really good gluten free biscuit recipe

[WorkingHarder]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone might have a really reliable gluten free biscuit recipe?

We've to make them for a scout badge and do the icing by the flooding method, so it needs to be flat on top.

We just tried a shortbread recipe from the internet and it burned black long before it was meant to be taken out of the oven. It made me think that just testing lots of recipes might be a long job.

Thanks!

What was the shortbread recipe? I would expect shortbread to work quite well, because it's not designed to develop the gluten.

Have you tried just a standard shortbread recipe and putting gluten free flour in? I.e. 9 Oz flour, 6oz butter to 3 sugar and then a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Cook for 12-15 minutes I think.

Alternatively, an inherently gluten free option might work? You can make macaroons from just sugar, egg white, ground almonds and a few teaspoons of cornflour (I can go and locate the recipe if helpful). They are very sticky and need to be baked either on rice paper or a silicon or teflon sheet, but they go quite flat if you make them with a moderate amount of care, so might do the trick.

Thanks for replying. It was this that we used.

https://www.freee-foods.co.uk/recipes/basic-shortbread-biscuits/

It started to turn brown within three minutes of going in the oven, so 45 minutes was never looking like a good bet tbh.

Your macaroon recipe sounds great. I would be really glad to have a copy of that if it's not too much trouble.

I haven't tried the standard recipe either. I will try that. Thanks!

These are fool proof realfood.tesco.com/recipes/almond-cookies.html

Becky Excell gf gingerbread men biscuits would be good for this.

Make sure it's properly chilled for a few hours before rolling out otherwise it's a sticky mess.

Fab and so easy.
www.allrecipes.com/recipe/11352/three-ingredient-peanut-butter-cookies/

Does it have to be gluten free for the scout badge or because your DC is gluten intolerant?

@KittenPause DS is gluten intolerant. He also can't have sugar, but I have no idea how to do flooded icing without sugar.

@Ineffable23 The shortbread recipe is now in the oven. Fingers crossed.

@EwwSprouts if they have to go into scouts with the biscuits then nuts might not be allowed. I'll be trying them though they look amazing!

@UniversalTruth Oh that's a good point. The nut thing is really difficult for DS because nuts is an essential in his diet. Oh well.

@WorkingHarder what is the reason for no sugar? It seems very prescriptive to say they have to be decorated with icing - can he have chocolate? You could melt some and flood the shortbread with that?

@UniversalTruth It just says "iced using the flooding method" would that be okay to do with dark chocolate? He's okay with that. Thanks!

We made tempered chocolate once and it could be very nice indeed to flood with that, if it's allowed.

Thank you very much, the shortbread is out of the oven and it looks lovely.

Scouting should be inclusive.
Speak to the scout leader re: your son's dietary needs when it comes to icing. Icing is essentially sugar, I'm not sure you could do anything successfully without sugar (I am not a sugarcraft expert, but I do knock up the odd birthday cake).

Which badge are they doing? If you check the badge requirements online (search eg "Scout Baker Badge"), you could maybe see if there is something more suitable for him (I know you've made the biscuits now though).

Dark chocolate will taste 1000% nicer than icing imo 😆

I would just do it. It shows equal if not more baking skill to melt chocolate and not burn it than it does to make water icing.

Some of the requirement for the badge might be about following a recipe so you might want to print out what he followed.

Thanks, yes I think the chocolate will be fine. We will do that. The shortbread biscuits turned out nicely. DH says they crumble rather than snap, but that seems pretty good really.

I'm so grateful the MN recipe section. I'm not experienced at cooking and you all get me out of fixes quite regularly these days.

Thanks!

Crumbly shortbread is fine, I think that definitely counts as a success!

I'll dig the macaroon recipe out in the morning.

This is our second test of the shortbread with flood icing made of pure bournville chocolate, melted in a freezer bag in the microwave.

Slightly hindered in this process because the 43 year old kenwood chef started dripping engine grease into the shortbread mix while mixing it. We have bought a new mixer which is coming on Tuesday. Intrigue.

The shortbread gets a good snap after a night in the fridge.

Classy

Hey, so this is my recipe. Basically you literally just mix these ingredients together, put decent teaspoon sized lumps onto a tray that is lined with rice paper/silicone/Teflon and then bake as per the instructions.

They are Yummy (even better with jam, I'd recommend raspberry).

Glad the shortbread firmed up!

Thank you very much :-)

I’m glad you got it sorted.
For future GF recipes Becky Excell is always a good place to look. Her cook books are fantastic.

glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/