Trying to make lowcarb shortbread

[Elizellen]

I am after some advice on how to 'tweak' this recipe, where I want to replace the flour with ground almonds and use artificial sweeteners.
This is the original recipe

Traditional Scottish Shortbread
Ingredients
175g of self raising flour (replacing 2 teaspoons with 2 teaspoons of ground rice)
50g of sugar (1/4 cup)
100g of butter
2 teaspoons of ground rice
Caster sugar for sprinkling

Method
1. Cream the butter and sugar until almost white and gradually add the flour.
2. Squeeze the whole mixture into a large ball.
3. Remove from the bowl and dust with ground rice.
4. Press into an 8inch square tin and smooth and make pinpricks all over.
5. Bake in the oven at 160c, 325f or gas mark 3 for 25 minutes.
6. Remove, dust with caster sugar and cut into 12 fingers

Replacing flour with ground almonds
I did some calculations and worked out how many tablespoons of flour made 175 grams
This worked out as being 23 Tablespoons
Then I deducted the 2 teaspoons from this number and used the same volume of ground almonds to mix in the recipe, reserving the 2 teaspoons of ground almonds to 'dust' the ball with.

Replacing the sugar with AS
From info I found a while ago it seems that to replace sugar you can use a mixture of polydextrose/erythritol/sucralose in these proportions

For one cup sugar equivalent:
2/3 cup Polydextrose (= 32 teaspoons)
1/3 cup Erythritol (= 16 teaspoons)
1/3 cup powdered Splenda (or 8 drops liquid sucralose)

So my ingredients were:
23 Tablespoons of ground almonds less 2 teaspoons
8 teaspoons polydextrose powder
4 teaspoons granulated erythritol
2 drops liquid sucralose
100g of butter
2 Teaspoons of ground almonds (for dusting the ball with before pressing into the pan.)

I didnt bother to sprinkle sweetener over the cooked dish as I thought it would be sweet enough without.

It came out nice but not the right texture.
It tasted like shortbread but was softer and squishy rather than brittle like shortbread is.

Has anyone any suggestions for how to improve the texture?
Do you think that using more ground almonds would make it stiffer and more shortbready?

I don't have much polydextrose left from a sample pack I got hold of a long time ago and haven't been able to buy more yet, so don't want to waste it.

[not2late]

If you can use the ground rice, use it. The starch in the rice gives shortbread that certain shortbread texture (you know what I'm talking about ). This holds true for shortbread made traditionally with flour too.

[not2late]

The soft texture might be due to the amount of fat. Almonds are fatty, and that additional fat might be making the shortbread soft.

[Elizellen]

Originally Posted by not2late

The soft texture might be due to the amount of fat. Almonds are fatty, and that additional fat might be making the shortbread soft.

That is a good suggestion, Megs Maybe cutting the butter down would work.

As for the ground rice, as that is only used as a coating for the ball of dough before it is pressed into the baking pan so it probably wouldn't have much effect on the texture inside, but it might make for a firmer outside 'skin'.

I have got so out of the habit of using things like rice that I tend to assume I need to cut it out.

[Elizellen]

Originally Posted by not2late

The soft texture might be due to the amount of fat. Almonds are fatty, and that additional fat might be making the shortbread soft.

I had another go tonight using half the butter and the texture is closer to what I am aiming at. Still a bit soft but much better. Maybe after a night in the fridge it might improve some more.

Thanks again for the suggestion

[Eighties]

Keep us posted if you continue to play with this recipe.

Unfortunately, so many good Scottish foods are not low carb friendly although I might try the recipe I saw for scotch eggs using pork rinds.