Chocolate Chip Sourdough Biscuits

To make the Active Sweet Starter (this will take 5 days):

Day1:

In a container with a lid, mix 1 tsp milk, 1 tsp spelt flour and 1 tsp coconut sugar. We recommend mixing with your hands rather than a spoon. As disgusting as it might sound, we all have naturally occurring yeasts on our hands, so this can give your starter a real boost.

Leave the mixture overnight at room temperature. Cover it with the lid but do not make it airtight. A screw-top jar with the lid partly done up is perfect. You want the yeasts in the air to get in, but you also want to stop the mixture drying out.

Day 2:

Discard half of your Day 1 mix and to what’s left, add 1 tsp milk, 1 tsp spelt flour and 1 tsp coconut sugar. Leave at room temperature overnight as before.

Days 3 and 4:

Repeat Day 2.

Day 5:

By now your starter should be bubbling away. If it is not, continue to repeat Day 2 until it is. Once bubbling, top it up with the quantities required for your recipe and leave overnight. 2 Just like our bread starter, this keeps well in the fridge, so make sure you never use it all up on a recipe, always keep some behind for next time. And don’t worry if it seems to have split when you take it out of the fridge, just give it a good stir and add your topping up ingredients.

To make the Chocolate Chip Sourdough Biscuits:

Day 1:

Add the sugar, flour and milk to the whole quantity of active sweet starter and leave loosely covered overnight at room temperature.

Day 2:

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/ Gas mark 6 and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

In a large bowl mix the recipe starter with the coconut oil, coconut sugar and vanilla extract.

In another bowl combine the ground almonds, flour, chocolate chips and bicarbonate of soda.

Add the flour mix to the starter mix and stir well. The mixture should have the consistency of a loose dough.

Place eight tablespoon-sized balls of the dough onto the baking sheet. Leave plenty of room between them as they will spread during baking.

Bake for 12–15 minutes. The biscuits should be crisp around the edges but still soft in the middle. Allow to cool on the baking tray then store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Nutrition Note: These biscuits may look like and taste like a
Ben’s Cookie, but because the core ingredients have been fermented and they have no refined sugar, their GI levels are much lower than that of a shop bought version, which can contain additives and preservatives.