Almond Shortbread Cookies sweetened with sucanat.
I have been swapping out sucanat for regular sugar in some of my baking recipes recently, and have been happy with the results. In case you are not familiar, sucanat is pure dried sugar cane juice. It skips much of the refining process most sugar goes through, and retains it's molasses and trace minerals. While sucanat is still an ingredient to be used in moderation (calories are about the same as sugar, and it is only slightly better on the glycemic index), it is less processed, has trace minerals and is slightly lower in sucrose and position on the glycemic index, over standard table sugar. I don't want anyone to have illusions these cookies are dietetic. They are not.
I have really come to enjoy it's sweet brown crystals in my baking. They are actually visible in these shortbread cookies. The flecks in them are not from the almond meal, rather the sucanat. This natural sweetener has a subtle yet present difference in taste, which I have quickly come to prefer over regular sugar.
If you would like to try a few other more health minded cookies, my Banana Oatmeal Cookies or Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Cookies Recipe would be a nice place to start.
Almond Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1 cup sucanat
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder aluminum-free
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the ingredients in bowl and mix well.
- Roll dough into small balls (about 36), then lay out on parchment lined baking sheet. Leave about 1 ½" between each.
- Press down gently on each ball of dough with the back of a fork a couple times to flatten out a bit.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove to cooling racks.
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