Inspired by these lemon-lucuma shortbreads at Sketch-free Vegan Eating, I set about coming up with a version of the recipe with things I had on hand. I actually did have lucuma, but I think it’s a waste in these cookies, since you don’t taste the butterscotch-sweetness of the fruit. That’s pretty much how I feel about everything made with lucuma powder if it’s not made with about a cup of the stuff (which would cost a fortune). So feel free to use more brown rice flour instead of lucuma powder. I recently found coconut sugar, which is very similar to brown sugar but has a lower glycemic index. It seems more natural than stevia and xylitol, so it’s now my crystallized sugar of choice. You can make these with honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar but they’ll be flatter and denser.
Gluten-Free Lemon Cookies
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
6 tbsp lucuma powder
Zest of one lemon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup earth balance
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 egg (or 1 flax egg, or nothing)
Juice of half a lemon (about 2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or the seeds of one vanilla bean
1/4 cup almond milk
Combine brown rice flour, lucuma powder, salt and lemon zest in a medium bowl. In a large bowl cream the earth balance with the coconut sugar. Beat in the egg, followed by the lemon juice and almond milk. Add the dry ingredients and use your hands to combine (or stir, but that involves less love…)
Preheat oven to 350F. Form dough into balls and place on parchment-lined (or earth balance-greased) cookie sheets. Flatten slightly (they don’t spread as they bake unless you used honey or maple syrup or oil). Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (smaller cookies take less time). Makes a dozen or so cookies.
I don’t think this is the best recipe ever, but it’s satisfying in a healthy kind of way, and it doesn’t taste like gluten-free store-bought cardboard cookies. There’s a lot to be said for that…
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