Lemon & White Chocolate Biscuits

As we enter the New Year, one of my resolutions is to continue experimenting with new recipes as part of my low fodmap diet. While the diet can be restrictive, I don’t want to fall into the habit of remaking safe recipes that I know keep my gut happy, so my aim is to make being low fodmap as varied, and as exciting, as possible.

While I usually make the most of the school holidays to bake, and trial new recipes – as a teacher, being creative during term-time is often restricted to lesson planning – I’ve found that the busy Christmas period, filled with plentiful family meals, buffets and gatherings, has meant that I haven’t had chance to spend time in the kitchen. With a couple of days to spare before I go back to work, I’ve decided to find a new biscuit recipe to share with you all.

This recipe is inspired by my Great British Bake Off calendar that Santa gave for Christmas, with a recipe for every month of the year… Santa knows me well!  While I haven’t stuck to the January recipe (as I think it was a little nutty), I’ve tried one of the recipes on the introductory pages, adapting it to make it gluten free and low lactose, suitable for a low fodmap diet. If you’re a fan of my previous cinnamon oat biscuit recipe, then I guarantee you will love these oaty, almost digestive-like biscuits! This recipe can be adapted too, so if you are not a fan of lemon, you can make plain digestives (just leave out the lemon zest), and you could then dip them into dark/dairy free chocolate instead.

Let me know if you give these biscuits a try, in the comments below or on tag me on Instagram (@lowfodmapinspiration)…

 I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Ingredients
200g plain gluten free flour
100g porridge oats
75g light muscovado sugar
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
125g butter (softened – I use stork for dairy free baking)
3 tbsp milk (I use Arla lactofree)
100g white chocolate (for decorating – dairy free can be used instead)

Method
Put all of the dry ingredients (flour, oats, sugar, bicarbonate of soda) into a large mixing bowl, with the lemon zest, and mix together.

Gradually add the butter (a small knob at a time) and rub the mixture with your fingers so that is resembles rough breadcrumbs. When you’re happy with the mixture, add the milk and bring together into a soft dough. This can then be wrapped in cling film, and placed in the fridge to chill for around 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 (190°C) and line two baking sheets/tins with baking paper.

Flour your work surface and rolling pin (I use a base layer of cling film to make it easier to clean up!) and roll out your dough to a thickness of around 4mm. Using a 6mm round cookie cutter, cut circular shapes of dough and place on the baking trays. Leave a little space between each shape in case they spread out in the oven. Keep re-rolling the dough until you have used all the mixture (this mixture will make approximately 20 biscuits).

Bake the biscuits in the oven for 10 minutes until they are golden (if you are not using a fan oven, make sure you swap trays on the shelves for an even colouring). Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack and leave to cool and harden.

While the biscuits are cooling, you can melt your white chocolate. Break your chocolate into small pieces and either place in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water on the stove, or in a microwaveable container in the microwave. Stir frequently to ensure it melts evenly. Once you have a bowl of melted chocolate, carefully dip each biscuit into the chocolate (I half covered mine, however you could dip the entire biscuit if you prefer, this all depends on your tolerance levels to lactose). Once dipped, place the biscuit on a baking sheet/wire rack to set, and enjoy!

Alice x