Today for Real Food Wednesday I’m sharing an easy Nourishing Traditions gluten-free cookie recipe, and also some interesting info from that same cookbook about using arrowroot flour in recipes. You don’t think all that sounds like an exciting post? Well maybe not unless you’re like me – I love sweets AND any chance I can find to cram nutrition into a cookie! 
My friend, Kathy, brought these to a local Weston Price chapter meeting and I’m glad I could try them, because it’s a type of cookie that I wouldn’t have believed how good they are until tasting myself. Kent liked them, too, but said they reminded him of a Christmas cookie…oh well, now you have a new Christmas cookie recipe. This is from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook (see my resources page for where to find that book and other Real Food books). They have the texture of a peanut butter cookie, but are gluten-free, and also have much less sugar. Not only that, the sugar called for is unrefined! All that might sound like the makings of a dry, tasteless cookie, but they are really good, and SUPER simple and fast to make. Guess what else? The recipe calls for Arrowroot flour.
Read what Nourishing Traditions says about arrowroot flour (or scroll down to skip to the cookie recipe):
“Arrowroot flour, the only starch with a calcium ash, is a nutritious food, obtained from the fleshy root stock of a tropical American plant. It is an easily digested food well fitted for infants and the convalescent.
It resembles cornstarch in being white, fine and powdery. When heated in water in certain portions, it thickens to form a jelly, an excellent thickening agent. It is also considered more desirable for gravies, sauces and pastries than some of the more common starches and flours. It is used primarily for food in dietetic use, where it enjoys a reputation for smoothness and palatability.
Arrowroot was once widely used in baby formulas as a superior carbohydrate, experience having shown it agreed with babies better than any other starch or sugar. We now find the reason. It is the only starch product with a calcium ash. In this regard, the calcium chloride, in the form of calcium found in arrowroot starch, is very important in the maintenance of proper acid and alkali balances in the human body.
Arrowroot only thrives on tidal flats where the sea minerals are available. Its known health-building properties may be due to trace minerals from the sea, as well as from the calcium it gets from the sea water. If it is used in ice cream formulas in place of cornstarch, arrowroot imparts a vanilla-like flavor, a smooth texture. Arrowroot as it comes to you is not a refined product; it is simply the dried and powdered root.”
Royal Lee, DDS Journal of the National Academy of Research Biochemists
Gluten-free Almond Cookies from Nourishing Traditions
The recipe below is for a single batch, but I could fit a double batch in my 10-cup food processor – it just took a couple times of stopping to push the dough down a bit. This made about 20 cookies, and I could fit one whole batch on each stainless steel cookie sheet, because they don’t spread out much as they bake.
- 1 1/2 c. crispy almonds
- 1/2 c. softened butter or coconut oil – I used half of each (Read about all the benefits of getting more coconut oil into our diets and where to buy coconut oil.)
- 1 c. arrowroot flour
- 1/2 c. Rapadura sugar
- 1/2 t. sea salt
- Grated rind of 1 lemon
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1 t. almond extract
- Organic jam to press into the middle, or whole crispy almonds – 1 for each
Place almonds in food processor and process to a fine meal. Add remaining ingredients, except the jam or extra almonds, and process until well blended. (At this point I added a little water because my dough seemed too dry.) Form dough into walnut-sized balls and place on buttered cookie sheets.
There are more variations listed in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, but here are a few:
- Press an almond into each. Bake at 300* for a total of about 20 minutes. After 5 minutes in the oven, press cookies down lightly with a fork and finish baking. Let cool completely before moving to an airtight container. Store in refrigerator.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 300*, make an indentation in the cookie (I used my thumb), and fill with a little bit of jam. Bake another 10-15 minutes. I think raspberry tastes best, but Kent likes strawberry.
- Our 10 year old suggested a chocolate kiss in the middle instead of jam, and this would also be good as a Christmas cookie.
Find more REAL FOOD tips and recipes in this week’s REAL FOOD WEDNESDAY BLOG CARNIVAL!
Part of Things I Love Thursday.
Check out the new KITCHEN KOP REAL FOOD INGREDIENT GUIDE: only $5!DON'T MISS NEW POSTS:
Subscribe in a reader or Subscribe via e-mail for free daily updates M-Th
Learn more from the COMMENTS BELOW - join the conversation!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Squeaky Gourmet 10.28.09 at 7:09 am
Great recipe! I always purchase my arrowroot flour at the Asian market because it is by far less expensive than when you go to a traditional American market to buy this “specialty flour”.
Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS 10.28.09 at 9:28 am
Kelly, these look and sound good! By the description of it being powdery, I would think that arrowroot powder is the same as arrowroot flour? What do you think? I have some of the former – I’ve always called it arrowroot powder – but perhaps I’ve been naming it wrong all along! Thanks for sharing your recipe and the notes.
Lisa Imerman 10.28.09 at 9:36 am
I have the same question as Wardeh, is Arrowroot Powder the same as Arrowroot Flour? I have made things that called for Arrowroot Flour with Arrowroot Powder and it worked, but maybe there is something else I am supposed to be using?
emily 10.28.09 at 9:45 am
yum! i am also learning/experimenting with gluten-freeand grain-free baking, it’s a fun challenge not to rely on white or even whole wheat flour to create something delicious that even my discerning kid will eat!
KitchenKop 10.28.09 at 10:12 am
Good Morning everyone!
Yes, I’m 99% sure that arrowroot flour and powder are the same thing.
Kelly
KitchenKop 10.28.09 at 10:14 am
Squeaky, thanks for the great tip!
Emily, it IS a challenge, isn’t it, and so fun when you pull it off! Next time I want to try coconut flour – I’ll bet that would be good, too.
Tina 10.28.09 at 10:17 am
I have a small bag of arrowroot powder that I boughta lifetime ago. I have only used it in gravies. I’m so glad to know it’s healthy! I can’t remember why I bought it but I’m so glad I did!
I wonder if the Asian market sells arrowroot powder. I’ll have to check it out. I bought some palm sugar at the Vietnamese market for $1.58 a pound.
Elizabeth 10.28.09 at 9:16 pm
I make these cookies when I get the odd cookie craving and they’re very yummy! I’ve never gotten the dough to hang together though unless I add an egg to it.
And for those who now have a bag of arrowroot powder and nothing to do with it – it makes a good substitute for regular flour for dredging stuff like chicken cutlets. You can also use it to thicken sauces.
Karen 11.02.09 at 2:22 pm
Thank you for posting this recipe. I have Nourishing Traditions but don’t use it enough for sweets;-) I work with arrowroot for everything that calls for thickening, or as a substitute in baking – like here. Heidi Swanson also has a great chocolate pudding recipe using it.