Mayan mystery biscuits

Dark chocolate? Check. Warming spices? Check. A hint of orange? Check. These cookies are just the thing for making the transition from the long and freezing winter we have just endured through to the first days of Spring. Not long to go now…

I played around with this recipe until I got it just right, and I’m pretty proud of these babies. I am having to follow a somewhat tedious dairy-free diet at the moment and this was my first experiment in incorporating Trex vegetable fat into my baking, having previously only used it in my cake decorating classes to keep flower modelling paste malleable. A definite success.

Mayan Mystery* Biscuits

80g vegetable fat
50g soft light brown sugar
65g caster sugar
4 tablespoons soya milk (or cow’s milk)
0.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
170g plain flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
0.25 teaspoon salt
0.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
170g Maya Gold chocolate, chopped into chunks

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Cream the vegetable fat and sugars together using electric beaters until light and fluffy. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract. Sieve in the flour, mixed spice, salt and bicarbonate of soda and stir to combine. Add the chocolate chunks.

Put tablespoons of the mixture onto an ungreased baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 20.

*The mystery is how they can be dairy-free and still taste so good…