Gluten Free Klaicha - Date Filled Cookies

Submitted by The Blender Girl

"Klaichas are a national treat from Iraq. Traditionally, they press them into special moulds similar to tabis, but I just press them with the prongs of a fork. I have used Rapadura sugar to sweeten the dough, and using rice, tapioca and buckwheat flours to make these treats gluten free and more like shortbreads. You could also use some sorghum flour instead of some of the rice flour. That works really well too. I have also made some yummy versions using almond flour, which is a more nutritious alternative, but I found it a bit overpowering for Klaicha, and was too much of a departure from the personality of the original cookies. Now, these are not the most healthy blender recipes I have posted! Julia Child and her “you can never have enough butter” approach found its way into my kitchen with these. But, you just can’t make really delectable shortbread without the magic of butter. But they are tiny – Yes! I challenge you to stop at just one!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Yields: 12-20 Cookies

ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1⁄2 cup tapioca flour
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 pinch of celtic sea salt
• 1⁄2 cup rapadura sugar
• 9 ounces organic butter (250g)
• 3 teaspoons pure rose water
• 1⁄4 cup filtered water

• Date filling

• 9 ounces pitted dates (250g, about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons organic butter

directions

1. Sift flours and xanthan into a mixing bowl and combine well. Add in the sugar and mix evenly.
2. Cut room temperature butter into small pieces and rub into flour with fingertips until distributed evenly. I do this in a food processor and just keep pulsing until the butter is evenly distributed and there are no clumps. Don’t walk away and leave the machine on or you will end up with a butter ball.
3. Mix the rose water with the filtered water and sprinkle onto flour mixture. Pulse again to form a firm dough and then knead lightly until smooth. Cover the dough with cling film and rest for about 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile make the filling – Chop the dates and then gently heat them on low with the butter, stirring until the dates have softened – about 5 – 10 minutes, depending on your dates. Remove from the heat and set aside.
5. Roll the dough into small round balls about the size of a large walnut or tablespoon.
6. Flatten each ball like a pancake in the palm of your hand and place a teaspoonful of the date filling in the centre. Fold over the edges of the dough to close over and cover the date filling. Roll the dough back into a ball with your hands. This can be a bit tricky if you fill the balls with too much filling.
7. If you want to be really traditional you can press each ball into a special Middle Eastern carved mould similar to a tabi. Alternatively, (which is the way I did it) press each side of the ball with a fork to indent, slightly flatten, and then press the sides of the balls to round up, before placing on a baking sheet.
8. Bake in the oven at about 160 C / 325 F oven for 30 minutes until lightly browned.
9. Allow the cookies to cool on the tray as they will firm up and get a little bit more crispy. Store in a sealed container for use later – if they last that long.

Reviews

[April D.]

Wondeful cookies. Sweeter than other klaicha I've made but they were easy and adapted really well to some changes. I know, I hate when people review recipes and make lots of changes. I find rice flours tend to become dry and gritty so I subbed almond flour for the white rice flour. For my vegans I also subbed coconut oil for the butter. Both subs worked perfectly. I added cardamom and cinnamon to the date filling. Next time, I'll add anise seeds to the dough as I've done with other klaicha I've made. Thanks for developing this great GF recipe and bringing these family favorites back into our home.

 

[Mia in Germany]

In regard of the flavour, these cookies are definitely five stars! I absolutely loved them, and so did everybody who tried them, gluten free or not. BUT: The dough didn't work at all for me. I'm aware that it could be the rice flour - brown rice flour does have very different consistencies and baking properties, so maybe I just didn't have the right one. I followed the recipe to the letter, didn't change a thing, but it was a crumbly mess that I barely got to hold together, nearly impossible to form. I'll play around with this recipe and try to get the dough right, because I really, really love these cookies :) Thanks for posting!<br/>Made for Visit Iraque / N*A*M*E Forum