Digestive biscuits are one of the most popular commercially-baked biscuit varieties in the UK. The name Digestive derives from its high content of baking soda as an aid to food digestion. Digestives are not overly sweet and here in Italy are often used in cheesecake preparations. I personally like their taste, but in the last few years I eliminated a lot of store bought products and started to prepare my own. I prefer to know what the ingredients are and where they’re coming from. Thus, I’ve started making my own digestive biscuits too.

I found this recipe in a site that I often visit for its healthy recipes and interesting posts, and thought they would have been ideal for my breakfast. The original recipe Sonia found used whole wheat flour, but she changed it to whole rye flour, which I also prefer. Oat bran adds a depth and a rustic consistency to the biscuits.
Digestives are not exactly the same as the store bought ones but close enough and I should add much healthier. I added a tiny bit more sugar and also a pinch of baking soda to give the biscuits that tingly sensation that is typical for them.

I now enjoy digestives biscuits for breakfast with a cup of espresso coffee while my kid eats them with his milk. I have to count the biscuits before I start eating them otherwise I keep munching until they’re all gone. Its salty-sweet taste is really addictive, but what I like a lot is its simplicity and straight forward flavor.

Digestive biscuits

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 Tbsp. oat bran
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. whole rye flour
7  Tbsp. lightly salted butter
1/3 cup white natural cane sugar
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. natural vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. milk

Preparation:

In a food processor blend rye flour and oat bran until they resemble course sand. In the meantime melt the butter at low heat until almost all melted. Add the butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and milk to the flour mixture and quickly blend them until well combined.
Form a ball using your hands and gently flat it down, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate  for 30 minutes.
Warm up the oven to 350° and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Flour your working surface and with a rolling pin flat the dough until 1/4-inch thick. I used a pastry sheet but you can also roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper.
Cut the biscuits with a 2-inches cookie cutter and place them on the baking sheet.
Cook them for about 10 minutes or until the sides start getting golden brown.
When ready let the biscuits rest for a couple of minutes and then place them on a wire rack until cool.
Store the biscuits in a tin box so to keep them fragrant. Enjoy!

Healthy breakfast alternatives:

orange lemon cake
mom’s apple cake
yogurt cake
healthy banana bread muffins
rolls with raisins

The other day I cleaned and re-organized my pantry and needless to say I found myself with too many open packages of different types of flour. I had better start using them before it gets too warm, so today I chose to use corn and spelt flour and make cookies which I was craving.

I got this recipe from my mom a long time ago. I copied it because I really liked the cookies, and then I let the recipe sit for several years without ever thinking about making it. I do this a lot with some of my recipes. I collect them knowing that some day I’ll try them, but not right away. Then one day out of the blue I know it’s time for one of them. Today when thinking about the corn flour I had to use, this recipe immediately came to mind.

The corn flour I used is produced by my organic farmer. He plants a variety of corn called mais vitreo, which has a small yield, but in compensation it’s high in quality and flavor. The spelt flour on the other hand comes from an organic mill situated few kilometers from my house. Lately I’ve been using white spelt flour a lot instead of the wheat variety. I like the texture it gives to my preparations as well as a rounder flavor. I also used an organic raw cane sugar as it doesn’t have the strong taste of regular brown sugar, so it can be used in almost all sweets without compromising the taste. To coat the biscuits I chose a bitter sweet chocolate which has 70% cocoa. I prefer a bitter taste to balance the sweetness of the cookies. If you want you can always choose semisweet or even milk chocolate. Make sure that your chocolate has no soy lecithin or other cheap vegetable oils, which nowadays are often added to chocolate. I use the pure chocolate only made with cocoa butter. If there is soy lecithin has to be at least organic which means no GMOs. I personally buy the brand Mascao, an organic and a fair trade product.

Corn and spelt cookies chocolate coated

Ingredients:

1 cup,  corn meal
1 1/2 cups white spelt flour, unbleached all purpose [regular] flour is fine too
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 + 2 Tbsp. raw cane sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 organic lemon
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. aluminum free double acting baking powder
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup pine nuts, 1.8 oz.
5-7 oz. bitter sweet chocolate, 70% cocoa*

Makes: 35 cookies

What you need:

2.5 inch. cookie cutter, in case you don’t have one use a glass or a small cup
oven paper
a pastry brush
double boiler or a stainless steel bowl
a wire rack

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a sauce pan at low heat and set aside.
Sift the two flours and the baking powder and place them together with the sugar in a bowl.
Make a well in the center of the flour, pour the butter, the 3 egg yolks and the salt. Combine well with a fork.
Lastly add the pine nuts, the lemon zest and mix the dough with a wooden spoon.
Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
In the meantime heat up the oven to 350°.
Roll the dough 1/4 inch. thick. Cut the cookies using a 2.5 inch. cookie cutter.
Cover the baking sheet with an oven paper and place the cookies.
Bake for 15 minutes and let them cool at least for 5 minutes.
In the meantime melt the chocolate on medium heat, in a double boiler if you have one, otherwise fill one pan with water and then place a smaller one over.
Brush the top of each cookie with the melted chocolate, place them on a wire rack and let them cool.
If you prefer a thicker chocolate layer, spread another coat of chocolate. I only put one in the cookies pictured.

Notes:
* If you coat you cookies once you only need 5 oz. if you coat them twice you need at least 7 oz. chocolate.