These are really delicious and have more ‘grown up’ flavour due to the fruity bitter Belvedere olive oil and our wholegrain Einkorn, nuttier than normal, flour. They are also dairy free so let’s pretend they’re really healthy. Actually, if you use all the highest quality ingredients as listed here, they really are a good nutritious treat (compared to a Wagon Wheel).
- 25g cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 135g organic Belvedere Einkorn flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 110g Belvedere EVOO
- 110g light brown sugar
- 1 tsp Maldon sea salt
- 45g dark chocolate chips
- 1 medium free range egg
First prepare the ingredients.
In a medium bowl, mix together the Einkorn flour, the cocoa powder, sugar, and teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.
Measure out 45g of chocolate chips and set them aside. These will be folded in at the end.
Add a generous pinch of Maldon sea salt (or another flaky sea salt) to the mixture and stir until well combined. The salt helps balance the sweetness and enhances the chocolate flavour.
Mix the egg and oil into and continue mixing until it forms a smooth, thick paste.
Fold in the chocolate chips, ensuring they are mixed well throughout the dough.
Because Einkorn has a low gluten percentage, it can handle a fair bit of handling compared to standard flour in other biscuit recipes, so to help bring the dough together give it a bit of a squeeze when you’re shaping it.
Shape by placing the dough in a rough sausage shape on some baking parchment. Using the parchment, shape the dough into a cylinder and roll tightly.
You can also make balls and flatten them with your hands, but as there is no butter to melt in this recipe, the biscuits won’t spread and flatten like other recipes. Get the shape you want before they go into the oven. I made mine quickly and carelessly because I wanted to eat them.
Put in the fridge to rest before cooking. You can put the rolls straight into the freezer, I sometimes shape a few smaller cylinders and wrap in clingfilm, then you can bring a batch out when you want biscuits, defrost a little, slice them and quickly bake. Now you have a fresh chocolate biscuit stash!
When the time comes to cook the biscuits, preheat the oven to 170C and place on a tray and bake for 10-12 minutes (longer/shorter depending on what thickness you went for). Leave to completely cool, they will be quite crumbly until totally cold, then they will firm up but still have a lovely delicate texture.