gluten free toasted coconut shortbread.

You guys, I don’t often do “cute.” Call me cute, and I usually recoil, because what grown woman wants to be told she’s… cute? Zooey Deschanel is the obvious exception to the rule, that girl has made her career out of being adorable and friggen’ twee as all hell and she’s the one laughing her 32 year old ass all the way to the bank. But seeing as I don’t have my own hit TV show (and seriously, why not? I AM SO TOTALLY READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, MR. DEMILLE!) I’m not big on overly cute things. Valentine’s Day, beyond its obvious excuse to drown myself in a sea of chocolate, is forever lost on me. I saw a guy carrying flowers and the actual plush velvet heart-shaped box of truffles on the subway, and I wanted to gag.

As far as I’m concerned, “cute” is for puppies and three year olds. I will coo over puppies until the day I die, and I will call children cute, because that is what they are, but me? Cute? Baby’s usually a little too sarcastic for the cute corner.

But see those cute little chocolate sandwich cookies? The ones in the corner? I love those. They’re so cute, I ate like seven. Or eight. I lost count, but really, they’re so teeny, it was easy to do.

It was also really cutesy of me to cut them out with a donut cutter, because for some reason, that was the only cookie cutter I have. (We are ignoring the fact that I used a wine bottle for a rolling pin; that’s not cute, that’s simply the fact that I graduated from college last year and clearly am all of 22.) And it was really cutesy to channel those groups of little girls who so rudely hawk boxes of cookies RIGHT BEFORE SWIMSUIT SEASON (it’s a fucking conspiracy, I tell you) with coconut and chocolate and the general shape of a samoa cookie, but I left out the caramel because I’m lazy. And I didn’t have caramel on hand. And I never liked it much anyway.

(I also left out the gluten because hey, I’d like to keep my stomach from staging a coup, but that’s just me.)

Coconut, however?

Coconut, I will love forever.

• Preheat oven to 325*F. Spread 1/2 CUP UNSWEETENED COCONUT on a pan, and bake until toasted, stirring around every 2 minutes or so. It shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to brown all of it. Set aside to cool.
• Mix 1 1/2 STICKS ROOM TEMPERATURE BUTTER and 1/2 CUP SUGAR in a bowl until well combined. Mix in 1/2 TEASPOON SALT and 1/2 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT.
• This is where I deviated from the recipe, which said to blend 1 1/3 CUP ALL PURPOSE FLOUR in with the butter mixture in with two additions. Instead, I used 1/2 CUP COCONUT FLOUR, 1/2 CUP GLUTEN FREE FLOUR, and 1/3 CUP ALMOND MEAL.

In most recipes, you also have to add xanthan gum and arrowroot starch and all these other strange things to a recipe with gluten-free flour if you want it to work like classic recipes with wheat and gluten, but because this was a butter-based cookie and had no egg or other liquid, you can get away with a little more. Plus, coconut flour is super-absorbent because it’s so high in fiber, so not having any real liquid in this recipe works out since the coconut has nothing to absorb.

Also, I mean. Come on. Almond. Coconut. Almond Joy are my favorite candy bar ever. EVER. Of all time, Kanye style.

… where was I?

• Oh, right, mix toasted coconut in with the butter-flour mixture.
• Wrap mixed ingredients in plastic wrap, refrigerate for an hour or up to two days.
• When ready to bake, bring to room temperature for 30 minutes, and roll out on a lightly floured surface. (I used coconut flour.) Cut out with cookie cutters, and bake in a preheated 325*F oven for 8-10 minutes. Watch them, however; with the coconuts and the coconut flour and the almond meal, they’ll burn easily.
• Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies if desired. And come on, you know it’s desired.

(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)