Pecan Cacao Shortbread

I am fully impressed with myself. I made gluten free shortbread with a bit of a flavour twist!!! The twist is cacao nibs. I loved it, not too dry, but just right. The first time I made shortbread I was 11, it just didn't go over that well. I mean, misreading measurements can really make or break a recipe. For instance, mistaking 1 tsp of salt for 1 tbsp. I was young and fool-hardy, didn't pay close attentions to the details and never thought that 1 tbsp was too much salt for a batch of cookies. Also, using margarine instead of butter, gives sad results when making shortbread...but then again it was the 80's (who uses margarine anymore?, but I just want to re-iterate that it was the 80's) and did I mention I was 11? Well I learned from that. My second attempt of shortbread was two weeks ago. They turned out well, I used Vegan earth balance butter. And, I will not lie to you, when eaten raw this vegan butter tastes just like the real thing, like salted butter. But when you bake with it it doesn't give off the same aroma as real butter nor does it give your baked dishes that rich familiar flavour that butter does. Mind you, I do highly recommend Earth balance butter as a spread, in mashed potatoes, or as a replacement for shortening when making pie pastry.

Pecan Cacao Shortbread

3/4 cup organic butter
1/4 cup earth balance butter
1/2 cup xylitol 1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp agave syrup
2 cups Brown rice flour
1 1/2 tbsp cacao nibs ground
4 tbsp pecans ground

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Cream Butter, xylitol, tapioca starch and salt until light and fluffy. Mix in syrup, cacao nibs and pecans. Gradually add flour until batter picks up off the sides of the bowl. Spoon onto cookie sheet.

Bake for 16mins or until edges of cookies slightly brown.

Yields 32 cookies