Gluten-Free Almond Crescents

12/4/17

Gluten-Free Almond Crescents are a tender, buttery cookie with a hint of almond flavor, enhanced by a little dip in dark chocolate. Whether you have a wheat allergy like me or not, you’ll love how I updated my favorite Christmas cookies, the Almond Crescent cookie, with this easy cookie recipe.

Don’t need a gluten-free cookie recipe? Check out my classic Almond Crescents cookie recipe made with regular all-purpose flour.

How to Make Gluten-Free Almond Crescent Cookies

Until relatively recently, I’ve been a gluten free “dabbler”. I sort of dipped my toes in the shallow end of living a gluten free lifestyle. I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy a few years ago, but since the only symptom I could see or feel was some belly discomfort, I never really committed to the change, even though I knew from blood tests that it was causing an immune response in my system and increasing my antibody levels. I’d stay away from wheat most of the time, unless I really, really wanted a boli or a bagel or my favorite cake or pancakes.

At Christmas, all bets were off. I had to have pierogies and cookies, and I’d just deal with feeling generally cruddy for a few days afterwards. I just wasn’t ready to take the dive into the deep end and give up those favorite and traditional foods. Or spend the time, effort, and money to make them gluten free.

I’ve also been a gluten free baking “dabbler”. You see, my foodie snob side also kicked in. I didn’t want to use some pre-made flour blend. If I was going to bake gluten free, I wanted to make everything from scratch. So I bought all of these flours, and then just got scared of messing up. So I stuck to flourless cookies, like these Peanut Butter Cup Blossom Cookies, or a few simple recipes where I only used nut and oat flours, like this Gluten Free Chocolate Hazelnut Crumb Cake, or made Gluten Free Hot Fudge Brownies for Two and other small batches, so total screw-ups were not a total waste.

However, about six months ago, something clicked in me, and I felt I needed to make the change permanently. So I did, and finally gave up gluten. And while I still have some tummy troubles that we are working on diagnosing, I don’t have that ever-present bloat and ache quite as often. And the proof was in the bloodwork – all of my gluten antibody levels were back in the normal range. Plus a few other things going on with my body have me convinced that this is a permanent lifestyle change. While at this point it does not appear that I have to worry about sneaky trace gluten or accidental exposure like people with celiac disease or more severe allergies, gluten free is now a way of life for me.

But I’m also a busy mom, so as I learn more about converting all of my favorite recipes to get rid of the gluten, I also need to some help and shortcuts. So I am thrilled to have discovered Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.

Bob’s Red Mill has already been my go-to for brown rice flour and almond flour, so I knew that they were the company I could trust when seeking out a ready-made gluten free flour blend. And Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour is amazing – literally all you have to do is take your favorite baking recipe and replace the wheat flour with an equal amount of this extraordinary blend of finely ground brown rice flour, sweet white rice flour, whole grain sorghum flour, potato starch, and tapioca flour with a touch of xanthan gum. This mixture is formulated so that you don’t have to mess around with your recipe or seek out any special ingredients in order to get the taste and texture of traditional baked goods.

Since it’s nearly holiday baking time and the protein in the sorghum flour helps with providing a wheat-like texture and browning perfectly golden cookie, naturally I had to try it out with my favorite Christmas cookie recipe to make my Almond Crescent cookies gluten free…

These Gluten-Free Almond Crescents totally retained their buttery, slightly nutty flavor, without any strange aftertastes.

• Classic Snickerdoodles
• Snowballs
• Crackly Gingersnaps

And if you don’t want to experiment, here’s a few recipe from my friend where they already used Bob’s 1-to-1. There’s adorably delicious Macaroon Blossom Cookies from Crazy For Crust. Get creative with Gingerbread and Cream Cheese Cookie Cups from Tried & Tasty. Or stick with a classic and make The Best Chewy Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from My Gluten-Free Kitchen.

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Here’s a few things you might need to make this gluten free cookie recipe for Gluten-Free Almond Crescents…

5 from 2 votes

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Gluten Free Almond Crescents

A tender, buttery cookie with a hint of almond flavor, enhanced by a little dip in dark chocolate.

Author: Brianne @ Cupcakes & Kale Chips

Ingredients

• 2 cups 4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 4 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill almond meal or finely ground almonds
• 8-10 oz. dark milk, and or white chocolate
• Sprinkles colored sugar, mini chips, etc. for decorating, if desired

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Place butter and sugar in large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, and cream together at medium high speed.
3. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour.
4. Stir in almond meal or ground almonds.
5. Refrigerate dough for about 15-20 minutes, or until easier to handle.
6. Using about 1 Tablespoon dough for each cookie, shape into crescents, and place onto baking sheets.
7. Bake for 13-15. or until lightly browned.
8. Cool on baking sheets 2 or 3 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
9. Melt chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler.
10. Dip one end of each cookie in chocolate, then decorate with sugar, sprinkles, etc., as desired.
11. Place cookies onto wax paper until chocolate is firm.

Recipe Notes

Enjoy!