My quest for low-guilt high-anticipation afternoon snacks is still trundling on and Heidi of 101 Cookbooks has come up trumps yet again. She's pulled together a soft, gently sweet biscuit that combines a gorgeous, natural set of ingredients (oats, walnuts, carrots, ginger, maple syrup, coconut oil!) without the aid of an electric mixer. And it's effortlessly vegan - no weird egg replacers here.I've not seen wholewheat pastry flour - which Heidi seems to use constantly - 'round these parts, so I replaced it with equal parts plain and wholemeal flours. (As an aside, let me know if you've spotted wholemeal pastry flour in Melbourne!) I've been keen to try coconut oil for some time, but my local supplier was out and I had some copha to use up. It was fine as a replacement but I wouldn't recommend that you go and buy it especially. It may have caused my mixture to be unusually runny, and I added some extra rolled oats to achieve a drier texture. If your taste is anything like mine, don't skimp on the fresh ginger and walnuts - the complexity of flavour they add is just delightful.
Carrot cake-in-a-biscuit
(based on Heidi Swanson's carrot oatmeal cookies)
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats (I added about 1/4 cup more, later)
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed until just melted (I used copha out of desperation)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a baking tray with paper.
Combine the flours, baking powder, salt and oats in a large bowl; stir through the walnuts and carrot. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, coconut oil and ginger. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. (At this point I decided that my mixture looked too wet and I added more oats.)
Use a dessert spoon to drop the dough onto the baking tray. Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes, until golden. (I baked them until they had just developed a crust, and they were very soft and moist.)
Carrot cake-in-a-biscuit
(based on Heidi Swanson's carrot oatmeal cookies)
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats (I added about 1/4 cup more, later)
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed until just melted (I used copha out of desperation)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a baking tray with paper.
Combine the flours, baking powder, salt and oats in a large bowl; stir through the walnuts and carrot. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, coconut oil and ginger. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. (At this point I decided that my mixture looked too wet and I added more oats.)
Use a dessert spoon to drop the dough onto the baking tray. Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes, until golden. (I baked them until they had just developed a crust, and they were very soft and moist.)
Oh thank you for reminding me about these Cindy. I saw them ages ago, thought how brilliant they would be and then promptly forgot. I am bookmarking now.
ReplyDeleteNo idea what wholewheat pastry flour is, so good to know the half and half idea worked.
These look really tasty and virtuous - on my list of biscuits to try
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Kathryn! The internet tells me that pastry flour just has a different protein content to ordinary flour, so you could even try using all wholemeal flour for these biscuits.
ReplyDeleteJohanna, I think you'd like them. :-)