Enjoy these yummy and healthy biscuit recipes for World Biscuit Day 29 May 2021! There’s nothing quite like a biscuit or cookie with a cup of tea or coffee – they do wonders for sharing warmth and opening conversation with friends and family. What’s your favourite biscuit recipe? Share it with us, plus your name, where you live and a little about why it’s special at hello@perspicuoushealth.com
Try these delicious chocolatey, nutty biscuits for a real treat! Make sure you use 70% dark chocolate for the healthiest version
– Team Perspicuous
Chocolate Nut Butter Pretzel Cookies
Serves: Makes 24
Ingredients
I cup (280g) almond or peanut butter
I cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
1 cup dark chocolate bits
3/4 cup pretzel twists, snapped into pieces
Method
- Place the flour, oatmeal, salt and bicarb into a large mixing bowl, stir and rub in the butter until it looks a bit like bread crumbs.
- Stir in the sugar then add the milk and bring the mixture together, squeezing and kneading in the bowl to form a dough.
- Flatten into a disc, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Line two baking trays with baking parchment. Place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll the dough to 3mm thick.
- Using a 6.5cm straight sided cutter stamp out circles. Place on the prepared trays leaving spaces between. Prick the surface of the biscuits with a skewer or fork and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas Mark 5. Take the chilled biscuits from the fridge and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and crisp. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
British Digestives
Ingredients
165g wholemeal flour
135g fine oatmeal
¼ tsp salt
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
130g cold butter, diced
40g soft dark brown sugar
2 tabs milk
Method
- Butter and line two baking trays with baking paper
- Combine peanut butter, brown sugar, bicarb soda and lightly beaten egg in a bowl and mix well. Stir in the chocolate bits and broken pretzels twists
- Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls. Place 5 cm apart on the trays and press gently with a fork to flatten
- Cook in a moderately hot oven (190 C) for 7-8 minutes or until golden. Cool completely on trays before serving.
This Paul Holland recipe for a classic British biscuit is a winner. It’s a savoury treat I make for my family, often with healthy vegan butter
– Sharon Reeves: Cheshire, England
In December 2019, one of my Christmas presents was Donna Hay’s newly published WeekLight Superfast Meals. These biscuits were the first recipe I made and I’ve been making them ever since. They are so scrumptious, I can’t believe they’re actually healthy!
– Yvonne Allison: Brisbane, Australia
Cinnamon Almond Cookies
Serves: Makes 12
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups (150g / 5 1/4oz) almond meal (ground almonds)
1 cup (250g / 8 3/4oz) almond butter
3/4 cup (110g / 4oz) coconut sugar
1/4 cup (16 ml / 2 fl oz) maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 blanched almonds
Method
- Preheat oven to 160 C (325 F). Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
- Place the almond meal, almond butter, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix to combine.
- Roll one tablespoon portions of the mixture into balls and place on a tray.
- Press an almond in the top of each cookie and bake for 12-14 minutes. Don't be afraid to bake these until deep golden in colour,. You'll rewarded with a most incredible caramelised flavour. The extra time in the oven keeps them crisp on the outside and fudgy on the inside.
- Allow to cool on the tray.
My family loves these scrummy Anzac biscuits with the addition of pepitas, macadamias and dried cranberries. You can’t get more Australian than an Anzac biccy! The original biscuits were called Soldiers’ Biscuits and made by Australian and New Zealand women during World War 1 and sent to their husbands, brothers and boyfriends. These nutritious biscuits took two months to arrive by sea in an unrefrigerated ship and had to last the trip.
– Michele Rossetto: St Ives, Australia
Macadamia Anzac biscuits with pepitas and dried cranberries
Serves: Approximately 20 biscuits
Ingredients
90g rolled oats
200g brown sugar
150g plain flour
50g dried cranberries
40g dessicated coconut
50g roughly chopped, unsalted macadamia nuts
15g shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
30ml hot water
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
125g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
Method
- Preheat oven to moderate (160C)
- Mix rolled oats, brown sugar, flour, coconut, macadamias and pepitas in a medium mixing bowl.
- In a teacup, mix the hot water with bicarb until totally dissolved
- Add butter and golden syrup to a heated pan, and warm until the butter is melted and combined with the syrup
- Add the bicarb and water mix to the buttery golden syrup. Stir and remove from heat
- Add this mix to the dry ingredients mixture and stir until thoroughly combined
- Shape tablespoon sized balls of the mixture and place on a tray 2-3 cm apart. Press gently to flatten slightly
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes
- Remove from baking tray and allow them to cool and crispen up.
These two nutty biscuit recipes are very different in nature and are amongst our favourites. They are from ‘The Creative Cook’ by Barbara Lowery. She was the high priestess for calorie controlled gorgeous food back in 1989!
– Team Perspicuous
Honey Hazelnut Biscuits
Serves: Makes 25
Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
Pinch salt
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup toasted hazlenuts, skins removed
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
125g chilled butter, cut into cubes
Method
- Place all ingredients in the order given in a good processor bowl fitted with metal blade
- Process in short bursts only until it begins to form a ball around the blade
- Roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls and place apart on a greased oven tray. To flatten the biscuits, cover the base of a flat glass with plastic wrap and press down
- Bake at 180C (350F) for 12-15 minutes. Cool a few minutes on the tray then transfer to a wire rack.
Pecan & date biscuits
Serves: Makes 36
Ingredients
1 cup pecans
1 cup dates, seeds removed
3/4 cup pure icing sugar
1 large egg white
Method
- Place the pecans, dates and icing sugar into t a food processor bowl fitted with a metal blade. Process until the nuts and dates are finely chopped
- Add the egg white and process until the mixture is well moistened
- Place teaspoons for the mixture on trays lined with baking paper. Flatten slightly with the blade of a wet knife
- Bake at 180C (350F) for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Cool on the tray and peel away from the paper
I love these savoury cheese biscuits. I first had them when I was living in Singapore, and they brought back wonderful memories of home. Who would think a little cheese biscuit could be so evocative! From ‘Cranks Recipe Book’
– Lucy McCabe, England
Cheese biscuits
Serves: Makes 15
Ingredients
100g wholewheat flour
100g softened butter
100g cheddar cheese
A pinch of paprika
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C. With your hands work all of the ingredients together in a bowl to give a malleable dough
- Roll out to a lightly floured work surface, stamp out with cutters, before placing on a baking tray
- Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes until biscuits have browned a little and are no longer squidgy to touch. Cool on a wire rack
If you’re a grandmother like me, your grandkids won’t be able to resist these. They are so simple to make and won’t last longer than a flash!
– Jean Watford: Brisbane, Australia – grandmother of 4
Chocolate Crackle balls
Serves: Makes 20-24
Ingredients
2 cups puffed rice or rice bubbles
1/2 cup hulled tahini
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup cacao or cocoa
pinch of salt
Method
- Melt the honey and tahini together until runny and combined
- Add the cacao, vanilla and salt and mix well
- Combine the puffed rice or rice bubbles and coconut in a large bowl
- Pour the honey tahini mix over the rice bubble mix and stir well to combine
- Moisten your hands, and roll the mixture into balls on a baking tray - any size you want!
- Place in the fridge for half an hour. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
![Cinnamon Almond Cookies - by Yvonne Allison](https://www.perspicuoushealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_8208-1.jpg)
![The Creative Cook by Barbara Lowery](https://www.perspicuoushealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/3382ffbf-6953-4ea6-a571-54615aca5878.jpg)
*Vox pop is a shortened version of the Latin vox populi, which translates as the ‘voice of the people’ or the ‘person on the street’. It was a term used by Sir Francis Galton on 7 March 1907, to indicate a way of finding the truth through the wisdom of the crowd, for guessing in a weight-judging contest. Today it’s a media term for interviewing a range of people on a particular topic. At Perspicuous Health, we use it to tap into the thoughts, opinions and wisdom of our readers and followers. If you’d like to be invited to one of our vox pop, email us at hello@perspicuoushealth.com with some of the topics you’d be interested in.