Its been a bit of a wet long weekend so we've been pottering around a bit at home and one thing I've missed is not having any baked treats to nibble on with an afternoon cuppa. So come Monday morning I thought I might do an extra bit of baking to celebrate the long weekend. Also if I had any leftovers they'd still be fresh enough to take to work.
So after I put on a loaf of bread to go with the pea, ham and vegetable soup I'd made the previous day, I began flicking through my latest cookbook. First I came across a recipe for peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies which looked really tasty but I didn't have enough peanut butter. Oh well, I put it on the shopping list and will be sure to have a go soon. Next I came to a pecan -espresso cookie recipe for which I had most ingredients although I didn't have pecans but thought I could substitute walnuts. Walnuts went quite nicely with the coffee cake so should work on here. Now this book, "The wheat-free cook - gluten -free recipes for everyone" by Jacqueline Mallorca is American so I first had to do some conversions for butter weights as she uses 'sticks' of butter. Thanks to google I found out that 1 stick = 133.6g. In addition I though I might add a couple of teaspoons for cocoa to get a mocca kind of flavour. I wasn't too sure about rolling the dough into finely chopped nuts but I gave it a go. And on second thoughts after tasty the final product I think I'd add the nuts to the dough so you get a more nutty texture throughout. Also I'd add more cocoa, say 2 tablespoons to get more of a mocca flavour. Although one thing I'd do is use a bit less flour (suggest 2/3 cup of cornflour instead of 3/4 cup) and maybe 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum as they only just held together and are a bit crumbly. Anyway here is the recipe minus the amendments as I'll wait till I try them again to test it properly to see if it works any better. Hope you enjoy them anyway.
Pecan- espresso cookies (The wheat-free cook by Jacqueline Mallorca)
1/2c packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (170g)
1 large egg yolk
1c brown rice flour
3/4c cornstarch/cornflour
pinch of salt
2tsp instant coffee (espresso)
1c pecans (walnuts) finely chopped
Method
1. Preheat oven to 300F/150C fan forced or 170C. Line two large baking trays.
2. Combine brown sugar and butter in a mixer/food processor until smooth fluffy cream. Add yolk and mix well.
3. Whisk flours, sea salt, and coffee in a separate bowl then add to butter mixture, mix to make a soft dough.
4. Spread chopped nuts of a work surface. With a teaspoon of dough make a small balls with your fingers and roll in chopped nuts. Flatten lightly so nuts stick then place on baking sheets allowing room for spread. Chill for 10 minutes. Bake until light tan and just set, 18 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.
Baked Monday 4th October 2010
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