Delicate, crisp, and crumbly in the best possible way. These are the cookies you make when your fridge has a small bowl of leftover egg yolks and you refuse to let them go to waste.
If you have ever made meringues, macarons, or a creme brulee, you know the guilt of tipping those lonely yolks into the bin. These little crescent cookies are your answer. Rich with the golden fat of the yolks, they bake up into something wonderfully thin and crispy, very close in spirit to a classic shortbread, but entirely gluten-free.
The combination of whole-grain brown rice flour and rice starch is what makes the texture so satisfying. The starch lightens the dough without making it fragile, while the whole rice flour gives a faint nuttiness that pairs beautifully with ghee. Speaking of ghee: it is my fat of choice here, but any clarified butter works. If you need this to be dairy-free as well, a solid coconut oil works well in its place.
The dough comes together very quickly and does not need chilling before rolling, which makes this one of the more forgiving gluten-free baking projects. If your kitchen is very warm and the dough feels too soft to roll, just pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
You can also make these with regular sugar or swap it for coconut sugar for a more caramel-like depth. The cookies will darken a little more quickly with coconut sugar, so keep an eye on the oven towards the end of baking.
Gluten-free shortbread cookies
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Ingredients
1 cup + 2 tbsp whole brown rice flour (160 g)
6 tbsp rice starch (50 g)
¼ cup sugar (50 g)
5 tbsp clarified butter, cold and cubed (75 g)
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp plant-based milk (40 g)
4 tbsp chocolate chips (50 g)
How to
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the rice flour, rice starch, baking powder, sugar, cold cubed ghee, and egg yolks. Mix on low speed until the mixture starts to come together in rough, shaggy clumps.
- Add the plant milk a little at a time, still on low, and the chocolate chips, until the dough comes together into a smooth, cohesive ball. It should not be sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a surface lightly dusted with fine (not whole-grain) rice flour. You can also place it among two pieces of parchment papers. Roll it out to about 1 cm / half inch thickness. Cut into your favorite shape with a cookie cutter or a sharp knife.
- Arrange on a lined baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C / 350°F for about 20 minutes, on the middle rack, until just lightly golden on the edges.
- Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before eating or storing. They firm up and crisp as they cool, so resist the temptation to judge them straight from the oven.
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