Australian Natural Health Magazine - Nourish

They’re perfect for Christmas tree decoration or a gift for someone special.

Ingredients (makes approximately 30 cookies)

• 150g fresh or frozen raspberries
• 150ml rice malt syrup
• Finely grated zest of 1 large orange
• 100ml freshly squeezed orange juice
• 90g tapioca flour
• 110g sorghum flour
• 110g brown rice flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 50g coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• Tapioca or brown rice flour, 
for dusting

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (conventional oven) or 160°C (fan-forced oven). Grease and line two large cookie sheets.

Into a small saucepan, put raspberries, 100ml of the rice malt syrup, orange zest and orange juice. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes or until fruit is broken down and mixture has a jam-like consistency. Allow to cool a little.

In the meantime, sift into a large bowl the tapioca flour, sorghum flour, brown rice flour and cinnamon. Add the coconut oil, remaining 50ml of the rice malt syrup, vanilla essence, eggs and raspberry mixture. Stir to combine. The mixture should come together into a firm dough.

Using tapioca flour or brown rice flour, lightly dust a clean and dry bench surface. Shape dough into a ball on the bench. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough, regularly loosening it from the surface and turning it to prevent sticking.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of approximately four millimetres. Using a star-shaped cookie cutter (or a Christmas-themed cookie cutter), cut star shapes out of the dough and place on cookie sheets.

Bring the leftover dough back together into a ball and roll out to a thickness of four millimetres, dusting the surface with more flour if necessary. Cut out more shapes and repeat the process until all the dough is used.

Using a wooden or metal skewer, gently make a hole of approximately five millimetres near the top of each cookie.
Bake for 18 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

When completely cooled, thread coloured ribbon through cookies and tie in a loop.

Recipe from Kate Crocker