recipes / sweet+desserts / vegan

How many versions do I make of a particular recipe?

And I keep trying and trying time after time until I get what I am looking for…I have made so many of them…

Now that I think about it, I realize that it only happens when I am working on sweet recipes or with my sourdough bread. And it is at that very moment when I re-discover my passion for the sweets and dough world. A world which has been gradually changing during the last years, using less refined products, especially less white sugar. An evolution towards something which can provide us more than simple calories.

It is obvious (and I keep verifying it every time my boy brings me some cookies he has made at work) that it is very hard to compete against the white sugar because of its taste and its attractive appeal (if you use non-refined sugars everything looks a bit brown…). It has become a real challenge for me and also almost a moral obligation and precisely because of that, I feel compelled to look for new alternatives which can provide us with something else, nutritionally speaking, and the most difficult thing, alternatives which can be delicious at the same time. Or at least something which can impress my taste buds and tickle my palate.

That doesn´t mean I won´t be excited at the thought of tasting typical regional foods or traditional sweets from an special patisserie when I travel or when I celebrate a birthday with friends and relatives. Because I really enjoy tasting something as greasy and sweet as a “kouign amann” in Brittany. I feel really full right away, I must admit it, but we also have to enjoy our time! But yeah, enjoy it in a place where the quality is a priority. Like in summer, when I go with my kid to the best ice cream shop in Palma center. It is an exceptional thing and we enjoy it as an special occasion.

But getting back to the biscuit we were talking about before, the challenge wasn´t so much in the taste, but in the texture. I got it from the blog “My New Roots”, a work of art by a woman full of energy and inventiveness. I strongly recommend you to have a look inside and check it by yourself.

In the original recipe, the cookie expanded itself too much during the cooking because it had too much fat. And I wasn´t able to keep always the shape I wanted. Besides, the suggestion of making balls with a glass was a nuisance.

But well, it was delicious anyway!

The fact of changing the texture could affect the taste and that is why I kept changing ingredients bit by bit. And one day it worked out, I got what I was looking for. It tasted slightly as a Digestive cookie. And so at the end I decided to add oat flakes, just by association.

I got a crunchy and nice texture which kept well the shape. And with a great taste!

The shape of the cookie is a personal choice. With this particular dough, I would recommend you stretching it between two parchment papers, semi freeze them and cut them into squares or rectangles with a pasta cutter or a pizza rolling pin. In this particular case, I will show you the technique used by the perfectionist pastry chefs who want all the cookies with the same shape. This is really good because it will help them get well baked during the cooking. It is also important if you are thinking of making good-looking sandwiches with jam.

You could also add as many spices and citrus fruit zests as you want.

The chia seeds are great as a substitute of eggs and also provide added nutritional value, as I told you in the Mango chia post.

The coconut oil has become one of my best partners in my particular patisserie-challenge journey. It provides a very special smooth and crunchy taste. It might happen that not everyone likes it, but there is nothing better than trying it out yourself. It is not comparable to butter (the butter´s taste or texture is quite special) but it is a unique alternative ingredient for many recipes.

It also has huge benefits (forget the light stuff, our body needs fats, but good fats), such as its content in lauric acid, a long chain fatty acid which is also in the breast milk. That is why it is a common ingredient in the infant formula in India because it substantially improves the digestion. It also enhances the absorption of liposoluble vitamins, such as calcium and magnesium. In other words, it helps building up strong bones. Great source of energy, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal, it is perfect for the skin and hair as it also properly nourishes them (for example, it is very good in summer after a prolonged exposure to the sun). Remember to buy it raw and first pressed.

This doesn´t mean you can gulp it, use it for everything or eat 40 cookies at once…Be moderate! Let´s go for it now!