GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF PROTEIN TREATS (WEEK 2 - BISCUITS)

The Swolesomefoods kitchen was exactly like an episode of GBBO this week - star triumphs with of course, a bunch of mishaps, flying emotions of stress, excitement, tears of joy and streams of disappointment... and quite a bit of spilt food but then again, thats nothing out of the ordinary in my kitchen. The sign of impending good food is ingredients all over the floor, covering the once new cookbook, or my scruffy paper notes, and sticky (usually chocolatey) cupboard handles.

Triumph no.1 - I made my own healthy icing sugar!
'Such a thing even exists?' you're probably thinking. Yes, yes it does. It normally costs about £5 compared to that of regular icing sugar which you can pick up for as little as 70p. Oooouch!

Triumph no.2 - The biscuits turned out pretty darn good.

Triumph no.3 - The gingerbreads were DE-LISH.

Mishap no.1 - I had about 15g of icing sugar when made... that was just over a small spoonful... not enough to make Viennese Whirls or ice biscuits.

Mishap no.2 - The Viennese Whirls  came out like flat bubbly pancakes.

I searched endlessly online for some help or a rough recipe I could use for these. Alas, no sugar free ones existed.

THEN I WOULD BE THE FIRST!

I stood up unbeaten for my desk, my cape holding the dramatic swooped-to-the-side-by-the-wind position, resistantly flapping at the tips and a bright light shinning upon me... OK, OK so I'm not a superhero. But I definitely did stand up from my desk in quite a ruthless manner, put on my apron and  fly   walk to the kitchen to inspect possible ingredients.

 I used a basic GF recipe but substituted my icing mix. The future was bright and hopeful. I had just made sugar free icing sugar and the cookie batter was a fluffy and creamy texture just like the instructions had asked. I piped the mix into perfectly shaped whirls. I was on to a winner, I saw light at the end of the tunnel, victorious - the ultimate technical vanquisher - I, Maddie, this week's Star Baker!

How they should look

(IMAGE//CALLBAKOLONDON)

How mine looked

Ahem. So they didn't really work out. BUT, quite frankly that did piss me off a little so I probably will be attempting these again soon.

For now though, I have 2 awesome biscuit recipes to share with you. You can change these up! Play around with flavours and add ins. For instance, in both I used vanilla protein powder but you can try with different flavours. In the toffee and chocolate shortbread I used My Protein's toffee drops - flavour drops are another easy way to make these more fun or you could even use regular baking essences/extracts and add to taste. In the gingerbread I popped in a few dates. These gave them a really nice chewy texture in bites. I only added four but I suggest more - if you like dates or maybe try blending them up into the mixture for a more chewy cookie all round.

ICED BISCUITS

INGREDIENTS

• 2/3 cup of coconut flour
• 1/3 cup of coconut oil/ butter + 1 heaped tbsp - both at room temp
• 3 tbsp of agave or substitute
• 1 scoop of protein of choice

ICING

• Xylitol
• Arrowroot powder
• Food colourings (to make homemade natural ones click here.)

(IMAGE//NOURISHINGJOY)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 175'C. In a medium sized bowl blend in the coconut flour and protein powder. Then add the syrup and butter/coconut oil. Using your fingers rub the fat to combine with the rest of the ingredients - this is where you can then add any extras i.e dried fruit, chocolate chips, flavourings - then roll into a dough ball.  Mould the dough into desired shapes. Bake for just under 10 minutes.

While baking add 3/4 cup of xylitol and 1/2 tbsp of arrowroot powder to a high speed blender or processor. Blend for about 20-30 seconds. YAY! Sugar free icing!  Once the cookies are cooled - DECORATE. You can use the icing in exactly the same way you would with regular powdered sugar. Add a couple tsps of icing powder with drops of hot water till you get a quite thick consistency along with food colourings, opt. Now there are tons of protein cookie recipes online so pick your favourite and give this icing a go! Check out Protein Pow's awesome range.

PROTEIN GINGERBREAD COOKIES
WITH TOFFEE BUTTERCREAM ICING

(A very rushed 20kg plate, if you are wondering)

INGREDIENTS

• 300g almond meal
• 2 scoops of protein
• 1/4 cup of coconut oil
• 3 tbsp of agave
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp of ginger
• 1 tsp of nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 20 dates chopped opt.

TOPPING

• 3 tsp of softened butter
• 6-8 tsp of homemade icing sugar
• a few drops of toffee flavour drops - or flavour of choice

METHOD

Preheat the over to 150'C. Mix all the ingredients into a bowl and add the chopped dates - this is optional. Roll the dough into a ball and using a rolling pin smooth out the mixture till reaching desired thickness. Cut into shapes of choice and bake for 10-15 minutes.  

While the cookies are baking in small bowl blend the softened butter with your homemade icing sugar. Add flavour drops to taste and refrigerate.  Once cookies are done pipe the buttercream over the cookies. TOP NOTCH, eh?