Egg Free Chocolate Chip Biscuits

Chocolate Chip Biscuits – Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free

This was meant to be a simple post about chocolate chip biscuits but has turned into something entirely different. Be patient, my friends, it will come, I promise!

Recently, I saw a link on Facebook about what groceries the average family eats in a week from different parts of the world. Find it here. It was a real eye opener. I know that articles like these are provocative and maybe, not entirely realistic. (I do have a healthy scepticism of journalism, even if a picture does paint a thousand words.) But it was still an interesting interpretation of life as we do not know it.

It generated a lot of comment on my Facebook page with most people aghast at the amount of fizzy soft drink consumed across the globe. My immediate reaction was the lack of colour on people’s tables; the lack of fresh food, that is, fruit & vegetables.

Many commented that our representation of a weeks groceries here in Australia was skewed and unrealistic and far from what my readers eat. Yes, I agree,  it is far from what my readers eat because the wonderful people who read my page do not represent the average Australian diet. My readers are interested in whole and unprocessed foods, many use a Thermomix, and they have nutritional health high in priority. The average Australian would not be interested in my Facebook page or this blog!!

A comment which interested me was about the prolific consumption of eggs in the Australian diet. Given that we have been long indoctrinated about the danger of eating to many eggs, it was not an unusual view. Eggs have been unnecessarily given a bad rap, and fortunately, the consensus is shifting.   Eggs are the ultimate and original superfood and Paleo fast food rolled into one! Read why eggs are so good for us here and here and here!!

At home, we would eat between 2 & 3 dozen eggs a week between the four of us. My husband and I take a boiled egg to work each day for morning tea – that’s 10 already. We would have an egg based dinner at least once a week – that adds 8, then throw in a cooked breakfast on the weekend and baking and voila, the magic egg disappearing act!!

In our previous house, I had a large garden and kept a large brood of chooks and grew my own eggs. Nothing beats a warm “bum nut” fresh from the nest. If you have the space, I highly recommend keeping chickens, I miss it dearly. Living in my new townhouse abode, there is no room. It pains me to buy free-range organic eggs but not nearly as much as it pained me to buy eggs when my chooks were off the lay!!

We don’t eat meat everyday so eggs are the perfect protein supplement, the kids sometimes put a raw one in their smoothies and cooking with coconut flour requires a lot of eggs!!

But could I bake without?? Hmmm, there’s a challenge.. Often you will see recipes using linseed meal or chia seeds to replace eggs. Given my propensity for using eggs, I had never tried this egg alternative until now….. and although this recipe isn’t an ideal example, it still is a fantastic recipe and was inspired by abstaining from using the humble egg. And it could be vegan too……..

Chocolate Chip Bikkies sandwiched with my favourite COYO icecream!

35g quinoa seeds

2 teas linseeds (flax)

90g water

180g SR gluten-free flour mix*

1 teas bicarb soda

100g rapadura (I used 70g rapadura + 1 teas stevia)

1 teas vanilla (I used vanilla powder for the first time – yummy)

1/4 teas salt

70g almond butter or any nut butter*

100g coconut oil

75g chopped chocolate*

1 tab cacao nibs – optional

 

Mill quinoa and linseeds for 1 minute on SP 10 and set aside in a bowl. Mix with the water and allow to firm up into a stiff paste for 5 minutes.

 

In the TM add the flour, bicarb, salt  & sugar and turbo to mix. Add the almond butter, coconut oil and quinoa paste and vanilla and mix on SP 6 for 10 seconds to combine well. Add the chocolate and nibs and mix on SP 2 REVERSE for 5 seconds to incorporate.

 

Roll into golf ball sized balls and flatten out slightly on a tray. Bake in a 170ºC oven for 15 minutes. They will crisp up on cooling. 

This is the brand I tried and it is fine.

 

 

* I usually use my own flour mix but was feeling a bit slack so bought this Woolworths brand as it had no soy. Most gluten-free bread mixes contain soy which I try to avoid.

 

* I used 85% chocolate which is very strong and has very little sugar. The addition of cacao nibs makes this less sweet too. If you are using plain dark chocolate increase to 100g, but don’t skip the nibs – they are really good for you.

 

* If you would like to keep this nut free, substitute the almond butter for coconut butter and reduce the coconut oil to 80g.