It’s nearly Ostara and Easter and what better way to celebrate than with biscuits? I do love regular hot cross buns, but making them both vegan and gluten free is a little on the challenging side! Biscuits however, is more in my range of ability! (Although I’ve named these cookies because I like the alliteration!)
If you can get your hands on dairy-free white chocolate, that would be the best thing, in my opinion, to make the crosses on the top, but my local supermarkets have been out of the damn stuff for the last 3 weeks! All I had to hand was a tube of ‘writing icing’ that I found in the cupboard from god-knows-how-long-ago. Nobody has died, so I’m assuming it was still fine to eat!
Anyway, I know you’re not here for an essay on the joys of Spring or anything, you just want the deets and the snacks, so without further ado, (a-do..? adoooo… do you ever write something that you usually only hear spoken and then look at it and think – wtf?!) here’s the important part:
Gluten Free Vegan Hot Cross Cookies (Makes 12):
Ingredients:
- 75g plain gluten free flour (I used Dove’s Farm)
- 75g ground almonds
- 75g coconut sugar
- 1tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground mixed spice (or a mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg if you don’t have that)
- 50g melted dairy-free marg/spread (I used flora)
- 3tbsp dairy-free milk, I used Oatly (or you could make your own oat milk)
- 75g mixed dried fruit (I’m using the one Tesco do with the candied peel and dried cranberries in, it’s delicious and zesty)
- White dairy-free choc, melted, to make the crosses on top (or white icing) – optional.
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C/160Cfan/350F/GM4 and line a baking tray with greaseproof/baking/parchment paper.
- Place all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and combine.
- Melt the dairy-free marg and add that, along with the milk, and mix.
- Fold in the mixed dried fruit. The dough should be sticky yet firm.
- Spoon small blobs on to the lined baking tray, allowing space to spread out a bit. You should have at least 12, if you make the blobs too big they end up a bit ‘cakey’ in the middle, rather than soft and chewy. (Which isn’t a terrible thing, they’re still damn delicious, but they’re not really what you’d describe as a biscuit!)
- Bake for around 10 minutes, until risen and cracked, with slightly browning edges. Allow to cool slightly on the tray before moving, as they’re quite soft when warm and you want them to firm up a little before you handle them! When cooled you can add your crosses on top, if desired, and enjoy!
If, like me, you have little assistants that like to help you out in the kitchen, you might like to check out my new Kids Recipe Club!
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