Originally posted December 6, 2010
I tend to overthink blogging some times, so this time, my intent is to be short and sweet (good luck to me). Many years ago, I had a recipe for Lemon Almond Cookies. I had copied it from a magazine (specifically from Gourmet, Feb 1990) and kept it all of these years. It is hand written on a recipe card; I added my own interpretation and instructions. (For the record, the recipe is so old that it predates almond flour! In the “old days”, I bought blanched slivered almonds and used the food processor to finely chop.) At Christmas, I always made these delicious, sweet, and crisp cookies.
I’m not sure of the last time I made them but in recent years, with a gluten-free diet, I hadn’t even attempted them. This year (2010), I just couldn’t take it and decided to convert it myself. My palate is fairly fine-tuned so I’m pretty good at distinguishing flavors. These hit the mark 100%. I’d be very surprised if anyone could tell (take a number if you want to come over to try one).
Of course, the downside is taste-testing and what that means to my middle. And by taste-testing, I mean eating 3 to 4 a day just to make sure they are still as delicious as the last time. LOL!
I’m now having some fun trying to convert old recipes to gluten-free. The original recipe was on Epicurious. If you omit the gf flour blend, rice flour, and gum and substitute with regular flour still adding the cornstarch and almond meal, you should be able to replicate the original recipe. Either way, these are delicious!
Gluten-Free Lemon Almond Cookies
Makes 36 cookies
- 1/2 cup almond meal (I prefer the skin-off so the cookies stay white)
- 3/4 cup Amy’s gluten-free flour blend or a rice-tapioca-potato starch based blend
- 1/4 cup sweet rice flour (white rice will work as well)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon fine kosher or sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your mix has gum)
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup/6 ounces) unsalted butter or butter substitute, softened
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons organic white sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest, about 1 medium to large lemon (use a microplane for this)
- In a small bowl, mix flours, salt and xanthan gum.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and 1 cup of the sugar for 2 minutes until fluffy. Scrape down the sides.
- Beat in the egg and the zest until well blended, scraping down the sides.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low until the dough is combined well. Raise the speed to medium and mix for 20 seconds. I found this helps to “gel” the xanthan gum.
- Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours.
- About 15 minutes before you start rolling the dough, preheat oven to 350°F.
- Remove dough from fridge. Form the dough into walnut-size balls and arrange them 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. 12 usually fit on one baking sheet.
- Place the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar on a plate. Dip the bottom of a moistened glass in the sugar and press down on the cookies slightly, flattening them to about 2 inches in diameter, maybe a little less. These will spread.
- Bake the cookies in the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through the baking, or until they are golden around the edges. I usually bake one tray at a time.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes then transfer them to racks.
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