On my last curry night I made two desserts featuring spices sometimes used in curry: cardamom coconut cake and chilli-choc cookies.
The cookies tasted like a delicious chocolate biscuit followed with a chilli burn. Not for the faint-hearted. Although, you can always just decrease the chilli if it’s not your thing. It is my thing – I love the chilli sizzle. And chocolate and chilli are a match made in heaven. I am also a big fan of chilli chocolate chai.
Chilli has many uses in Chinese Medicine dietetics. Used fresh it can warm you up to the point of breaking a sweat, which then actually has a cooling effect on the body.This is an excellent treatment for the early stages of a common cold – we call it releasing the exterior. Think about the effect of a spicy vietnamese soup (pho). Dried chilli has a warmer action (and if you don’t use it in sweat producing quantities) it can be an excellent spice to use to warm you up on cold days. Think about soups, casseroles and curries.
But for now, the cookie recipe. I converted this wonderful recipe I found over to be gluten and dairy-free, adapted the sweeteners and added a ginger centrepiece to each cookie.
Choc-chilli cookies
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup brown rice flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder added
- 20g cocoa
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder (you can increase or decrease this)
- 50g soft brown sugar
- 50g butter or dairy-free alternative
- 50g maple syrup
- Uncrystallised ‘naked‘ ginger, cut into square slices
Method
- Preheat oven to 180ºC.
- Grease two baking trays.
- Sift flour, cocoa, bicarb and chilli powder. Mix well.
- Add butter in spoonfuls and rub through with fingers until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add sugar and stir through.
- Add maple syrup and combine. You may need your hands for this.
- Take teaspoons of the mixture and roll into small balls and place on greased baking trays. Leave adequate room for cookies to expand in the oven. Flatten slightly. Poke a slice of ginger into the top of each biscuit.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Transfer to cooling rack after they have been out of the oven for 5 minutes.
To book an appointment at the clinic or further information on Chinese Medicine contact Dr Sarah George (Acupuncture). Sarah is a practitioner of acupuncture (AHPRA registered), massage therapy and natural health.
