Gluten Free Mantecado - Vegan Almond Lemon Cinnamon Cookies
13Piggies! I am SO excited to share this scrumptious gluten free vegan mantecado cookie recipe from November's Pig Of The Month, Magali Pès Schmid. Read Magali's fascinating journey with whole foods. She is one of my favourites readers, and an unending source of inspiration to me. She is an incredible self-taught cook who is always developing delectable snout worthy recipes! These gluten free vegan almond lemon and cinnamon cookies are absolutely delicious. Best of all, they are SUPER easy! Just throw all of the ingredients into your mixer, food processor, or in a bowl with a wooden spoon (I made them that way too), bake and devour.
Mantecado cookies or "Spanish crumble cakes" are traditionally eaten at Christmas, weddings and other celebrations. So I thought it would be perfect to feature them leading into the holiday season. A note from Magali: "Mantecados" come from the word "manteca" which means "butter" in Spanish, as these cookies were originally made with lard ("manteca de cerdo")" They are also called "Montecados", "Montecaos" or "Polverones", as "polvo" means “powder” in Spanish.} In Spain or some other Latin countries, "mantecado" sometimes refers to an "ice cream" or "sherbet"; and when you take a bite of these super light cookies you will understand why! They just melt and disappear in your mouth.
Those of you who are used to very robust cookies will find these gluten free mantecado cookies especially interesting. They are quite heavy to look at, but are very soft and crumbly. Another note from Magali: "As far as texture, this is exactly what you want to achieve: a cookie/biscuit which falls apart between your fingers if you press it too hard, a a bite that melts in your mouth thanks to the fat ingredient which gives it a rich and tender crumb."
The first time I made these gluten free mantecados, the taste reminded me a little of my gluten free klaicha cookies. These super light and crumbly cookies have a mild flavour that sneaks up on you. They taste a little bit like gluten free lemon and almond shortbread cookies. But with a much more crumbly texture. Feel free to add a bit more cinnamon into the mix if you want a bit more of a kick. I like them exactly the way Magali made them. Although, I did add in a bit of vanilla extract just to heigthen the flavours a bit. I thought you could also use 1/4 tsp of natural almond extract for a stronger almond flavour? Magali handed this recipe to me with these instructions, "change, adapt, and adopt". I couldn't have said it myself. Isn't the photo Magali took beautiful? That is gorgeous little Alessia eying off the cookies in the background. SO adorable!
I made these quite a few times experimenting with different oven temperatures and different oils. I settled on unrefined coconut oil or grapeseed oil. Different oils will yield mantecedos with varying personalities. I found that the coconut oil created a slightly harder cookie. But I really liked the flavour of the grapeseed oil. But there are very subtle differences. I like coconut palm sugar. But you could use any sugar you like. The best results were with a slow oven at 300 F for about 20-30 minutes. I then turned off the oven and allowed it to cool with the cookies inside. The cookies then hardened without burning. Give Magali's recipe a go! You will be on a winner with these gluten free vegan cookies! YUMMO! Magali does not have a blog YET. I say "YET" because I am really hoping she will start one. Her recipes and food photography are AMAZING! They just have to be shared with the masses! Perhaps if the piggies rally and post a lot of supportive comments on this post (Hint Hint) she will reconsider! Love you Magali! Oink Oink!
Gluten Free Mantecado - Vegan Almond Lemon Cinnamon Cookies
- 1/2 cup (about 50 gms) almond meal
- 1/4 cup (about 40 gms) coconut palm sugar
- 1/3 cup (about 50 gms) buckwheat flour
- 1/3 cup (about 40 gms) white rice flour
- 1/4 cup (about 50 gms) olive oil, coconut oil, or grapeseed oil
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ground cinnamon for dusting
- Preheat oven to 150 / 300
- In a stand mixer beat the sugar and oil together.
- Slowly add in the almond meal, lemon zest and vanilla essence.
- Then add in the flours.
- You might need to add in a tiny bit more oil to get the right consistency.
- Roll small balls of dough in the palm of your hands.
- Place on a greased cookie sheet or a sheet lined with baking paper and press gently with a fork
- Sprinkle each pressed cookie with cinnamon.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Turn off the oven and allow the oven to cool with the cookies inside.
- The cookies should harden.
- Allow to cool completely before devouring. YUMMO!
- This mixture makes 12 small cookies.
Piggy Cooking Tips
the best way to store lemons
Lemons continue to respire and ripen after they have been harvested. The faster they respire the more carbon dioxide they produce, and the quicker they spoil. Store your lemons in the fridge to slow this down and they should keep for up to about ten days. Make sure you do not store them in plastic bags where they are on top of each other. When there is limited oxygen, the ethylene gas gets trapped, causing them to rot. Always bring them to room temperature to get the most juice out of them.
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Piggy Grunts!
Add Your GruntBeing from Puerto Rico, I grew up eating Polvorones or Mantecaditos we bought from street vendors. My son has multiple food sensitivites so he cannot eat the real deal. I’ve been trying to make them at home using the pulp from homemade nut/rice milk, but never manage to get the right texture. I think he would love these! Thanks, Magali! One question, I don’t have buckwheat flour, what other flour would work: teff, sorghum, millet, amaranth, quinoa, coconut? I also have a cream of buckwheat hot cereal that is milled buckwheat and flaxseed, would that work?
I made these cookies last night and they turned out delicious. They spread out into one big cookie but I fixed that by pushing them back around the edges. I also pushed a thumbprint and topped with local cherry jam. Mmmm! I’ll definitely make these again. I really want to find a way to use all the pulp that I have saved in my freezer from making almond/rice or hazelnut/rice milk every 2-3 days and incorporate into this recipe.
Hola, Suni :) Thank you for your post: interesting to learn they are also called “Mantecaditos” in Puerto Rico!
Using nut/rice pulp for this recipe is a great idea! The dough might turn out a bit more moist than the original recipe so you might have to adjust and add more flour. Buckwheat flour adds stickiness to the dough—which, to my knowledge, quinoa, amaranth, millet and coconut flour, for example, don’t. If you have buckwheat grains, you could grind them in a small coffee grinder. I have no experience with “cream of buckwheat and flaxseed” but I should think it could work. Maybe there again, the dough might be too moist and you would need to add more flour. Flaxseeds have quite a strong taste but it could give a nice nutty flavor to your Montecados. Plus, flaxseed being a fantastic binding ingredients, I’m positive that your cookie dough will stay well together. I don’t know teff flour: I will have to look into it right now :)
I always love coming back to your site to see new wonderful recipes all the time. I can’t keep up! These cookies looks scrumptious. I am printing off this recipe now so I can put it in the “to Bake” file of my recipe book. Can’t wait! Will let you know how they turn out. :-)
Blender Girl - You evil genius, you have turned me into a raging cookie monster!!!!!!!!!!!! These are so wholesome and flavourful - The lemon tastes so fresh and light but the cinnamon adds the naughty kick that we all crave over the holidays! ;) I could literally eat these all day, every day. These are also PERFECT for kids, the ‘ittle tots in my family are in for a real treat ;-) Thank you!!!
Hello piggy friends!
Below, my original recipe, for those who are more familiar with grams than with cups.
But before, just a minute of linguistics which should help you visualize and get just the right texture for these addictive cookies :)
“Mantecados” come from the word “manteca” which means “butter” in Spanish as these were originally made with lard (“manteca de cerdo”).
They are also called “Montecados”, “Montecaos” and last, but not least, “Polverones”—and, yes, maybe you guessed it right: “polvo” means “powder” in Spanish.
Now, this is exactly what you are going to want and achieve: a cookie/biscuit which falls apart between your fingers if you press it too hard and melts in your mouth thanks to the fat ingredient which gives it a rich and tender crumb.
Salivating much? I am… *slurp*
Sooo, with no further ado, the ingredients in grams for everyone in Old Europe and beyond :)
40 g brown sugar
50 g oilive oil
——
50 g almond meal
½ lemon zest
——
50 g buckwheat flour
50 g rice flour
—-
cinnamon powder
Thanks Magali
I have added all of your quantities and notes on the body of the post!
These cookies are YUMMY!
Thankyou SO much for sharing them with us.
Oink Oink :)
Oinky-Doinky :)
My pleasure: I’m just glad if I can help!
xo Magali