In case you didn’t know, National Biscuit Day is coming up on 29th May. So it was cool to hear from The Groovy Food Company, ‘an award-winning British brand committed to sourcing and producing natural foods that taste delicious and nourish the body’s overall health and wellbeing’, who wondered if I fancied recreating their delicious Chunky Coconut & Cherry Biscuits recipe.
A yummy alternative to shortbread and the perfect sweet treat to take on a picnic this summer, the recipe uses the brand’s coconut oil rather than butter which gives the biscuits a delicious hint of coconut while retaining the ‘butteryness’ of traditional shortbread. Because I’m wheat intolerant I adapted the original recipe slightly (see below) plus I’m not a fan of glace cherries so swapped them out for my favourite dried cherries (from Active Edge).
Here we go, let’s celebrate 29th May in style!
Makes about 24 biscuits – Prep 20 mins, plus chilling – Cook 15 mins
Ingredients:
- 125g The Groovy Food Company Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, solid (at room temp)
- 75g golden caster sugar or xylitol
- 1 egg, beaten
- 225g plain flour [I used buckwheat flour]
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 25g cornflour
- 85g glace or dried cherries, chopped
- 3 tbsp desiccated coconut
Method:
- Whisk together the coconut oil and sugar with electric beaters until pale and creamy. Add a pinch of salt and the remaining ingredients, except the desiccated coconut and cherries, then whisk to combine – the mixture should resemble breadcrumbs. Stir through cherries then get your hands in and squeeze firmly to form a dough.
- Shape into two 14cm logs, wrap in cling film twisting the ends like a cracker, and chill for 20 mins.
- Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line two trays with baking parchment. Slice the dough into circles about 1cm thick, a serrated knife works well, and space well on the trays. Scatter over the desiccated coconut and very lightly push down on each biscuit with the palm of your hand. Bake for 15 mins until golden.
- Leave to cool on the trays for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
