Sneaky-doodles

I wanted a dairy-rich cookie with a less sugar than the usual snickerdoodles, which often have twice as much sugar as butter. Using a lot more butter keeps them tender without all the sugar. And I wanted to make them gluten-free for a buddy with celiac disease who likes snickerdoodles.

Cookies

Preheat oven to 350°F. You will need lightly greased cookie sheets if you do not have parchment or silicone liners.

Mill together:

200 grams sorghum
50 grams toasted buckwheat
50 grams rice (I used brown rice)
2 inches cinnamon stick, broken up into bits
1/2 teaspoon mahleb seeds
4 cloves

OR

If not milling your own flour, substitute:

200 grams sorghum flour (about 1 1/3 cup)
50 grams buckwheat flour (about 1/3 cup)
50 grams brown rice flour (about 1/3 cup)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground mahleb or 1/2 teaspoon almond extrac
about 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

then sift or strain the flours and spices together with these into the bowl of a food processor:

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup buttermilk powder
1/2 cup sugar

Zap in the food processor until well mixed (a few seconds).

1 cup cold butter, cut into chunks

Process until the mixture is like coarse sand or fine gravel.

Whisk together in a separate bowl

2 eggs
1/4 cup water

Add the whisked eggs/water to the butter/flours mixture in the food processor. Process until it comes together into a smooth dough.

The next step will be easier if you chill the dough for an hour or so first.

Prepare the cinammon-sugar mix for rolling the cookies:

1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/8 teaspoon cloves
3/8 teaspoon ginger
1/3 cup sugar

Lay a sheet of waxed paper on a counter. Sprinkle a thick layer of the sugar & spice mix in a broad stroped down the center of the paper.

Scoop about 1/6th of the dough up, and use your hands to start to shape this into a log. Roll it back and forth over the stripe of spiced sugar to make a smooth log about 1 inch in diameter (they will spread and enlarge quite a bit when baked).

Roll the coated log up in the waxed paper and chill in the freezer for several hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease several baking sheets or line them with parchment or silicone baking liners.

Slice the cookies about 3/16 inch thick and lay on the sheets spread well apart--they wll spread 1 1/2 to 2 inches diameter as they bake.

Bake 10 minutes.

Notes:

The stripe of spiced sugar around the edge will look browned and may lift off the underlying cookie--it's rather delicate.

You could also try rolling up small balls of dough and rolling them in the cinnamon sugar and bake, but I wanted to just slice & bake to make them easier.