Shortbread swirls
If you’re looking for an impressive biscuit to accompany your new Gut-friendly Hot Chocolate, then consider these chocolate and vanilla shortbread spirals. Using low fodmap flour and rice flour, gives a similar texture and feel to regular shortbread. And tastes delicious! To speed up the cooking process, leave the butter to soften on the kitchen bench ahead of time. If you are vegan, swap the butter for Nuttelex Baking Blend. While rolling the dough can be tricky at first, you’ll soon get the hang of it. Once rolled in baking paper, you can easily keep the dough in the freezer for emergencies!
INGREDIENTS
Vanilla layer
160g soft butter (or Nuttelex)
80g caster sugar
150g (1 cup) low fodmap plain flour, sifted (I used Lo-Fo Pantry low fodmap plain flour with no issues)
80g rice flour
Chocolate layer
165g soft butter (or Nuttelex)
100g caster sugar
150g (1 cup) low fodmap plain flour, sifted
60g rice flour
40g Dutch-process cocoa, sifted
METHOD
Make the vanilla shortbread layer first by beating the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add sifted flours and stir with a sturdy spoon until the mixture forms a dough. Flatten the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out to form a 25 x 30 cm rectangle. Set aside.
Make the chocolate shortbread layer, by beating the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add sifted flours and cocoa to the butter mixture and stir until it forms a dough. Place between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out to form a 25 x 30cm rectangle.
To put it all together, remove the top pieces of baking paper from both the vanilla and the chocolate layers. Carefully place the plain dough on top of the chocolate dough and trim to size. NOTE - this step is important because if you leave the dough in 1 large rectangle (25 x 30cm), you’ll end up with about 25 large cookies. I prefer to cut my rectangle in half lengthways, at this stage, so I make more smaller cookies. This means that you can eat 2 of them without over-dosing on fodmaps! To be precise, once cooked, my cookies were 15 grams in weight. Plus, the benefit of having 2 logs of dough is that you can cook one now and keep the other one in the freezer for when the next cookie emergency hits!
Using the baking paper as a guide, roll up firmly to form a log. Place the rolled up dough (still wrapped in the baking paper) in the fridge for an hour to firm up. Let the dough rest on the counter for 5 minutes before cutting. I start the first cut in the middle and work towards the edges. Discard the edges, if you must! Cut into 1cm thick slices and place on baking paper-lined trays with plenty of space in between for spreading.
If you opted for large cookies, bake in the oven at 170 for 30 minutes until golden and firm. If you opted for smaller cookies, bake for 20 minutes.
Leave on the tray(s) to cool before transferring to a wire rack. Store in an airtight container or freeze for later.