First things first, my new recipe book called “Baking at its best: Halloween Recipes for All the Family to Enjoy” is available as an e-book and a paperback from Amazon.Go an grab a copy before the holidays to give you a few ideas to try in a handy sized book. Share what you bake and make with your friends and family over the holiday season.
Back to the baking and creating in the kitchen which has been happening in the kitchen this morning. It is such a dull, grey day today here that I came back from the school run with some definite ideas in mind. I knew I was going to bake with the coconut flour, gluten free flour and egg replacer (Orgran) but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to bake. I drove home from the school thinking “how would Yorkshire puddings work with gluten free flour?” and about what flavours I could use in the bakes, i.e., what ingredients I needed to use up. The decision was made before I pulled up at the door – something with lemon and a chocolate cookie to try and mask the coconut flour flavour which I am sure the flour has.
The results are in, the baking is complete and out of to trials only one is a hit. The Chocolate Crackle Cookies are perfect. Delicious crunch, chocolatey and very tasty. These cookies did not take long to make and they are gluten free, egg free, wheat free. Looking at the nutritional information the cookies are almost calorie free and fat free too so they would be great for anyone watching their calorie intake. The fat and sugar content of the cookies is extremely low which I am very impressed with.
For these cookies I used coconut flour which I have never baked with before so when I opened the bag the coconut smell hit me. Instantly, I thought “there is no way my children will eat these cookies” and “how will I disguise the taste”. Chocolate was the answer but not only did I add cocoa to the recipe but I added some melted chocolate to the mixing bowl as I thought the chocolate would help to hide the coconut as well as compliment it. OMG these cookies are delicious but there was a bit of fiddling about with the recipe just to get the dough to form as the coconut flour is very grainy and doesn’t stick together easily plus the coconut flour absorbs a lot more moisture than standard flour. I had based my cookies on my original gingersnap recipe so I decided to add the golden syrup to help to stick the dough together. This worked really well and the resultant cookies are crunchy and firm but soft and crumbly when you bite into them. The only thing I would change about these cookies is to reduce the sugar further as the syrup adds sweetness along with the chocolate in the recipe. I am quite proud of this first attempt with these cookies so I am going to share the recipe on here.
For the baking disaster which happened this morning I used gluten free plain flour in the recipe along with egg replacer, lemon rind and juice but no golden syrup as the dough formed more easily which I am putting down to the lack of coconut flour in the recipe. I didn’t use the coconut flour in this recipe as I didn’t think it would work as well with the lemon in the recipe. Needless to say, I think the dough was too wet and the dough balls spread all over the tray to form one large cookie (which taste very nice). I know the bicarbonate reacts with the lemon juice but that will not cause any physical defects on the cookies in any way. The only thing I could see is that the dough needed more flour in it than the standard recipe to try and stiffen the dough up before baking the cookies. Oh well next time I make the cookies I will change the amount of flour in the recipe. Oh how I love baking trials and errors.
On a final note, my husband has just eaten half of the giant lemon cookie which I can only describe as a brandy snap texture and feel in the mouth but with a delicious lemon taste. I am not sharing a photo of this bake so you will have to use your imagination. Let me know if you try this recipe out as I would love to know what you think.