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cinnamon honey shortbread

(recipe, Sarah Gilbert)


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Introduction

I try and try to get this recipe right. Some days it turns out magically. Other days, the chickens eat more than I'm entirely comfortable with. This was one of my best days. And a note: I always have three flours on my counter: a nice ordinary (but sustainably-farmed) white flour (Shepherd's Grain in the pretty Stone Buhr bag), Shepherd's Grain whole wheat bread flour, and a brown rice flour. I typically use all three in my baked goods.

Ingredients

  1. 12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
  2. ¼ cup maple syrup
  3. ⅜ cup honey (or thereabouts; honey measurements are hard to get exactly right)
  4. 1 tsp. vanilla
  5. ⅓ cup brown rice flour
  6. ⅔ cup whole wheat flour
  7. 1⅓ cups white flour
  8. 1 tsp. sea salt (my family likes the way coarse 'finishing' salt tastes in shortbread)
  9. 2 tsp. cinnamon
  10. 2 Tbsp. cream (or milk)

Steps

  1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter.
  3. Add maple syrup and honey, and mix until creamy and light. Stir in vanilla.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.
  5. Add in flour mixture, ⅓ at a time, and mix just until well-blended.
  6. If mixture seems dry and crumbly, stir in a little cream or milk, until dough is slightly sticky.
  7. Using moistened fingers, shape ½-inch thick cookies on a baking sheet. I typically make large rectangles, scoring them for cookies that will end up 1"-2" square. You could also make circles or hearts or leaves or Christmas trees or whatever you could find the patience for. Remoisten fingers if the dough is getting difficult to handle.
  8. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until just getting brown on edges and bottoms.