On Camera: WGNO segment with Molly Kimball on Eat Fit Shortbread Cookies
Well, if you haven’t heard me mention her yet, then that is quite a surprise, because Molly Kimball is my mentor and the person I look up to every day for who I want to be and the future I want to have. This past summer was the 3rd summer that I have gotten the opportunity to intern under Molly Kimball. Molly Kimball does it all; she is the founder of Ochsner Eat Fit, has created 2 books, appears in weekly WGNO segments, and that’s not even everything. This summer, Molly and I came up with a new challenge: Eat Fit Shortbread cookies.
WGNO Segment (which can also be found in the “News” Tab)
Here is how we started with a base recipe, and turned it into the perfect shortbread cookie that doesn’t even taste healthy!
Our first test batches were seeing what happened if we took out the xanthan gum in the recipe, so we made one batch with xanthan gum and one without. The one without xanthan gum had a much better texture; it was crispier and not as chewy as the one with xanthan gum. If you have had shortbread cookies, like the Walker’s ones, then you know we are aiming for a buttery, crispy, kind of crumbly cookie that just melts in your mouth. After determining that the xanthan gum should be removed, we tackled the problem of the sweetener. Molly and I thought that the cookies were originally way too sweet, and we wanted the butter to shine through more, like in the Walker’s ones.
For test round #2, we did 50% allulose with 50% swerve, and 25% allulose with 75% swerve. To be honest, neither of these was good. Both were overly sweet, and the allulose made the entire cookie way too wet, and no longer crispy. We decided to completely scrap the allulose and instead focus on the Swerve. We decided that we should just half the sugar completely, no allulose, just 50% swerve from the original recipe.
For test round #3, we compared 3 different recipes: only 50% swerve, 50% swerve plus 1/2 tsp stevia, and 50% swerve plus 1/4 tsp stevia. After a lot of baking and tasting, we decided that the 50% Swerve with 1/4 tsp stevia was the winner. It wasn’t too sweet due to the decrease in Swerve, and the stevia really helped cancel out the typical cooling effect that Swerve gives. But something was still missing. It was good, but it wasn’t perfect.
For the final test round, #4, all we did was increase the salt. Wow. We nailed it. I didn’t realize how much a little bit of extra salt could do, but it made the entire cookie taste better and more buttery.
I highly recommend trying out this recipe, or at least watching the segment above. It was my first time being in front of the camera during one of these segments, and I’ve got to say, nobody talks about how crazy that is. In the past, I was more of the behind-the-scenes person, always workshopping the recipes and then handing them off the Molly. I was so excited to see the entire process this time and get the full experience.
Thank you so much, Molly Kimball, for letting me take the lead on this one. I had so much fun and can’t wait to do it again with you!
Official Recipe:
2 cups of Almond Flour
1/2 cup Swerve Confectioners
1/4 tsp Stevia
3/4 tsp salt
6 tablespoons Salted Butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
