Shortbread Protein Pow Cookies (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

I don’t know if you guys already know this about me but I absolutely ADORE shortbread cookies. You know, the buttery Scottish ones, Walkers? These ones. When I moved to Scotland to go to university, I remember I had a stack by my apartment window that I kept refilling. Every day I’d have at least two cookies. I just LOVED them! My friends kept telling me it was ridiculous that I was eating so many cookies. Maybe it was. But I didn’t care, I adored Walkers. However, after a couple of months of eating them every day, I realized I was getting fat! The experience was pretty new to me because I’d always been one of those lanky people that could get away with eating as much as humanly possible without putting on any weight at all. But alas, no body could withstand the onslaught of daily Walkers. So I cut back, I had to. And a few years after that, another dagger was thrown into my love for Walkers: I decided to give up gluten. Suddenly, shortbread cookies became a thing of the past! They had to be. After all, all they are, is sugar, butter, and wheat flour.

Guess what happened a few months ago though? I cracked the recipe without using ANY sugar, wheat flour, or butter! You’re probably thinking it can’t be possible be done. You may be thinking my cookies must have been awful. But no, seriously. They taste like regular shortbread cookies! This comes from a Walkers fan. Try this recipe and see for yourself.

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These cookies are IT. They’re not as high in protein as they could be but they have protein in there and other POW!erful ingredients. They’re perfectly crumbly and crunchy and just pure shortbread perfection, in gluten-free, vegan, cane-sugar-free, and protein-featuring form! Healthy cookies just can NOT get any better than this.
 

Ingredients

12 g     Pea Protein Powder
50 g     Ground Almonds
45 g     Sunflower Seed Butter (Or almond butter, but sunflower is amazing!)
25 g     Honey (Or agave syrup)
15 g     Self-raising gluten-free flour
15 g     Coconut Oil
5 g       Gluten-Free Oat Flour
5-6 g    Coconut Flour
2 g       Coconut Sugar

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients together using a handheld blender or food processor.

2. Taste your batter – but don’t eat it all!

3. Shape 6-8 balls (depending on how big you like them) and flatten them with the palm of your hand onto a tray lined with parchment (aka baking) paper.

4. Bake at 180 C for 8-10 minutes. Check on them after 8 just to make sure and remove them from the oven as SOON as they start to brown on top (you want them light rather than dark brown).

5. LET THEM COOL DOWN COMPLETELY BEFORE EATING. This is key because, if you try to eat them the second they come out of the oven a) you’ll burn your tongue and b) they’ll be too crumbly. You have to allow them to set.

Notes

1. Add some chopped pecans or walnuts to the mix before baking to turn these cookies into THE best cookie you’ve ever had, protein-featuring or regular.