Gluten free digestive biscuits without xanthan gum
Makes 10-12 digestive biscuits I have made this recipe with both a 6cm cutter and a 7cm cutter.
Ingredients
- 100 g toasted quinoa flour (see notes)
- 50 g tapioca flour
- 50 g almond meal
- 50-75 g light brown sugar (see notes)
- 5 g baking powder
- 5-6 g xanthan gum
- 110-125 g slightly softened butter, cubed (I like salted butter here but both work) (see notes)
- milk of choice, only if desperately needed
Instructions
- Whisk together the flours, almond meal, sugar, baking powder and xanthan gum in a medium mixing bowl.
- Use your fingers to rub the cold butter into the flour until it has completely incorporated into the dough - not a streak of butter in sight. You can also do this in a food processor, but I tested it without one to ensure it is accessible for everyone.
- The dough should come together in a smooth and pliable ball that is just slightly too moist to roll out. You should be able to pick it up in one hand with absolute ease. There should be no dry flour in the bowl, but it should not be so wet that it's closer to a batter or that it is hard to hold in one hand.
- If your dough is significantly drier than described, add a teaspoon of milk at a time until you reach the described consistency.
- When you are happy with the dough consistency, place it in a piece of food wrap. Press the dough down into an even, thin rectangle and wrap it up in an airtight manner. Place the dough in the fridge for 30-45 minutes or until it feels firm but not rock hard.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/356F about 15 minutes before you are ready to bake. Line a large baking tray.
- Place the dough on a piece of baking paper lightly coated with tapioca flour. Lightly coat both sides and all edges of the dough with tapioca flour so it doesn't stick.
- Gently roll it out to about 1/2 - 3/4cm thick. Thinner biscuits cook more quickly, so have the thickness of your biscuits in mind when you go to bake.
- A few little cracks on the edges of the dough are fine, but if it's cracking in the centre or dramatically, it is too cold. Stop and wait for the dough to soften a little more before continuing.
- Cut out your biscuits using a 7cm cutter, re-rolling dough scraps as necessary until you have used all the dough. Place each cut biscuit on the lined baking tray, leaving room for spread. Depending on the size of your tray and oven, you might need to bake in two batches.
- Bake for 10-13 minutes until the biscuits are cooked through and golden brown. They might feel a little soft but will firm up as they cool.
- Allow to cool completely on the tray before eating or transferring to an airtight container on the bench.
Notes
- See the body of the post for substitutions (spoiler alert: there currently aren't any).
- See the body of the post for notes on making your own quinoa flour and then toasting it.
- You can make these digestive biscuits with 50-75g light brown sugar. 50g results in a light sweet biscuit. 75g will result in a sweeter (but not too sweet) biscuit.
- If you use 75g sugar and 125g butter, you will need to chill the biscuits again after you cut them out. Sugar and butter both encourage spread in biscuits, so biscuits with 75g sugar will be the most prone to spreading. If they come out of the oven more spread than you would like, use a large glass or cookie cutter to neaten them up. They are only pliable while hot, so make sure you do it straight after they come out of the oven.
- How much butter you add depends on your preference for a slightly drier digestive or a more buttery one. It also depends on the flours you use and where you live. You might need to experiment to see which you prefer.
- McVities digestive biscuits are 7cm in diameter. If you don't have a 7cm cutter, most cans of beans or tomatoes are 7cm diameter. Use it as a stamp, then use a sharp, non-serrated knife to cut out the biscuits.
- You can also use any size cookie cutter if you are not fussed on sizing. How many cookies you get from a batch will depend on the size of your cookie cutter.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!