This weekend just gone I wanted to work through a few ingredients that were floating around in my pantry taking up space. It gave me the perfect opportunity to test run these rich and chewy chocolate almond cookies with a few of my own modifications. All of the ingredients I already had at home and the whole recipe took about 20 minutes from prep to eating time.
For the chocoholics among us, sometimes you need something on hand for a chocolate fix to prevent you from reaching that bit too often for those high sugar, low quality, impulse buy chocolates on offer. You need something with more protein, higher fibre and the option to control the sugar content that still hits the spot! These little biscuits do the job nicely in next to no time and with minimal washing up to do. Win-win!
Ginger is an excellent digestive herb and enhances digestion of the rich nut and cocoa ingredients. I could eat ginger with just about anything – read more about my thoughts on ginger and its many uses here.
Choc-ginger-hazelnut biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 cup hazelnut meal
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1/4 cup sugar/stevia blend (or 1/2 cup sugar or suitable sugar substitute)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (sifted)
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 tablespoons dark choc chips (dairy-free if desired)
- 1-2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallised ginger
Method
- Preheat oven to 180ºC. Line or grease two baking trays.
- Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl.
- Add egg whites and vanilla extract to dry ingredients, stir until mixture has an even consistency.
- Add choc chips and ginger, mix through.
- Roll dessertspoonfuls into balls and flatten with a fork on baking trays.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool on baking tray.
For further information on Chinese Medicine contact Dr Sarah George (Acupuncture). Sarah is a practitioner of acupuncture (AHPRA registered), massage therapy and natural health at her Broadbeach clinic and is the Chinese Medicine Senior Lecturer at the Endeavour College of Natural Health Gold Coast campus.
