Maple Pecan Shortbread

Shortbread was always a favorite of mine. I think that was because it's a little salty and not as sweet as some of the cookies out there. Shortbread tends to disappear in my house quickly, and these were not an exception. Let them cool for a while as they tend to harden as the cool. Of course, a good quarter of the batch didn't get that luxury.

Maple Pecan Shortbread

1 cup pecan flour
1 1/4 cup sorghum flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup maple syrup

Put a little over one cup of pecans in a food processor with an S-blade to make the pecan flour. Don't overwork the pecans or you will end up with a nut butter. You just want them broken down enough to resemble a coarsely milled flour. Put the nut flour in a large bowl and add the sorghum flour and salt and combine the dry ingredients. Measure out about 2/3 cup of palm oil shortening (vegetable shortening is fine I suppose, but I avoid soy and corn at all costs) and mash the shortening into the flour with a fork or pastry cutter. Add in the maple syrup and mix until well combined.

I put baking paper in a 10X10 pan so it wasn't such a chore to get the shortbread out of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I plan on using this recipe down the road as a cookie as I think they will hold up well in a cookie shape (reduce cooking time to 8 minutes for a drop cookie).

Fresh out of the oven:

Vegan note: It's best to research your maple sources as not all are vegan. Some will use bone-char as a filter or fat to keep the maple from boiling over the sides. I recently checked Shady Maple Farms and they claim they do not use bone char and the maple syrup is vegan. I encourage people to do their own research. If you aren't comfortable using maple syrup, try splitting the amount of maple syrup with date paste and turbinado sugar.