Chestnut & Quinoa Biscuits

Thought I'd try something different today. Mainly because I just noticed my chestnut flour is about to go out of date, but also because I know not everyone can tolerate oats so I'm experimenting with different 'flakes'. I often find rice flakes too crispy in a biscuit recipe, I've run out of millet flakes, and I'm trying to find new ways to use quinoa flakes, that disguises the strong flavour.

These worked brilliantly, I think adding quinoa to a biscuit brought out more of a nutty taste, complimented by the sweet, earthiness of the chestnut flour. 

Crispy and 'nutty' as they are.

Filled with chestnut spread & drizzled with chocolate.

This made 15 biscuits (plus the bit I tested in the microwave before baking and the raw mix I ate...)

85g Dairy & Soya Free Margarine (I used hard Stork as I wanted a crisper biscuit)

50g Light Brown Sugar (any would work, will just alter the colour)

35g Date Syrup (would probably work with golden syrup, but I'd use a bit less)

50g Chestnut Flour

50g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

50g Quinoa Flakes

Melt margarine, sugar and syrup together in the microwave (or in a small pan).

Add flours & flakes and mix well.

Roll into walnut sized balls.

Flatten slightly (I might try them a little thinner next time - and with less sugar).

Bake at 180ºc for 10 minutes, remove from oven to cool if you want a soft cookie, or turn the temperature down to 160ºc and bake for another 10 minutes for a crispier biscuit. This is what I did, although, some did brown a little more on the edges than I wanted, but my oven is not baking evenly at the moment. I might just try 20 minutes at 160ºc next time.

Remove from the oven to cool.

Eat them plain, or fill with chestnut spread and drizzle with melted chocolate. 

Chestnut and chocolate muffin 2!

Better late than never...


When I picked my son up from the childminder today she told me he had said he really enjoyed his packed lunch today, especially the little cake. He then asked me if he could have another one when we got home and was disappointed when I told him I ate the last one with my lunch (actually, I'm not sure it made it to lunchtime...) and asked when we could make more - guess that's a good sign.


I made 1/2 quantity, which was enough for 12 generous mini muffins, this should fill 10-12 normal size ones.

2 cups chestnut flour (200g)
3/4 – 1cup coconut flour (60g)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I think I only used about 1/2 cup)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
120mls  oat cream (or other milk substitute)
125g Dairy and Soya free spread
250-300mls cup milk substitute (try 250 and add more if not a dropping consistency, I'm not entirely sure how much extra I added, recipe said 3/4 cup and that was too dry)
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
Dairy free chocolate chunks or chips (I used a mixture of chopped Moo Free chocolate and dark chocolate buttons) - as much or little as you want.

1. Preheat oven to 190C / 375F. 

2. Whisk the dairy free spread with the brown sugar until pale, slowly whisk in the oat cream until light and creamy before finally mixing in the vanilla.

3. Carefully fold in the dry ingredients and the milk substitute until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and spoon into muffin cases, or silicon cases (comes out easier in an egg free mix). Smooth the tops with a wet spoon.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Chestnut and Chocolate Muffins

While trying to find a source of dried coconut milk that didn't contain Cow's milk (!), I discovered coconut flour is available and a useful fibre source in wheat free cooking, and is milk free. On a trip to Cambridge this weekend, I managed to get to the health food shop for a rummage, was looking for Chestnut flour, and also spied a bag of Coconut flour. Picked up both, while noting the extortionate price they charge for Oat milk, and set about looking for a recipe to try for the chestnut flour that didn't use the whole bag!

Chestnut flour is a popular ingredient in Italian cooking, but most of the traditional cakes had too many eggs for me to try a straight substitution. Spotted this recipe for muffins and as an added bonus it also used coconut flour. Made the usual substitutions (dairy free spared, oat milk and 120mls oat cream in place of the 2 eggs), but didn't look anything like the consistency in her picture for the uncooked mix. Not sure if original recipe was wrong, or as one of the comments suggested, she didn't actually mean coconut flour, but finely ground coconut, which is more oily and less absorbent. I added more oat milk until it 'looked' right and it seemed to do the trick. 

Chestnut and Chocolate Muffins

Unusually for gluten free muffins, these were actually a better texture (less crumbly) the next day and a welcome treat in today's packed lunch. The flour's have quite a strong flavour and they may be better with less chestnut flour and a little Gluten free plain flour - I'll try that next time.

Have just seen the time, so will copy out the recipe another day, or if you can't wait, follow the link above and make the substitutions yourself.