And it’s this time of the year again, cookie baking time. As I’ve only just started, I am still enthused by it all although my healthy eating seems to have gone out of the window all of a sudden – can you relate? Oh well, at least I am back running again as my back injury has thankfully healed. I’m also sticking to a 30 minute back-centric yoga session every morning as my recent bout of pain reminded me if I don’t like how back pain feels, I need to take preventative steps daily. As my job involves a lot of hunching over a countertop (pastry work, styling dishes, photographing), giving my back an opportunity to move in other directions and strengthen its core muscles seems like a wise thing to do.
So going back to cookies, today I have a tray of deliciously Xmassy biscotti cookies, which I have decided to make first as since they are already pretty dry, they keep for ages – unless, of course, your strong will melts at the mere sight of a cookie jar (mine does!!)… This version is very Xmassy, it includes flavours that make me instantly think of Xmas like orange rind, gingerbread spices, nuts, stem ginger and a glug of Amaretto, which you can substitute with more plant milk if you don’t have it or don’t fancy it. I have also had an opportunity to test a gluten-free version of these puppies and a combination of a good gluten-free flour mix and some flax eggs passed the test with flying colours. Gluten doesn’t do much heavy lifting in these and so they aren’t in any way inferior to the wheat flour version at all, in my option. They also appear to be a touch gentler on the teeth than their regular counterparts so that’s nice, but please execute the cutting the logs into slices with some extra care as gluten-free logs are a little bit fragile at that stage – it’s a good idea to allow them to cool off fully. I hope you’ll enjoy these cookies, they are really easy to make, perfect for dunking in hot beverages and keep for ages so there is lots to like.
2 tbsp ground (I use golden) flax seeds (for GF version only) 250 g / 2 cups all purpose white flour or GF flour mix (I tested this one*) 140 g / scant ¾ cup caster sugar (or coconut sugar for unrefined sugar version) 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp ginger ½ tsp cardamom (optional) ½ tsp fine sea salt zest 1 large (unwaxed) orange 100 g / ¾ cup hazelnuts or almonds, chopped roughly 5 stem ginger balls (in syrup), finely diced
WET INGREDIENTS
75 ml / ¼ cup + 1 tbsp soy or almond milk 50 g / ¼ cup coconut oil (I use the odourless one) or vegan butter, melted 60 ml / ¼ cup Amaretto liqueur (or more plant milk for alcohol-free version) 1½ tsp vanilla extract
DECORATION (optional)
100 g / 3½ oz vegan chocolate
