This is one of the recipes for Christmas Cookies that is gluten free. I’m not necessarily a GF baker, but the recipe is purely almond meal, so no wheat flour. That said, I personally don’t have a GF kitchen … I make sure that everything is cleaned and such before I bake the GF ones, but if one is a celiac or has some other massive adverse reaction to gluten, then I can’t ever promise stuff *from my kitchen* is 100% GF. If you do have a gluten free kitchen and lifestyle, the recipe itself is a great one for those who can’t have wheat products.
Ingredients
3 egg whites
250 grams powdered sugar
6 tablespoons instant coffee or cappuccino mix (like those International Coffees)
400 grams ground almonds
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325F. Grind the almonds as fine as possible; essentially the almonds will become your flour (or buy almond flour/meal to begin with… in the US, Bob’s Red Mill and Trader Joes both have it readily available).
Separate the eggs into a small bowl, discarding the yolks or save for another purpose. Whisk (or use a mixer) until you have firm peaks, but do not over-whisk. This can be a very fine line. If your egg whites start to separate, start over as they are unrecoverable. Fold in powdered sugar to create a meringue.
Reserve 4 tablespoons of the meringue mixture in another little bowl. Fold in the instant coffee or cappuccino mix. Be gentle with the egg white mixture, so that it does not deflate. Add in the ground almonds. If the dough mass is till too gooey add in a little more ground almonds. Note: you should be able to roll out this dough.
Roll your dough out between two pieces of wax paper. Cut out with star shaped cookie cutter and place on a cookie sheet lined with silpat or onto parchment paper. Silpat or parchment paper is almost imperative in this recipe.
Take the reserve meringue and using the pastry brush, liberally “paint” each of the cookies with the sugar coating. Bake 14-16 minutes or until the white starts to get just a little bit toasted.
