In a bid for my 19 month daughter to join her sweet-toothed nursery buddies, I made some gluten free biscuits – with the twist that the sweetness comes from banana and maple syrup.
Gluten Free Biscuits – No Sugar Banana and Maple Syrup Stars
Makes about 20 stars
225g gluten free flour (I used 125g corn flour, 50g rice flour and 50g tapioca flour)
85g dairy free margarine (if you need it to be dairy free)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 ripe medium banana
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Preheat your oven to 180ºC.
Rub the flour, spices, salt (optional) and marg together in a big bowl until it forms a breadcrumb like texture. Mash the banana in a seperate bowl with the maple syrup until it’s smooth and wet.
Fold in the banana and maple syrup goo into the flour mixture and knead until you get a firm dough.
Take a large sheet of greaseproof paper (baking parchment), and use this to roll out your dough on. I’ve learned from experience that gluten free baking crumbles and sticks to the work surface, even if you use a dusting of flour, so I’ve adopted this method instead as you can lift up the dough in one piece. Roll out the dough evenly to about 7 or 8mm (roughly!) and use a cookie cutter to press out small shapes. I used a star cutter, but you can use any shape!
Place the cookies onto a flat baking tray, again on a sheet of greaseproof paper, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes. Leave to cool (although you’ll be sorely tempted to eat them warm!).
This was a tricky adaptation of a regular flour recipe – I had to reduce the temperature, add a bit more marg and cook slightly under the recommended time. It was worth the failed attempts because although it always tasted nice, the texture left a lot to be desired. Anyway, the gluten free biscuit recipe above worked for me, so I hope it works for you too.