Christmas is such a great excuse for all sorts of sweet things, decorating in cute ways and of course for gifting and sharing incredible food with friends and family. Keeping in the festive theme, these Vegan Cinnamon and Macadamia Biscuits with White Chocolate Drizzle are crunchy and snappy, have Christmas spices, chocolate (because it's Christmas, duh!) and the subtle taste of macadamia nuts. The perfect entertaining or gifting recipe!
What's great about these biscuits, is that they're super easy to make. I've used my basic recipe then added cinnamon, macadamia nuts and white chocolate to drizzle on top. Cinnamon is such a Christmassy spice, and goes brilliantly with nuts and white chocolate. If you're not a cinnamon fan there's nothing wrong with using ginger spice instead - in fact, there's so much that's right about that idea.
I give no restrictions on the type of cookie-cutter you use for these biscuits - all shapes and sizes welcome at The Vegan Larder 😉 Louise gave me her many star-shaped cutters to use. It looks so pretty have several shapes and styles of star. Other Christmas shapes like Christmas trees are fab. Of course, if you only have a round cutter, just use that and we can pretend they are baubles! Promise we won't tell...
For decorating, vegan white chocolate is now much more available than it used to be. I don't eat it much, as I prefer the less sweet dark chocolate. But it's great to mix it up and be reminded of the white chocolate I ate as a child. Sainsbury's sells vegan white chocolate in their Free From aisle - it's been a god-send for us! If you can't get hold of it, dark chocolate / any other vegan chocolate will do; it is chocolate after all so you can't go too wrong.
The reason these Vegan Cinnamon and Macadamia Biscuits have a drizzle of white chocolate, rather than a pretty design carefully piped, is that when Louise was decorating them for the photos, she really tried to make them pretty. (see below), but soon realised it would a) take forever and b) she's not super great at it. So drizzle it was. If you have SKILLZ with decorating, by all means, show them off with pretty dots & whirls!
We often get asked about replacing eggs and butter in sweet treats. This couldn't be easier. Butter is just a form of fat, so most other vegetable fats will do to replace it. I've used sunflower oil in this case, but rapeseed oil and coconut oil will also be fine.
There are several ways eggs can be replaced in cakes e.g. mashed banana, linseed eggs, aquafaba (that's the water from a tin of chickpeas). Linseed tends to be my go-to for replacing eggs. A linseed egg is made from 1 tablespoon milled / blended linseed and 2 tablespoon water. You mix it together and it makes a jelly-like substance which simply binds the mixture (like an egg - that's all egg was ever there for, not taste nor for rising etc). You can buy whole linseed and blend it yourself, or you buy ready blended linseed. When you go to buy linseed, you may notice it can be golden or brown - both work just as well as each other. We recommend this one, or if you have a zero waste store near you, most will sell linseed.
Enjoy sharing these Vegan Cinnamon and Macadamia Biscuits with White Chocolate Drizzle with friends and family! (They make a FAB last minute present idea too!)
Merry Christmas!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Cinnamon and Macadamia Biscuits with White Chocolate Drizzle
Equipment
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 250 g (250 g) plain flour (plus extra for rolling) ((1 cup))
- ¼ teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) salt
- 150 g (150 g) coconut palm sugar / caster sugar ((¾ cup))
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) cinnamon powder
- 80 ml (80 ml) sunflower oil ((⅓ cup))
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) vanilla essence
- 2 (2) linseed / flaxseed eggs (2 tablespoon milled linseed / flaxseed mixed with 6 tablespoon water) (Linseed also known as Flaxseed)
- 40 g (40 g) macadamia nuts (milled / pulse in a blender) ((½ cup))
- 100 g (100 g) vegan white chocolate (available from Sainsburys, vegan dark chocolate is also fine) ((⅔ cup))
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
- Put the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon) in a mixing bowl.
- Mix the linseed / flaxseed egg, oil and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Then add to the dry ingredients.
- Add the macadamia nuts. You should have a dough mixture with all ingredients combined.
- Sprinkle some flour on a firm flat surface. Roll out the dough to a thickness of around 4mm. Use a cookie cutter of the shape of your choice to cut the dough. It may be easier to divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces and roll each separately (there's a lot of dough once all rolled out!).
- Place the cut out dough on baking trays covered with a piece of baking parchment (this ensures they don’t stick to the bottom).
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins. The trays may need to be turned around half way through the cooking time. If the trays are on different levels of the oven, those at the top may cook quicker, and those on the bottom may need an extra few minutes.
- When the cookies are ready, they should be only very slightly browned. They may still have a slight softness to them, but they will harden once cool. Place on a cooling rack once out of the oven.
- To decorate, melt the white chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate over the cookies. Wait for them to cool, then enjoy.
