Gluten-Free Shortbread

I've been experimenting with using coconut flour for gluten-free, nut-free baking. My first project (that turned out surprisingly very nicely!) was a batch of miniature cupcakes.

This success, leftover cream from someone's birthday ice cream, and an abundance of frozen strawberries led me to want to experiment more. I decided I would make us gluten-free, nut-free, coconut flour shortbread with whipped cream and strawberry sauce for toppings. (That's a mouthful to say and to eat!) I would make it for breakfast. It would be awesome. I took this recipe but made sure to read the comments and eventually decided (after a couple of tests) that it needed extra butter and an egg. But some people said two eggs and some said one. And was I supposed to sift my coconut flour? It didn't say. So...RESEARCH! It was fun. And crazy. If at first you don't succeed, Google again. I found a great article about coconut flour in general, egg ratios, and sifting. Hooray! It's already hard in the first place to find an alternative flour shortbread recipe that takes just coconut flour and no expensive-as-ground-gold almond flour. If you find one it takes honey or maple syrup. Bummer! We were all out of alternative sweeteners, so I'd have to use refined sugar. People have filled the internet up with tricks for switching from cane sugar to honey but never vice versa. Except this article. Hooray again! (I just read the tips part, so I can't recommend the whole article.) Anyway, it turned out very yummy and successful; and I'll share my version of the recipe in a minute here.

I'm pretty happy with this alternative flour thing, but a couple words of advice before you get started. 1. Follow the measurements exactly. Coconut flour is a wild animal. 2. Make sure your flour is finely ground. Each of these recipes failed when I used a coarser flour (or the wrong one). 3. Coconut four and almond flour bought in bulk can be the same texture, color, and even weight. Careful, this is an expensive mistake to make since they act totally differently so there's no salvaging your recipe. ; ) 4. When in doubt--RESEARCH!

Coconut Flour Shortbread Cookies
You will need:
6 TBS coconut flour, sifted
5 TBS melted butter, cooled
1 egg
2 TBS sugar
1 1/2 tsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients until not lumpy. (Coconut flour can be weird!) Roll balls and arrange on a lightly greased baking sheet. Smash with a fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before removing from sheet. Serve with strawberry sauce and whipped cream.

And if you like videos... 

My younger sister Pearl made one of how to make it!

And whipped cream...

And strawberry sauce! (Yes, those are my clumsy hands.) ; )

Enjoy!