Cookies of Joy

From a baker, an “angel unawares”…music and a recipe for joy:

Today, I make Cookies of Joy to serve at tea time. Don’t you just love the name? The 12th-century recipe is attributed to Hildegard of Bingen and I play music written by her as I bake. What an amazing woman!

The original recipe calls for spelt flour and since it is a gluten-full flour I substitute gluten-free ingredients. It’s a good thing I downsize the recipe to just half because if I had made the full recipe I would joyfully have eaten my way through too many of them as they are very good.

May the making, eating, and sharing of all your bakes bring you joy.

Gluten-Free Cookies of Joy

Full recipe below makes about 32 cookies. Cut amounts in half to make about 16 cookies.

What I Use:

12 tablespoons butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup local raw honey

4 egg yolks from large eggs

1 and 1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour Mix)

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon nutmeg, freshly ground

1 tablespoon Vietnamese cinnamon, ground

1 teaspoon cloves, ground

How I Make It:

While slowly melting the butter over a low flame, place all the ingredients in a large bowl. Add the butter and stir until everything is well and thoroughly mixed.

Cover the bowl with a beeswax wrap and set in fridge for an hour to chill and firm up a bit…although I cheated and pulled it out after 50 minutes.

Place dough on a floured surface and cut in half. Form each half into a log approximately 2” in diameter. 

Slice in 1/4-1/3” rounds and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. You can also roll the dough out on the floured surface and cut into small circles with a glass or cookie cutter, re-rolling the trimmings and cutting out more circles.

Bake at 375F for 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Eat joyfully!

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