These cookies turned out to be a great gluten-free treat. I reduced the baking time to 40 minutes to avoid burning. I tossed them in the freezer and I would eat them without defrosting. They were delicious.

If you are gluten-free, try baking your cakes using a combination of coen flour and tapioca flour to give a smooth, non-grainy taste.

I have been baking GF for some time, but always need to add xantham gum to the dry ingredients to help hold everything together. If it is TOO "crumbly" - adding a tsp. of xantham gum ( avail in health food stores - necessary for breads/ cookies ) will solve it.

This shortbread had a great flavor and you could substitute almond meal or a mix of ground nuts to substitute for hazelnuts. The lower amount of butter was compensated for by the fast in the nuts making it a perfect ratio, and I would definitely still call this shortbread. One important thing--mine only took about half the amount of time listed in the recipe to finish baking and turn golden, so be careful.

People, please note. This is gluten-free. In gluten-free baking you tend to use a bit less fat because the rice flour doesn't soak it up the same as wheat flours. I think it sounds good and will try it right away. This is a true shortbread, the nuts are ground into flour, therefore only flour, butter and sugar are the composition.

Of course this isn't going to be the exact same texture as traditional shortbread, but things change when you make a recipe gluten free. It probably isn't as dry as it appears because the hazelnuts add fat. It seemed like you felt there was a mistake in this recipe. I think it just is what it is. If you like the idea of hazelnut shortbread but think this isn't the right texture, you should start with a traditional recipe and add hazelnuts to that rather than try to convert this one.

Superpup, actually this is not a valid shortbread recipe...The many I have made in the past 50 years always have much more butter thus not crumbly but firm and buttery smooth. Ground hazelnuts and rice flour just are not of the composition to make aa true shortbread. A good shortbread can be molded and stamped with patterned wood shapes. Mykele

Shortbread is supposed to have a crumbly, sandy texture. Most shortbread recipes are only butter, flour and sugar. You probably would enjoy a different type of cookie. Good luck!

I am never in a rush to make a cookie recipe that has the word crumbly in the description. I prefer that a cookie or bar cookie retain its' shape and not fall apart. That comes from a too dry dough to begin with. Here the only bit of moisture is the butter. Love to learn how others who make the cookie succeed . Thank you. Mykele