This is one of my favourite cookie recipes inspired by Alison Roman’s salted chocolate chunk shortbread cookies. They make a wonderful Christmas gift, but are also perfect to pair with your tea or coffee.
As usual, just a few notes for this recipe:
- This cookie dough is extremely versatile and you can customise it to your liking. I’ve made three variations here: a plain square shortbread, chocolate chunk, and chocolate and macadamia. My personal favourite is the chocolate chunk version. So you can divide the dough up and can incorporate whatever you like into the dough, or just keep it plain.
- This recipe involves creaming together the cold butter with the sugars for at least 5 minutes. To achieve a light but crumbly texture, it is important to incorporate air into the dough and not to skimp on this step.
- The flours used in this recipe are white rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch. The xanthan gum is optional, but I find the texture is better with it included. If you have a gluten-free flour blend you like to use, simply replace the flours with 175g of gluten-free plain flour. When the flour is added, the dough may seem a bit dry, but you can use your hands to bring it together if needed.
- These cookies can easily be made vegan by simply using a dairy-free butter and a plant-based milk instead of egg to coat the dough.
- Once the dough has been made and rolled into logs, it needs to be refrigerated for about 2 hours. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, or kept in the freezer for up to 1 month.
- If chocolate chunks or nuts have been incorporated into the dough, it can be difficult to slice into rounds as the dough can break apart. So if this happens, simply try to piece the rounds together as best you can.
I hope you enjoy the recipe, and let me know if you have any questions!
Gluten-free Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 125g unsalted butter, cold and chopped into 1cm cubes (can use dairy-free butter)
- 55g caster sugar
- 25g brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 105g white rice flour
- 45g potato starch
- 20g tapioca starch
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (optional)
- 1 egg, beaten (or 2 tbsp plant-based milk)
- Raw or demerara sugar for rolling
Method
- In the bowl of a standmixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the cold butter, both sugars and vanilla on high speed until light and pale in colour, about 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and xanthan gum. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and beat on low speed until a dough forms. At this point, you can incorporate chocolate chunks, chopped nuts or whatever mix-ins you prefer (see below). If the dough seems dry, you can use your hands to bring it together.
- Divide the dough in half, placing each half onto a piece of cling film. Wrap the dough in the cling film, and shape the into a log or square shape. For the log-shaped dough, I like to roll it on the bench to smooth it out, and it should be about 2.5 to 3cm in diameter. For the square-shaped dough, I like to use a bench scraper to get clean edges. Chill the dough until firm, about 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- Remove the logs from the fridge and unwrap from the cling film. Brush the the outside of the logs lightly with beaten egg or milk, and roll the logs in raw sugar.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the log into 1cm-thick rounds, and place them on the prepared bakings trays about 2cm apart (they won’t spread much).
- Bake for about 7-10 minutes, until the edges are beginning to brown. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the tray.
- Store the cookies in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.
Variations:
- Chocolate chunk shortbread: Add about 100g of chopped chocolate into the dough (step 2). I like to use a mixture of milk chocolate and dark chocolate.
- Chocolate and macadamia: Along with the dry ingredients, add 20g of cocoa powder into the dough, then incorporate 100g of chopped, roasted macadamia nuts.