Gluten-free Lemon Olive Oil Cookies

1 cup sweet rice flour

1 cup tapioca flour

cup almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

teaspoon salt

¼ cup high-quality lemon olive oil

1 cup sugar, divided

1 egg

¼ cup sour cream

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Zest of 1 lemon

In a large bowl, combine the sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a second large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the olive oil and cup sugar until well combined. Add the egg and blend. Slide in the sour cream and lemon juice. Mix until a cohesive mixture has formed.

Slowly fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, a ˆ¼ cup at a time. Incorporating the dry goods slowly improves the texture of gluten-free baked goods.

Add lemon zest at the last moment. The dough will be sticky. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the remaining cup sugar in a bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Form the dough into small balls. Roll each ball in the bowl of sugar and place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet. The cookies will be soft and caky, not crisp. Carefully transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to rest for another five minutes, during which time they will harden.

Makes 10 large or 15 small cookies.

"Gluten-Free Girl" by Shauna James Ahern (2007 Wiley)