A biscuit with the best of both worlds, soft on the inside and gloriously crisp and crunchy on the outside.
Texture AND flavour is aided by brown sugar and maple syrup adding a smidge of caramel undertones – but the almonds lightly toasted in butter, turning nutty, steal the show for sure.
Watch this weeks podcast with Matthew Evans who inspired me to make these biccies. You'll find the recipe below.
INGREDIENTS – Makes 12 medium biscuits
30gm butter
100gm roughly chopped whole almonds
100gm rolled oats
good pinch salt
175gm light soft brown sugar
85gm extra butter
1 x extra-large 59gm egg
40ml maple syrup
100gm plain flour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Extra salt flakes
COOKS NOTES:
-
Try to buy skin-on whole raw almonds for even more protective compounds like fibre, antioxidants and prebiotics.
-
If using unsalted butter add 3gm salt, otherwise if butter is salted, reduce amount to a pinch as per the recipe.
-
Buy pure Maple Syrup – maple-style syrup is imitation, made from sugar (or corn syrup), water and artificial flavours.
-
I used a 40-50ml ice cream scoop to make the biscuits the same size. If not available, then measure out 12 x approx.50gm balls.
-
An FYI - the brown sugar and butter ratio means the mixture doesn’t cream, it will combine into damp sand texture.
METHOD
- Place 30gm butter into small saucepan, over medium heat. Allow to melt and bubble, watch for the milk solids to become brown and smell nutty – this will take around 2 minutes. Add chopped nuts to butter and continue to cook for another minute or so, until you can smell them toasting. Remove from heat and tip in rolled oats and salt. Stir well and set aside to cool while making the biscuit dough.
- By hand or in an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar to combine. Add egg and maple syrup and beat well to combine.
- Add flour and bicarbonate of soda and briefly mix to form dough. Tip in oaty almond mixture and mix briefly again to incorporate with dough.
- Form 12 evenly sized dough balls and place 4cm or so apart on large, non-stick paper lined baking tray. Scatter a pinch salt on top of each biscuit. Refrigerate for a minimum of 20 minutes for butter to firm up.
- Pre-heat oven to 180C.
- Bake biscuits for 15 to 17 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and cool to allow biscuits to firm up for at least 5 minutes before eating.