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One reader writes in:

Kelly,

I have purchased your cookbook "Sugar Free Gluten Free baking and Desserts" I made the biscotti and mexican wedding cookies. I notice that the cookies are of a softer consistency. My family likes crunchy cookies. Am I doing something wrong or are the flour and sugar alternatives providing a softer product. I use Bob's Red Mill all purpose flour. I even notice if I use my own cookie recipe and substitute the flour the cookies are soft.

Thank you.

Hi,

Thanks for your question.  First off, an all purpose gluten-free flour like Bob's Red Mill is what I use for a general cookie recipe because it most resembles white flour in taste,  texture, and browning.  And because it uses gluten-free flours like garbanzo bean and tapioca, the flour will have a softer feel when in batter form and after it is baked.  That's because the strong sitcky proteien chain (gluten) is missing.

But when you use the alternative sugars like ZSweet and Swerve (erythritol) and combine them in your cookie recipe with gluten-free flours, the erythritol will make the cookies very crunchy, especially after a day or two.  That's because the erythritol doesn't hold on to moisture like real white sugar does.  It's almost as if the cookies dehydrate when you use erythritol, that's why it is important to combine it with other sugar-friendly ingredients like agave along with good fats to ensure moistness.

My biscotti recipe should be crunchy, but not too crunchy.  Maybe bake them longer and check the temp on your oven, and rotate the cookies halfway through the baking process.  And the Mexican wedding cake is a combination of a soft cookie with a bit of a hard outer layer. 

Yet, the flours don't make the cookie crunchy, it's the fats and sugars that do.  So a butter cookie recipe or a recipe that uses butter will definitely make a cookie crunchy.  Most of my recipes call for vegetable butter or vegetable shortening to be used as an alternative to butter.  Vegetable butter will make a cookie softer.  Have you tried Earth Balance 50/50 sticks, half butter, half alternative?  If you are vegetarian, the 50/50 sticks may be a better way to yield a crunchier cookie.

And if you make a dehydrator cookie, you can make them very crunchy by increasing the dehydrating time.  I suggest my recipes for Carob Protein Dehydrator Cookies and Allergy-free Chocolate Chip Cookies from Sugar-free Gluten-free Baking and Desserts. And from 100 Best Gluten-free Recipes from Your Vegan Kitchen, try Raw Vegan Tiramisu Cookies.

Let me know if that helps.

Best,
Kelly

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