This recipe was inspired by my best friend’s mother, who was the guru of all things Jewish pastry. In the usual fashion of how Jewish recipes are shared, her note to me read: “add cherries and chocolate, then add more”. We did, and this is the resulting recipe. The combination of cherry and chocolate is brilliant and makes a spectacular mandelbrot. The cookies last for a week and the flavours improve with age.
Makes: 21-24
Preparation: 15 minutes plus 2 hours chilling
Baking: 35-40 minutes (plus 25-55 minutes for second bake)
INGREDIENTS
390g Nosh AP GF flour — made up of 196g superfine brown rice flour, 97g superfine white rice flour and 97g tapioca starch
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
150g vegetable shortening
200g sugar
180g/3 extra-large eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
170g bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips
150g dried cherries
METHOD
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. With a wooden spoon or strong silicone spatula, beat together the shortening and sugar in a large bowl.
Beat in the eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Stir in the dry ingredients and finish mixing the dough. Stir in the chocolate and cherries.
With wet hands, form the dough into three logs 1 inch high and 3 inches wide, on the baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The logs will not be brown. Cool thoroughly on the pan. Slice gently with a serrated knife into 1-inch wide pieces. Place the slices ¼ inch apart on the baking sheet.
Return the pan to the oven, turn down the temperature to 150°C, and bake for 25 minutes. Turn off the oven.
Leave the cookies in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes more to continue browning. Keep an eye on them and remove the pan once they are toasty brown. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.
Recipe from Nosh on This: Gluten-Free Baking from a Jewish-American Kitchen, © Lisa Stander-Horel and Tim Horel, 2013. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Experiment
