Tess’ traditional pecan holiday cookies now in a gluten-free version. Make it dairy-free, too, using your own plant-based “butter” or a commercial version.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 1/4 cup corn flour (not corn starch!)
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- (Aim for about 240g total)
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthin gum
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup diced or minced pecans
- 5 TBSP sugar
- 1 TBSP water*
- mix the dough before adding water. If the dough sticks together when you press with your hand, omit the water. If the dough is crumbly, add tap water.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- confectioner’s sugar (optional topping after baking)
- melted chocolate (optional topping)
Directions:
- Whisk together flours, starches, and salt.
- Use mixer to cream the butter, sugar, vanilla together.
- Stir the flour mixture into the cream mixture by hand, then mix in the pecans, also by hand. (These are delicate cookies so you don’t want to be harsh with the dough.)
- If the dough sticks together easily, omit the water. Add it if the dough is crumbly or dry at all.
- *Chill the dough for at least 45 minutes to let the flour fully absorb the liquids. You can skip this step, but it leaves the cookies slightly dryer/sandier than they should be.
- Shape the cookies by hand and place on a baking tray. You can roll them into the traditional shape, but you can do what you like with them. Just don’t make them too big.
- Bake at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes. Take them out before the edges brown.
- While still warm, sprinkle confectioner’s sugar and let it melt into the cookie tops.
- Something I’ve added more recently is to drag half the cookie into melted dark chocolate after adding the sugar. It makes them look like they came from a bakery and it’s delicious.
