Grain-Free Walnut Shortbread Cookie Recipe

Hello friend! I hope you’re having a lovely spring so far! I finally was able to get out and clear up the garden so it’s starting to really feel like spring. I also jumped in my parents’ pool the other day under the misguided belief it was over 70 degrees… it was not, but it still felt great to get my first (very brief) swim of the year under my belt!

Today I want to share with you a new recipe I’m obsessed with. I’ve been having one (or two… maybe three) with my Halva Hot Chocolate most mornings while I work on some writing projects and I have to say it’s a super soothing way to start the day. Windows open, birds chirping, cookies, and hot chocolate? I don’t think it gets better than that!

I basically created this recipe because I was out of my favourite almond flour and wanted a little something tasty. I have a giant bag of walnuts in my fridge so I figured it would be worth an experiment. And let me just say, this has quickly moved up the ranks of my favourite cookie recipes alongside my Snickerdoodles, Double Chocolate Avocado Fudge Cookies, and my Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

They have that buttery, slightly crumbly, salty sweet flavour I remember from the shortbreads I used to snarf down at my nana’s when I was little. I didn’t add much sugar to my recipe, so feel free to add an extra tablespoon or two if that’s more to your tastes.

The process takes about 5 minutes to pull together and it’s fun because you have to get your hands right into the mix or it won’t work. I like to cut my cookies into little rectangles, but feel free to get creative and shape them however your heart desires.

The recipe is grain-free and uses a little bit of coconut and tapioca flour to bind together the walnuts and delicious butter. I haven’t tried making it vegan with coconut oil, so if you test it and it works pop it in the comments! Enjoy 😀

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Grain-Free Crunchy Walnut Shortbread Cookie Recipe

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: grain-free walnut shortbread cookie recipe, Healthy Gluten-Free Shortbread Cookie Recipe, healthy shortbread cookie recipe

Author: Caitlin Iles

Ingredients

• 1 cup walnuts, ground
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 tbsp. tapioca flour
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. coconut palm sugar
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup organic or grassfed butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Using a coffee grinder or small food processor grind your walnuts down until there are not large chunks left. Make sure you don't over grind them and turn them into nut butter.

3. Add ground walnuts, coconut flour, tapioca flour, coconut palm sugar, and sea salt to a mixing bowl and stir together.

4. Break your butter into little chunks and add it to the bowl. Add vanilla.

5. Knead the butter into the flour mixture until it makes a soft ball.

6. If it is sticky, place the dough in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes so that you can easily shape the dough with your hands.

7. Depending on your preference, you can roll small cookie balls and press them flat with the bottom of a glass. I like the form the dough into a small rectangle about 1 inch thick by 6 or 7 inches, then cut them into about 1/2 a cm thick rectangles, like you see in the picture above. I ended up with about 16-18 cookies.

8. Place in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. You don't want the edges to brown. If you cut them really thick they might need longer to cook.

9. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet. This step is very important because if you try to move them too soon they will crumble into oblivion.

10. Once set, move to a cooling rack. Make sure your cookies are fully cooled before storing in an airtight container.