SUGAR FREE MEXICAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES

By LadyJ1114

Ingredients

• 6 oz whole pecan, walnuts, almonds
• 2 Cups flour
• 1 1/4 C ground flax seeds
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 stick butter - unsalted @ room temp
• 1 C Splenda (sucralose)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

For Dusting after Baking:

1 C powdered Splenda* you can grind to powder in blender OR do 1/2 C crystals and 1/2 C powdered combo). You can also use Steels Nature Sweet Powder (maltitol) ---- USED FOR DUSTING AFTER BAKING - not all will be used

1 tsp ground cinnamon


1. Spread pecans on cookie sheet and place in oven for 8-10 mins. until toasted.
2. Remove pecans from oven to cool. Lower oven temp. to 325 degrees.
3. Once pecans are cooled, place in food processor and pulse to grind finely. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add in flour, ground flax seed, salt, and cinnamon. Stir to combine.
4. With an electric mixer, beat to cream together the butter and 1 C Splenda. Add the vanilla extract. If using a stand-up mixer, add in flour mixture and mix to blend. You don't need the stand-up mixer. You can add the creamed butter/splenda to the flour mixture in the large mixing bowl and mix with spoon or hands to combine until well blended.
5. Scoop 1 Tbl of the dough per cookie and roll into small balls. You can use a small cookie scoop to portion out cookies.
6. Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Line up 4 across and 4 rows leaving at least 1" between cookies as they will expand. Bake for 18-20 mins. or until lightly browned. You can bake 2 cookie sheets at a time - one on each rack. Rotate and flip cookie sheets after 9-10 mins for even baking.
7. Let cookies cool 1-2 mins. While this happens, combine 1 C (powdered or powder & crystal combo) Splenda and 1 tsp ground cinnamon in a large plate, tray, or pie plate. Then lift cookies with spatula and place carefully into powdered sugar mix. The cookies will be very soft and crumbly since they are still warm - so HANDLE WITH CARE. Cover with powdered splenda mix all over. Use a spoon or your fingers to cover completely.
8. Lift and gently shake off excess splenda from dusted cookies with spatula onto a tray to let cool. Do not place on top of each other. Line them up side by side. Once cool they are easier to handle and can be stacked and stored in airtight container for up to a couple of weeks. Makes 4 & 1/2 dozen or 53 cookies.

NUTRITIONAL STATS: for 1 (one) cookie:
Calories: 63.2
Total Fat: 4.6 g
Sodium: 44 mg
Net Carbs: 4.3 g
Protein: 1.2 g