Product: Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Shortbread Cookie Mix – $2.50+
I blame Big Lots.
No, really, I do. But in a good way. Because Big Lots carries a variety of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free baking mixes at a fraction of the cost of grocery stores and natural food stores. And on one particular outing while in Columbus, Ohio with my friend, Jenn…we stopped into Big Lots and I couldn’t resist buying at least one (if not more) of everything they had that was in Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free line of products. Included in this buying spree was a package of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Shortbread Cookie mix.
It sat in my pantry for awhile. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like the ingredient list was daunting or that they were really going to be difficult to make. Not at all. In fact, all you really need to make these is a mixer, water, an egg yolk, butter, and the mix itself. Nothing could be simpler.
Well, on a mission to go through the stuff in my pantry, I decided that these would be ideal for dessert this week for my roommate and I. After all, I already had all of the ingredients on hand. Might as well give it a whirl.
And that’s what I did last night after a long day of being out and about. I settled into the kitchen, got my roommate to help me separate the egg before kicking her out of the kitchen, and pulled out my KitchenAid mixer and got to work creaming 1-1/2 sticks of margarine (I used Smart Balance). After that, the egg yolk was added, followed by 2 tablespoons of water. Once that was mixed in, I started to add the cookie mixture per the directions on the package…first 1/2 cup, then half of the mixture, than the last bit, allowing it to mix until the consistency was…crumbly.
I think I got that.
From there, I took the crumbly mix and mashed it into a ball, kneading it until smooth. This then got cut in half. Half remained on a piece of parchment paper, while the other was wrapped up in some plastic wrap and set aside. The part that was out was then covered with plastic wrap, and with a rolling pin, rolled out to about 1/4-inch thick. Off came the wrap and out came my cookie cutters. I cut little flowery-star like shapes into the dough, then gathered the scraps, re-rolled it out, and repeated. I did this for both halves of the dough, baking each sheet as I went along. The cookies took about 12-15 minutes to begin lightly browning on the edges. I pulled them out and let them cool on a wire rack while other batches went in. The bag says that it makes 36 cookies, but I managed to get 54 out of it. No complaints there.
After the cookies completely cooled, I melted down some gluten-free dark chocolate squares and topped off each cookie with a drizzle of dark chocolate. Shortbread cookies and chocolate go hand-in-hand. And this made for a very pretty, very nice pairing.
The shortbread cookies baked to perfection. This is exactly how shortbread should be…light, buttery, flaky…delicious. Bob’s Red Mill got this gluten-free mix down to the last detail. If you are a fan of shortbread (and I am!), then this mix will definitely do it for you. I absolutely loved the mix of buttery flavor with the crumbly texture of the shortbread. And it was so easy to make…which made the delicious reward even better.
Now I need to go buy another bag of the mix…because it’s safe to say…I’m addicted to these gluten-free shortbread cookies.
My applause to you Bob’s Red Mill…for continuing your delicious gluten-free tradition.
The Celiathlete 