03/02/2021
Necessity (and desire) is the mother of invention. While being gluten-free, lactose-free, and egg-free, anything that looks, tastes, or even feels like a cookie is a good thing. However, I always had a feeling I could do better than "gluten-free" flour, which is primarily made of rice flour and chickpea flour, both high in carbohydrates, which is not the best for us gluten-sensitive people. Tonight, I missed cookies. Buttery, sweet, soft, luxurious, high calorie, COOKIES.....
I had never gotten up the courage to make my own ghee before. It was daunting to heat up butter (what if I burn it?) and separate the milky lactose from the yellow transparent ghee (what if I screw up?) However, I had some high quality (albeit 6 month old) butter in my fridge, and I have been tolerating ghee just fine these last few weeks. So, I put the butter in a small pot over a very small flame. The white sediment sank to the bottom immediately and it was very easy to pour off the yellow liquid. I combined that in a mixing bowl with just almond flour and coconut flour - both entirely non-starchy baking flours with great flavor and texture. I added a generous glob of maple syrup and mixed.
Now, the batter is still too dry...I need more moisture....and, I need a binder...sans eggs...I looked around my kitchen and I had a ripe sweet plantain. I mashed that baby up and gave it a good stir into the batter. What resulted was a perfect consistency for a buttery, moist, smooth, very easily handleable cookie dough which I rolled into balls and flattened. I knew they would not rise so placing the whole batch on the same baking sheet was a no-brainer.
Into an oven at 350 they went, and I flipped some of them for good measure when they turned golden brown.
Now, I'm not much of a baker, and most of my gluten-free baking comes out "good"...for not being a baker, and for making gluten-free cookies, but these were different. These were actually GOOD ... MOIST, gently sweet, BUTTERY, and yes, although NO starchy flour was used, they wouldn't dare fall apart on me! Golden, with a nice subtle crust on the bottom and outside...but CHEWY on the inside. I had done the impossible: a truly LOW-CARB cookie that is JUST as satisfying as the real thing. This will be my go-to cookie recipe from now on. Not only nutritious, but very simple to make. Hope you try it!
Ghee - almond flour - coconut flour - maple syrup - mashed ripe sweet plantain. 🍪 Roll batter into balls with hands. Flatten on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 until golden brown on bottom.
