Nana's shortbread

Every Christmas, and on many other occasions, my Nana used to make the most delicious shortbread.  

Alas, in a house that is dairy free, wheat free and sugar free this treat doesn't get a look-in these days.  But when a very stylish friend of mine presented me with this divine cookie stamp, I just had to dust off my Nana's recipe.

I don't even have basic wheat flour in our house anymore, so this batch was made with spelt flour.  It gave them a coarser texture but they still held together well.

They were sort of a wholemeal version.

This recipe was given to me in imperial measurements, so the conversion to metric is a little specific.

10 oz (284 g) plain flour
3 oz (85 g) rice flour
3 oz caster sugar, or 4 to taste (85 - 113 g)
8 oz (227 g) butter 
dash vanilla essence

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add the vanilla essence.  Sift in the plain flour and rie flour.  Knead into a ball.  Roll out and cut into shapes. Place onto a greased baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven at 180C for 10 - 12 minutes.

This batch ended up being packaged for the school cake stall.

Now what are my chances of finding a gluten and dairy free cookie recipe so I can use this lovely stamp again?  Any recipe recommendations gratefully received.

Comments

[Thimbleanna]

So funny -- I just bought that very same cookie stamp in NYC this past weekend. Thanks for sharing your recipe - it looks delicious!

[Sallyroo]

My mum has been living dairy free for over 10 years and has managed to recreate some of her favourite English recipes like mince pies, shortcrust pastry etc. using pure vegetable shortening instead of lard, etc...I'll ask her and report back!

[Amellia Grosser]

Hi Kristine,

Thanks for sharing your family recipe. I am planning to try it this afternoon. Love your cookie stamp.
My son was diagonosed with coeliac disease a few months ago, so lots of experimenting going on here. He has been transformed by the change in diet.
Baking must be a challenge in your house. I use glucose powder (no fructose) instead of sugar alot in my baking, or bake with bananas and find I need no sugar at all. I have a great gluten free choc chip biscuit recipe which we all love in our house if you would like it (could probably substitute butter for nuttlex and glucose for sugar if it is only fructose you all can't have).
I hope your new house is progressing well. Have you had time to sew for Adelaide?

Amellia

[Heidi]

Hi Kris, Love the cookie press - I'm sure the shortbread flew off the school cake stall!

Have you seen the Quirky Cooking blog? She is gluten and dairy free and also sugar free, and does all her recipes in the Thermomix. She has a lot of good recipes (and if you haven't come across her blog before, try the Chicken and Cashews with Satay Sauce recipe - it's so good) http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au
There might be one in the recipe index that works for you. xx

[Mirjam]

You might try here
http://www.elanaspantry.com

Lots of tasty ...free recipes.

[Melissa @ Hilltophausfrau]

Very sorry to hear about your delicious-ingredient-free kitchen :( These look lovely though...I'm sure a very welcome addition to the sale!

[Katy G]

That cookie stamp is just gorgeous! I love the way you've packaged them too. Try having a look at retromummy.com as she has lots of dairy free (and maybe gluten free) recipes on her lovely blog...

[victoria]

I'd love to know where she got the stamp...