bit of text. I must have been thinking about about the sawdust effect;) Thanks for the catch!
I usually cut the stevia aftertaste with a bit of erythritol, but I have been trying to keep things as simple as possible in the added ingredient department.
The middle of the cookies were my favorite part, almost like a truffle! It was creamy, buttery, and almond flavor-town! I'll squish a few next time to see what that does.
Have you ever tried oat fiber to improve the texture of low carb baked goods? It's gluten, calorie, and carb free, and I do think it helps balance out almond flavor. Maybe I will experiment with that more next time too!
Thank you so much for your comments kiwideb, I really enjoy and appreciate them!