Shortbread with coconut oil

[Ollie]

The unsweetened ones could be crumbled and sprinkled on veggies. Ark always liked his green beans with fried bread crumbs on top. Well, this is pretty darn close!

Great idea, could be used for 'bread-crumbing' meat and fish, etc before frying, and they are a lot easier to make compared with making bread and then producing breadcrumbs. :)

Learning is fun! And all from a simple set of healthy ingredients. :)

 

[Laura]

The unsweetened ones could be crumbled and sprinkled on veggies. Ark always liked his green beans with fried bread crumbs on top. Well, this is pretty darn close!

Great idea, could be used for 'bread-crumbing' meat and fish, etc before frying, and they are a lot easier to make compared with making bread and then producing breadcrumbs. :)

Learning is fun! And all from a simple set of healthy ingredients. :)

Yes! I'm quite inspired to experiment! If it wasn't so late, I'd go down to the kitchen and start baking now! I'm going to make the non-sweet ones with duck fat.

 

[Nienna]

The question was asked simply because Andromeda and I had been trying to think of ways to get coconut oil into our bodies and we don't really like the taste of it when it is used to cook meats or veggies. So, I suggested we try making shortbread with it.

So, we tried it and it was delicious.

I don't know about the proportions exactly:

250 grams of ghee
250 grams coconut oil
1 and 1/4 cup xylitol
1/2 cup d-ribose
Tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
Almost 2 K buckwheat flour

Cream the oil/ghee. Add the xylitol and d-ribose and salt. Then add the vanilla. Cream until very smooth.

Start adding the buckwheat flour and mixing after each addition. It will probably take almost 2 kg. You want it to make a nice, softly firm ball but not too soft and not too firm.

Then, divide it in two. Put one half on a baking paper lined big cookie sheet (with short sides). Cover with plastic wrap or more baking paper. Have someone hold it steady while you flatten it into the pan with a rolling pin. Do the same with the other half. Then cut into bar or squares with a sharp knife before putting in the oven. (take the baking paper off the top, that's just to help roll it.)

Bake at about 350 F or 160 C for 30 to 45 minutes or more until you can see it is beginning to brown. Take out and let cool and the bars should separate nicely and stack attractively on a plate.

You can also add ground coconut if you like.

Warning: don't think that you can add any water. It just makes it like bricks. It must be just oil and flour, basically. No other liquids (except that bit of vanilla and you can omit that if you like, or use lemon flavoring.)

I'm wondering if the coconut oil/ghee can be substituted with lard? I cannot eat either coconut oil or ghee. :( But I'd love to try some shortbread with quinoa.

Added: I hadn't seen the above post when I wrote this up. It looks like I can use duck fat instead of the oil/ghee combo. :)

 

[Laura]

Perceval likes cookies made with the quinoa also but they tend to not sit well with me. I think that quinoa will work fine for those that tolerate it well. And yeah, use lard if your system likes it better!

 

[KTC]

Here in Darwin, Aust. we buy our coconut oil from a local supplier and use it in all of our cooking... Never thought of shortbread tho.. I'm onto it (once this cyclone passes)
For those of you who are having trouble finding it at the store, have you tried your local organics guy? Not sure about you, but we have a few options there. ;)

 

[Chu]

I'm wondering if the coconut oil/ghee can be substituted with lard? I cannot eat either coconut oil or ghee. :( But I'd love to try some shortbread with quinoa.

If you can tolerate it, try it out and report back! For cookies made with quinoa, a great ingredient is quinoa flakes. It gives the cookies a very similar texture to oatmeal cookies. Yummy!

Can't you eat buckwheat flour, btw? That recipe that Laura gave above simply makes the most delicious shortbread cookies in the world, objectively speaking :P.

 

[rrraven]

ultimate paleo shortbread

just tried a mix with quinoia flakes and buckwheat and coconut oil...didn't work...just crumbs it did not stick together at all
then i tried hazelnut meal and coconut oil....much better
last batch was hazelnut and lard,savory with rock salt and thyme...now we are getting closer to ingredients available in paleo times :)

on the down side i burned my finger tips by accidentally touching the top of cookies when i sprinkled more rock salt on top
so now i type one finger only :/

 

[Laura]

Many of us cannot eat any nuts - too many lectins and anti-nutrients.

 

[mada85]

I don't know about the proportions exactly:

250 grams of ghee
250 grams coconut oil
1 and 1/4 cup xylitol
1/2 cup d-ribose
Tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
Almost 2 K buckwheat flour

Thanks, Laura! Words like yummy and delicious don't quite do justice to this recipe! I halved the quantities, but the fats would only take up about 250g of buckwheat flour. Any more than that and the dough would have been too stiff (unless I'm missing something and shortbread dough should be really stiff?). The mixture filled a baking tray approx 7 inches x 10 ½ inches and gave me 18 pieces of shortbread approx 3/4 inch thick. With the oven on 160C it was cooked and nicely browned in 30 minutes. It will make a delicious addition to my lunch box to take to work.

 

[Nienna]

I'm wondering if the coconut oil/ghee can be substituted with lard? I cannot eat either coconut oil or ghee. :( But I'd love to try some shortbread with quinoa.

If you can tolerate it, try it out and report back! For cookies made with quinoa, a great ingredient is quinoa flakes. It gives the cookies a very similar texture to oatmeal cookies. Yummy!

Ooooooo - that sounds like a great idea! :)

Can't you eat buckwheat flour, btw? That recipe that Laura gave above simply makes the most delicious shortbread cookies in the world, objectively speaking :P.

Unfortunately, buckwheat affects my lungs. So I am sticking with quinoa for now.

 

[3DStudent]

I've tried Trevrizent's shortbread recipe with yummy success, and hope to try this one too. If anyone needs cheap ribose, I found it here.

If you don't have a scale 250g of ghee = 50 teaspoons, which is 1 cup plus 2 tsp. And 250g of coconut oil is 17.86 tablespoons, or 1 cup and about 2 Tbsp. I'm basing this on the nutrition facts label that shows the volume and mass.

I was thinking about a bread crumb replacement. I thought about dehydrating buckwheat or using quinoa flakes. But this would seem to be a better way to do it. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Laura]

After thoughtfully munching a bit of the xylitol sweetened shortbread today, I realized that cooked this way makes it taste amazingly like graham crackers. Hmmm... graham cracker crust, chocolate or banana pudding made with tapioca??? See where I'm going here? Or how about pumpkin cooked with tapioca and poured into a shortbread piecrust? Lemon pie? All with coconut milk to make them creamier and richer.

I think a door to even more good stuff just opened.

 

[truth seeker]

After thoughtfully munching a bit of the xylitol sweetened shortbread today, I realized that cooked this way makes it taste amazingly like graham crackers. Hmmm... graham cracker crust, chocolate or banana pudding made with tapioca??? See where I'm going here? Or how about pumpkin cooked with tapioca and poured into a shortbread piecrust? Lemon pie? All with coconut milk to make them creamier and richer.

I think a door to even more good stuff just opened.

The banana pudding sounds especially good! How about a sweet potato pie?

 

[jen1221]

I really want to try this recipe, but I am wondering if it would still turn out if I left out the d-ribose?. Also, what is 2 k of buckwheat flour converted to cups?

 

[Mountain Crown]

After thoughtfully munching a bit of the xylitol sweetened shortbread today, I realized that cooked this way makes it taste amazingly like graham crackers. Hmmm... graham cracker crust, chocolate or banana pudding made with tapioca??? See where I'm going here? Or how about pumpkin cooked with tapioca and poured into a shortbread piecrust? Lemon pie? All with coconut milk to make them creamier and richer.

I think a door to even more good stuff just opened.

Wow.

I'm starving!!