Maple Pecan Gluten Free Shortbread recipe! Gluten free shortbread cookies with chopped pecans and sweetened with pure maple syrup. Lads and ladies: these are paleo.
Here’s one of the solutions to the “problem” I told you about yesterday.
You’ll see the other solution tomorrow. In the meantime, shortbread!
I always thought of shortbread as the filler cookie that cookie manufacturers put in those holiday cookie tins in order to even out the cookie bliss.
Like, they wouldn’t want to give you too many linzer, wafers, chocolate chip, or peppermint cookies because that would result in too much ecstasy.
And so they placed the less desirable lumps of shortbread in with the other much more desirable cookies in order to ensure you maintained some semblance of balance in life.
No joke, I totally thought this.
And apparently so did the rest of my family, because whenever we received one of those mixed cookie tins, we picked through all the cookies until there was nothing but shortbread remaining.
And then the tin sat. And sat. Until next Christmas rolled around.
It took me until my mid-twenties to realize not all shortbreads are created equal.
And if you’ve never made it homemade, I seriously recommend it! Whole ‘nother ball of wax, I tell ya. I love shortbread made with almond meal and coconut oil because it has an inherently rich flavor, while being all sorts of magical for your body.
Which brings me to my next point: Xmas cookies made with almond meal and coconut oil are the peanut butter to my jelly.
I can’t tell you how many cups of coconut oil and almond flour I’ve cycled through in the last week, but I can tell you this: it’s been delicious.
And the two ingredients are marvelous for gluten free (and paleo) baking.
This is a pretty dern clean shortbread.
At a minimum, all you need is almond flour, pecans, pure maple syrup, and coconut oil! BOOM 4-ingredient vegan shortbread cookies!
No sugar, butter, or grains.
The first time I made shortbread, I tried to beat the system by omitting the step where you freeze or refrigerate the dough. This step omission did not a success make.
The cookies spread out to the far reaches of the cookie tray, and even though they tasted spectacularly, they were reduced to mere crumbs.
This is me advising you to not omit the refrigeration/freezing step, as doing so will botch your batter (dough…but “batter” just sounded better on account of the b’s).
You’ve got this! We’ve got gluten-free shortbread to consume!
Also try my Chocolate Dipped Cardamom Orange Shortbread Cookies and my Cranberry Pistachio Vegan Shortbread Cookies.
Maple Pecan Gluten Free Shortbread (Paleo)
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour/meal
- ½ cup chopped raw pecans
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch sea salt
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add first four ingredients and stir together. Add the remaining (wet ingredients) and mix until a sticky dough forms.
- Make a ball out of the dough, pressing it together, then place it on a sheet of plastic wrap and form a cylinder or a log (the log will be over a foot long, so if you'd like, you can cut it in two so that the logs are easier to manage/less deicate). Wrap the log tightly in the plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Unwrap the cookie dough, place it on a cutting board, and slice 1/4-inch thick slices to form cookie shapes. Place dough on a baking sheet and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.
- Remove cookies from the oven, and allow them to sit 15 minutes before removing them from the baking sheet with a spatula.
Thank you for this recipe! My mom and I are trying our best to eat healthy during this holiday season and these cookies saved they day at a recent Christmas party. They are absolutely delicious!! I replaced the coconut oil with butter and it was perfect. (I only had butter available or I would have followed the directions exactly.)
Yaaaay, I’m so thrilled to hear it, Nancy! I bet the butter gave the cookies excellent flavor! Thanks so much for letting me know everyone enjoyed them! xo
I love this recipe! These taste divine!
Want to make some for someone who cannot have coconut oil. What would you suggest as a good alternative? still keeping it dairy free though. Thank you!
Hi Cristina! I haven’t tested the recipe using anything other than coconut oil and butter, so I can’t be too sure. You’ll need a fat that solidifies when chilled, so you can try palm shortening or ghee (if ghee is tolerated). Hope that helps! xo
What would you suggest to substitute for the coconut oil? I have an allergy to coconut and dairy. Do you think walnut meal/flour would work in place of the almond flour/meal?
Hi Jean! Butter or vegan butter spread will work in place of the coconut oil. I’ve never used walnut flour, but I’ve used hazelnut flour quite a bit as a replacement for almond flour and it works great! So I assume walnut flour will work too 😀 xoxo
I come back to this simple and yummy recipe all the time! I use pecans & walnuts sometimes! Keeping it simple and gluten-free is the right thing to do 😊
So thrilled to hear it, Anna! Love the idea of using walnuts as well! Many thanks for the sweet note! xoxox
these cookies are WONDERFUL! i made my first batch last week, gifted some to friends & i’ve already been asked for the recipe. i’m making my second batch today! they’re the perfect texture, made simply but beautifully. & they taste great with coffee in the morning. thank you!
I’m so thrilled to hear you like them, Amy!! Thanks so much for the sweet note, and Merry Christmas! xoxo 😀
THEY ARE YUMMERS! What’s the actual carb count for these?
I’ve just recently discovered that I cannot eat eggs, dairy, gluten, refined sugar (and a few other things). I just finished up the big batch of Christmas cookies to mail home to family, and was super bummed that I couldn’t eat them also.
And then I found this recipe. Where I live, the ingredients are pretty expensive, but it’s totally worth it. I ate six (six!) right out of the oven.
Definitely going to save this recipe. Thanks for posting it!
You’re so welcome! I’m glad to hear it worked out so well for you! xo
I’ve been making this recipe for the past 4 Christmases. I absolutely love it as is, but last year and this I am using ghee… you can’t beat the flavour of ghee, takes it to a whole new shortbread level! Still paleo but as buttery and rich as the “real” thing.
I’m so happy to hear it! I absolutely love this recipe to, and make it time and again. I’ll have to make it with ghee as well – it sounds absolutely delicious! xo
I’d love for mine to be a tiny bit sweeter. Do you think it would diminish the texture of the cookie to add more maple syrup or add in some honey?
I think you could definitely get away with adding more! I’d guage it by how the dough looks…if it seems too moist, you can up the dosage of almond flour too, but my guess is you’d be fine if you added 1 – 2 TBL more. If you have coconut sugar lying around, you can also try that!
Can I make this with butter instead?
Hi Lisa,
I have never tested my shortbread recipes using butter, but I suspect they will still work with that replacement! Let me know if you try it! 😀