Pecan Shortbread Cookies
These gluten free pecan shortbread cookies are a quick and easy high protein treat!
Gluten free cookies are very important to the newly diagnosed celiac. These gluten free shortbread cookies are made with high protein almond flour, a nutritious and satiating ingredient. This quick and easy shortbread recipe also makes great gluten free Christmas cookies.
These cookies are so good my friend Elizabeth tells me they're addictive. Go ahead, bake these buttery treats and see for yourself.
Pecan Shortbread Cookies
- 2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
- 5 tablespoons agave nectar
- ½ cup salted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- In a large bowl combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and pecans
- In a smaller bowl, mix together agave, butter and vanilla
- Mix wet ingredients into dry
- Place dough in the center of a large piece of parchment paper
and form into a large log approximately 2½ inches in diameter
- Place in freezer for one hour, until firm, unwrap and cut into ⅛ inch thick slices
- Place slices on a parchment lined baking sheet
- Bake at 350° until lightly golden, 7-10 minutes
- Cool and serve
Makes 24 cookies
More cookies and desserts you might enjoy:
I made these last weekend and they are delicious! I made half the batch the weekend before last and kept the other half of the dough in the freezer. I was able to just take the rest of the dough out and let it sit for a few minutes then pop them into the oven this weekend for a quick treat! I used half Agave and half stevia powder and they were perfectly sweet!
Thank you so much for all of your fantastic recipes, Elana! You have helped me feel as though I can eat like a ‘real person’ again! :)
I made these again this week to cure my sweet tooth :). This time I doubled the vanilla, added an extra pinch of salt, used only 3 TBS of Agave and 3/4 tsp Stevia powder and added 1/2 cup of creamy salted Whole Foods brand peanut butter instead of butter. They are so yummy! I haven't had a peanut butter cookie in at least 6 years! What a treat!
For those of you who want a great gluten free peanut butter cookie, try this
1 c peanut butter
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
mix all together in a bowl. roll dough into balls the size of walnuts. place on baking sheet lined with parchment. with fork dipped in sugar make crisscross on top of each cookie. bake at 350 for 12 minutes. cool slightly on pan before removing. makes great ice cream sandwich cookies.
Enjoy!!
I added 1 tablespoon each of orange peel and orange extract, doubled the pecans, and substituted 2 tablespoons of the agave with brown sugar. Sprinkled lightly with cinnamon sugar. This is such a yummy basic recipe that lends itself to all kinds of possibilities, depending on what ingredients are on hand. Thank you for your great inspirations.
wow! I had my doubts about this cookie, but I was soooo wrong. delicious. thanks so much.
Love the taste of pecans in cookies but hate making cookies so always find short cuts. Made these with quite a few shortcuts but they still came out delicious, chewy instead of crisp.
Had to skip the vanilla (doesn't work for my body).
Creamed my room temp. butter with 1 1/2 c. almond flour. Stirred the rest of the dry ingredients into another bowl. Added the agave to the creamed mixture and blended well. Then added in the dry mixture. Scooped onto parchment lined sheet. 10 minutes at 350 degrees was perfect. 24 cookies exactly.
Getting them off the sheet without crumbling was a bit of trouble. They wanted to fall apart. So..I let them cool on the parchment and the pan for 2 minutes, then carefully slid the parchment onto a rack for 2 minutes, before removing from the parchment. Saved them from any more crumbles. They can now be picked up whole.
Will try these the proper way some time because I love shortbread too!
The coconut sugar I ordered came in yesterday and I decided to test it out today.
I made this recipe and substituted toasted chopped almonds for the pecans and the coconut sugar for the agave nectar. I wasn’t sure they would turn out because of using a dry sweetener in place of the liquid but they came out GREAT!
I don’t follow Elana’s directions, just the ingredients list. This time I rolled the batter into 24 balls and flattened them on my parchment paper to about 1/4 inch thickness, baked for 12 minutes. The batter held together well and was just the right texture to roll. They came out dry and crispy just like shortbread but the cookies are not crumbly and I didn’t have to let them cool on the sheets before removing to the racks. They worked just like a “regular flour” cookie.
Best of all is, even 2 hours after eating some, I still don’t have heart palpitations or racing heart! No negative effects like with real sugar, honey, and other stuff for me. I hope this continues and in a few days I can say I have finally found a sugar substitute I can use!
I post as "bakingfool" in the forums as my name was already taken.
I came back to edit but this is the best I can do.
Just wanted to say that I also received my pure ground vanilla beans and used that in place of the liquid vanilla.
bakingfool
These cookies were delicious. I too don't want to use agave so I used 1/2 stevia and agave. Also used 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 almond extract. Crumbled cookies make a great crust for pumpkin cheesecake bars.
Thanks locarbjen,
I am not supposed to have Agave on my diet but I cheated just a little ;) I took your recommendation and used 3T Stevia and 2T agave. Needless to say I got sick because I ate way too many cookies. They are great! Thanks for the recipe Elana!
Jenna,
Thanks for the peanut butter tip. I will be sure to try it next time!
These cookies were delicious. I too don't want to use agave so I used 1/2 xylitol and agave. Also used 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 almond extract. Crumbled cookies make a great crust for pumpkin cheesecake bars.
We just made our first almond flour recipe... the Pecan Shortbread Cookies. They are delicious. We substituted grade B Organic Maple Syrup for the agave nectar. No problems... just yummy!
This cookie is my family's new favorite!
I'm newly diagnosed as diabetic and am searching like crazy for recipes that I can use instead of the things I've been making for years that got me to this point, especially baking. This site looks wonderful and I've already ordered The Almond Flour Cookbook.
My question: why are people opposed to agave? What research I've done seems to be very positive about the use of this low-glycemic sweetner. What am I missing?
I don't use agave because it gives me headaches; same with cane sugar. But probably many people don't use it because of the cost. (I know... when you're so limited in what you can eat anyway, it would be nice if price were a non-issue.)
Susan ~ there is much debate about agave nectar. Research has shown that agave nectar is high in fructose and elicits the same insulin response in the body that sugar does. I have Lyme disease and cannot have grains or sugar because the Lyme bacteria feeds on sugar. I can use stevia, which is a very safe, natural sweetener. I wish we would see more recipes with stevia....thank you, Elana, for your yummy recipes!
Can't quite figure out how to lower the agave in my recipes. I am needing less carbs. We love agave, but if I want a special treat for me I need something with less carbs. Any wisdom? I notice some of you use stevia with the agave, that is a great idea, but when you say you used 1/2 agave 1/2 stevia that didn't seem right. Maybe I read it wrong?
above, Jamie wrote:
August 30, 2010 at 7:02 pm
...I am not supposed to have Agave on my diet but I cheated just a little ;) I took your recommendation and used 3T Stevia and 2T agave.
Karen
I just discovered organic coconut (nectar) syrup, harvested in a similar way to maple syrup. It's quite gelatinous in texture but it's a good substitute for agave nectar. According to the label, it's easier on the endocrin (insulin) system.
Well, my husband who hates health food swears that the frozen dough tastes like his moms divintiy. Don't ask me how, but all I care about is my healthy food hating husband loves these!!! I use 2 TBS agave, 3 TBS xyiltol
This is a fabulous recipe. Although not celiac, I like the richness and texture of almond flour. I have a couple of hints and can never resist making a recipe "my own." The "dough" was quite sloppy, so I put the entire batch in the bowl in the freezer for about 15 minutes to make it more malleable. Then I put it into the baking parchment (natural wax paper would do and the dough would come off more easily) to form the log.
I had just bought some hemp seeds so I used 1 tablespoonful of those instead of the pecans. I also had some organic raw cacao powder and added 2 teaspoons of that to the dry ingredients. The results were very good. May cut back on the agave next time. I baked them for 10 minutes. Essential to follow directions and cool on the baking sheet! I baked half the dough and left the rest in the freezer for another batch. What a great dessert with some simple vanilla ice cream - just on their own with a cup of tea. Amazing! Thanks Elana.
These were fabulous! I substituted coconut oil and they turned out beautifully. I gave then to my family just telling them they were shortbread cookies and they loved them- no idea they were grain free and vegan! Thanks for the great recipe!
I made these with palm oil and only 4T of silan instead of agave. Turned out great! Thanks
What is silan? Looking for alternative sweeteners of all kinds.
Hi Elana, I just made these. I followed the recipe exactly and felt that cookie didn't have the same kind of texture as shortbread. It was more cookie-like. I thought they were very tasty, though. I am wondering if less fat in the recipe would give it more of the sandy texture of shortbread. (I thought that the scone recipes with egg had more of a short bread texture...I made mine with dried cherries and organic baker's chocolate...and they were fantastic!)
Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I substituted honey for the agave and grapeseed oil for the butter. That made for one very rich cookie. I would probably cut back on the oil a bit and only use 3T honey next time.
Thank you for the great recipe!
Do you think this would work as a base for Rum balls?
I love your site!! I have for a very long time. You were the first site I found when I learnt that 4 members in my family had "C" I made some candy bars today and wanted to share the recipe with you because I used these great cookies in them. Thank you so much for all you do you were my shinning star in the begining darkness. http://perfectlynaturalfamilysoaps.com/1/post/2011/12/gluten-dairy-processed-sugar-free-candy.html
YUMMY! YUMMY! YUMMY!
Thank you!
Well, I'm trying these out for the first time, but I had a lot of trouble forming the log to place in the freezer. I followed the recipe from the book, using 1/2 c. grapeseed oil. It just kept crumbling and crumbling. I finally just sort of rolled it up in the parchment as best I could and squeezed it down to form a long mound. How is everybody making a log???
P.S. I'll let you know if I'm even able to slice the mound to bake them in about an hour. Wish me luck.
OK, so I made them, but they certainly weren't what I expected. They were crumbly and sort of tasty, but still not easily made, as trying to cut the frozen "dough" still was messy. Could it have been that I used coconut flour AND blanched almond flour instead of just almond flour? Maybe I should use butter instead of grapeseed oil? I truly want almond flour to be something I can use.
Made these tonight! Wonderful!! I switched the agave necter for raw honey very good.
I made a small batch of these today and am very pleased! As a low-carb diabetic, being able to have relatively healthy cookies on hand is so wonderful. I made a few mods/substitutions which may help others - I made a 1/4 batch, so keep that in mind when noting the amounts I used. Instead of the agave, I used 2 scant tbsp splenda and 1 tbsp beaten egg. I will try stevia and egg next time. Also, I left out the baking soda. Since there is no acid used in the recipe, the baking soda will actually remain un-reacted sodium bicarbonate and leave your cookies with a "soapy" taste. I meant to add a tiny pinch of salt but forgot. It is essential to freeze the dough for 20-30 min because this helps it keep its shape while baking. The egg also helps bind the cookie. I baked at 350 for 9 min, and they turned out awesome! Perfect texture and just right sweetness. FYI - I'm at 5000ft. Thanks Elana for posting your recipe!