These are inspired by Ener-G's almond cookies which, if you haven't tried them, please do. They use both almond butter and potato flour and are both gluten- and dairy-free. This set me to pondering on the possibilities of substituting nut butter for shortening in baking recipes. This recipe is adapted from the cookie recipe on the back of the Hershey's Special Dark Chips package. The shredded apple replaces both part of the shortening and part of the sugar.
1 cup chopped walnuts plus 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (1-1/2 cups total)
shortening, about 1/2 cup
1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 crisp sweet eating apple, peeled and shredded
1-1/3 cups potato flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
12 oz pkg Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chips
Place one cup of walnuts into a food processor and spin until it forms butter, scraping sides down as necessary. Scrape into measuring cup (makes approximately 1/2 cup nut butter). Add shortening to make one cup. Scrape walnut butter and shortening into mixing bowl.
Add white and brown sugars to mixing bowl and cream with electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well with electric mixer after each. Add vanilla and shredded apple (shred in food processor), and mix again. Stir together the potato flour, soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir or mix into the batter in the mixing bowl until well mixed. The batter may seem thin at first, but thickens on standing for a minute or two. Stir in the 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Open the chocolate chips and eat about 1/4 cup. There are too many chips for this batter to hold them together. Stir the rest of the chips into the batter. Refrigerate for a half hour.
Heat over to 375F. Form cookies about 1 to 1-1/2 inches across, flattened onto cookie sheet. Keep them the usual couple of inches apart. Bake about 8 minutes until lightly brown on the top. These tend to brown quickly on the bottom so watch closely. Remove from cookie sheets promptly and cool. Makes about 4 dozen.
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