I have some exciting news! Almost a year to date from our wedding last year my hubby and I are heading off on our honeymoon to Italy! This holiday has been a cascade of events in the planning, that started with the sale of our house. If you follow my blog and social media sites you will know our home has been on the market after many years of renovations. We are proud to say that it is now sold, which in turn brings about some exciting changes!

Those changes start with hoping on a plane and heading to Italy for 5 weeks, followed by 1 week in Bali for a wedding. Over this time the clinic here will be in sleep mode, however I do plan to update the website and social media sites with all the foodie adventures of our travels. This trip away has been a fantasy for years, and it has always circumnavigated around food (and vino). It would be a sin to not share my culinary travels with you all.

With little time left to prepare, the list making has began:

• Pack up and move house
• Find a place for the cat to stay (no ‘one star’ accommodation will do for a fussy Devon Rex)
• Pack up clinic and get ready for a new and exciting beginning on my return
• Bake snacks to keep us going using pantry staples as the fridge runs bare

While most of these jobs are still a work in progress, the bottom one is in full swing. As a result, today I am sharing with you these ‘make in a jiffy’ choc chip malt cookies. What I love about these cookies is how quick they are to make, and better still, how quickly they bake. There is nothing better than a short baking time. A short baking time means an express train to your taste buds.

I am rather chuffed with the finished product of these choc chip malt cookies, as they are wonderfully light and crumbly, just as cookies should be. The dough at first is dense and pliable, but as they are exposed to the heat of the oven the cookies expand and spread out into light little pillows. Once they are cooled they have that wonderful snap quality that traditional cookies have.

These choc chip malt cookies can be adapted to use whatever pantry staples you may have. I of course like to use tahini (and always have some on hand), however you could use almond butter, or other nut or seed butters of choice. Obviously the choice of nut butter will influence the final flavours of the cookies, so think about this when you are choosing an alternative butter. The flaxseed meal could be changed to almond meal, sunflower seed meal, hazelnut meal…you name it. Again, I find the flaxseed meal keeps a certain neutral flavour that allows the malt to shine through.

On a closing note, if you have travelled in Italy, or are of course from Italy, I would love to hear from you in the comments below regarding any stand out foodie destinations. At present we have a list as long as my arm that would take about two years in Italy to get through, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated…Grazie!

choc chip malt cookies

Print Recipe

serves

10 cookies

preparation time

5 – 10 minutes

cooking time

13 – 14 minutes

ingredients

• 1 cup flaxseed meal (linseed meal), freshly ground if possible
• 1/2 cup hulled tahini (or other seed/nut butter of choice)
• 1/4 cup barley malt syrup (or rice malt if gluten intolerant)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup cacao nibs (naturally sweetened if available)

method

Preheat your oven to 175c. In a large mixing bowl combine the flaxseed meal and cacao nibs. Now add the remaining ingredients and bring them to a pliable dough. You may need to use your hands. The cookie dough should come to a ball quite nicely.

Take roughly heaped teaspoon amounts and roll into balls, then flatten the balls out slightly to a thick disc shape between your hands. Place each cookie onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Continue shaping the cookies until you have used all of the dough. Ensure you leave some room between cookies, as they will spread out as the bake. To finish, take a fork and press it into the top of the cookies lightly to create an indent.

Place the cookies in the oven and bake for 12-13 minutes. The cookies will puff up and spread out while cooking. Remove the cookies from the oven and leave them to cool on the tray for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. (If you try to move them too quickly they will crumble while still hot).

Leave cookies to slightly cool on the wire wrack till you are ready to eat them! If you like your cookies a little soft in the middle you can cover them with a tea towel while they are cooling, otherwise leave them uncovered and they will develop a lovely crunch.

These cookies can be stored in an airtight container and kept in the pantry for two days, or refrigerated for one week. They will also freeze well, but I doubt they will last that long. 😉

nutritional information

• Barley malt is wheat free, however it is not strictly gluten free. The malt flavour can be achieved by using the rice malt in place of the barley malt and adding a heaped teaspoon of black strap molasses to the syrup mixture (to make up the entirity of the 1/4 cup amount).
• These choc chip malt cookies are made with flaxseed meal, which is well known as an abundant source of lignans. Lignans are converted in the intestinal tract by gut bacteria into beneficial phytoestrogens. These phytoestrogens have a modulation effect on our endogenous oestrogen levels. In fact, in conditions of excess oestrogens lignans have been shown to reduce oestrogen levels by this balancing role. This process also highlights the importance of quality gut bacteria health for healthy hormone function and regulation.
• These cookies are rich in fibre and plant based protein. The flaxseed meal and tahini in unison work wonderfully to keep you going between meals, without experiencing that post sugary snack dip of blood sugar levels. The sweetness comes from the malt (or rice malt), however the cookies are just sweet enough to give that charming balance without being overly sugary.

Jessica Cox

Jessica Cox is a qualified practicing Nutritionist with a Bachelor Health Science (Nutrition) and over 15 years of clinical experience. She is the founder and director JCN Clinic, published author and established recipe developer. Jessica is well respected within health and wellness space for her no fad approach and use of evidence-based nutrition.