GLUTEN-FREE SHORTBREAD

12 ounces Gluten Free Flour Mix (Rice Flour, Breadfruit Flour)

1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1 1/2 ounces white rice flour
4 ounces powdered sugar (grind it fine, if you can)
generous pinch kosher salt
1/2 pound unsalted butter, cool and not melty (out of the refrigerator for 10 minutes)

Preparing to bake. Butter a half jelly roll pan. (A jelly roll pan is a baking sheet with sides.) Carefully lay down a piece of parchment paper, with enough to leave some hanging over the edges. Press it into the buttered pan, taking care to leave no wrinkles. Butter the parchment paper. Set aside.

Making the dough. Put the flour, xanthan gum, guar gum, white rice flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk them together to combine and aerate. Cut the butter into small chunks and add them to the flour. Using your hands and patience, knead the butter into the dough. Think pie crust. Think about massage. You are trying to coat every part of the flour with fat. Work with purpose — you don’t want the butter to grow too warm. When the butter is fully kneaded into the flour, you are done.

Press the dough into the buttered parchment paper. It might be crumbly at first, but you can press it together. (If you don’t have a half jelly roll pan — and we don’t! — fill only half the jelly roll pan.) When it is all pressed in, put another piece of parchment paper over the top and roll the dough smooth with a rolling pin.

Prick the top of the dough with a fork, leaving no more than 1/4-inch space between fork pricks. This will help prevent the dough from puffing and rising unevenly. Using a sharp knife, score the dough all the way down to the bottom of the pan. (If you want bars, cut those. If you want squares, cut those.)

Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Baking the shortbread. Preheat the oven to 300°. When it is fully heated, remove the jelly roll pan from the refrigerator and slide it into the oven. Bake until the edges are lightly golden brown and the top of the shortbread set, about 45 to 60 minutes, depending on your oven.

Remove the shortbread from the oven. Cut into the lines you scored before baking. Allow the shortbread to cool before eating.

And there you have it. Gluten-free shortbread.

More Recipes:  CLICK HERE!

Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies

½ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 ½ cups Artisan Flour Mix

½ cup cornstarch

¼ to ½ teaspoon salt.

Use an electric mixer on low speed to combine butter and sugar, about 30 seconds. Keeping the speed low, beat in the egg yolk, then the flour, cornstarch and salt until the mixture barely holds together. Do not overbeat.

To make shapes, form dough into ball, wrap in plastic and freeze or refrigerate for at least 30 minutes til firm. Roll out on a lightly floured surface (use the artisan mix) until it is ¼ inch thick. Cut into any shape you like, using cookie cutters or your knife.  Put the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet (you may use parchment paper to make clean-up easier). Chill for at least an hour. Or you can also shape the dough into a round, triangular or rectangular log, then refrigerate or freeze for at least 30 minutes.  Slice 1/4 –inch cookies and put on the baking sheet.

Heat oven to 275. Bake the cookies until just firm but still quite tender and not all brown, about 30 minutes. Cool for a minute on the sheet before using a spatula to transfer the cookies to a rack to finish cooling.

You can make a chocolate topping by melting 1 cup of semisweet chocolate in a double boiler or microwave.  Dip your cookies into it and place on waxed paper until the chocolate hardens.

For more recipes: CLICK HERE

We've added more recipes to our site:  recipes

Do you know why Xanthan Gum is often used in recipes that call for Breadfruit Flour?  Since the flour is gluten-free, Xanthan is used to "leaven" or allow the pastry to puff up like what you'd experience with wheat flour.  Xanthan is also gluten-free and is 100% natural--- so be sure to use it for recipes like dumplings or breads for a healthy result!

Breadfruit Flour is a gluten free food.  Here's a recipe for a flour mix... you can get most of the additional ingredients like xanthan gum at specialty grocers or organic markets.

Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Mix

(makes about three cups)

This versatile mix can be used in almost every gluten-free recipe.  Use whenever your recipe calls for gluten-free flour.

1¼ cups of breadfruit flour

¾ cup sorghum flour

2/3 cup cornstarch

¼ cup potato starch

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon potato flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

Combine all the ingredients and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  Measure and use in your favorite recipes.  Scoop the flour from this artisan batch and use a knife to level off.  Do not tamp or press flour into measuring cup!

Here's one of our favorite recipes using breadfruit flour---

Breadfruit Parmesan and Crab Fritters          

Cheese and fish fritters are a popular Caribbean tradition. This combination of Parmesan cheese and crab adds a unique blend to puree of Breadfruit.  These fritters can be prepared up to four hours ahead and reheated, or even served at room temperature.

1 ½ cup of Breadfruit flour

1 garlic clove diced

¼ cup chopped chives

¼ cup chopped thyme

¼ cup diced sweet peppers

¼ cup chopped parsley

2 eggs (for mix)

2 eggs (beaten for pre-frier)

1 cup of all-purpose flour

(for pre-frier)

1 spoonful of melted butter

½ cup grated Parmesan

½ cup fresh crab shredded and de-shelled

As per traditional fresh Breadfruit recipes, make a puree with the Breadfruit flour adding boiling water to thicken.  Mix in all ingredients and form into tablespoon size balls. Dip each ball first into the beaten eggs and then roll in all purpose flour.  Fry in boiling oil to golden brown.

Click Here!

Did you know that Breadfruit Flour is a natural gluten-free food?  You can use it for all recipes that call for flour.  Make pancakes, crepes, pie shells, pasta, pizza, dumplings, naan bread, tart shells and fritters.  RECIPES CLICK HERE!