Nutty millet breakfast biscuits. These are a soft-baked biscuit, made from whole grain flour, wholesome oats, and crunchy pops of millet, with toasted walnuts and pecans, sweet dates and a hint of spice. They're dairy free and not overly sweet, perfect for a sweet treat or breakfast on the go!
There was my birthday at the end of April, which always throws off my routine a bit, but I've also been a bit sick with a cold and a bad back, I've had a lot of various training sessions at work (again, throwing off the routine), and just been generally busy and exhausted. And of course, let's not discount the fact that it's suddenly gotten cold and dark here in Melbourne. Do I really wanna jump into the cold kitchen and make myself breakfast when I could have an extra twenty minutes in my comfy, comfy bed? (Answer: No).
Too often for my liking I've been buying something quick on my way to work - a pastry, a cookie, an egg wrap, a packet of Belvita biscuits, and so on. I find that once you get into that habit, it's hard to get out of it! However, after many weeks of saying to myself: "I should make something on the weekend for the week ahead", last weekend I finally set some time aside and did it! Woohoo!
Nutty Millet Breakfast Biscuits |
I was actually inspired to make breakfast biscuits by those new Belvita soft bake breakfast biscuits. I was once terribly addicted to the regular crunchy Belvita breakfast biscuits, and couldn't resist trying the new soft version when it appeared in the shops. I normally prefer a crisp biscuit over a soft one, but I really enjoyed the soft bake. It had little crunchy pieces of buckwheat which I found really appealing. I was pretty sure I could bake something from scratch that would taste just as nice, but with far fewer ingredients.
Once I had the idea of a soft breakfast biscuit in mind, I remembered that Megan Gordon - author of the wonderful blog A Sweet Spoonful and the fabulous book Whole-Grain Mornings - has quite a few breakfast cookie recipes. After deliberating between her recipes, I ended up following the original recipe, in her book, for nutty millet breakfast cookies, just making some ingredient substitutions based on what I could easily find in the shops.
Once I had the idea of a soft breakfast biscuit in mind, I remembered that Megan Gordon - author of the wonderful blog A Sweet Spoonful and the fabulous book Whole-Grain Mornings - has quite a few breakfast cookie recipes. After deliberating between her recipes, I ended up following the original recipe, in her book, for nutty millet breakfast cookies, just making some ingredient substitutions based on what I could easily find in the shops.
In her recipe, she suggests a mixture of white whole-wheat flour and barley flour, neither of which were readily available in any of the speciality or health food shops near me. FYI white whole-wheat flour is a wholegrain flour, but it's made from hard white winter wheat rather than the usual red wheat. I've never seen it here, but it is popular on American baking blogs - apparently white wheat is milder in colour and flavour than red wheat, so even when you mill the whole grain into flour, the taste is quite light, and it substitutes well for plain flour. If I ever find some, I'll let you know how it goes! In this case, I just used wholegrain plain flour in place of both white whole-wheat and barley flours.
Ingredients |
The grains in the biscuits are, thankfully, much easier to find - millet (the little yellow seed-looking things), wheat bran, and rolled oats. I found millet at a local health food store, and wheat bran and rolled oats are obviously, easily available at supermarkets! Our binding liquid ingredients are an egg, coconut oil and maple syrup, which does double duty as smoky sweetener and liquid binder. Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and a little salt give the biscuits a gorgeous warm aroma and depth of flavour. And finally, our add-ins - a mix of walnuts and pecans, and some chopped dates. Both nuts are toasted in a dry frying pan and roughly chopped. (Don't skip this step, it adds a world of deliciousness). The original recipe asks for raisins but I didn't have any, and I love the soft candied sweetness of a medjool date.
Dough |
Speaking of ingredients, I think this recipe would easily lend itself to substitutions, especially in the nuts and dried fruit department, but also with the spices, and definitely the crunchy grain. (Indeed, Megan's other breakfast biscuit recipes are based on the same structure: Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Breakfast Cookies; Carrot, Cardamom and Pistachio Breakfast Cookies). I'm definitely thinking chopped dark chocolate next time, and maybe cracked buckwheat instead of the millet.
But those are thoughts for future days. Let's get back to the recipe at hand. The dough is easy to stir together, and I relished the opportunity to use my new spring-loaded ice-cream scoop to portion out the dough.
Scoop that dough |
Flatten the dough out (it doesn't spread much), and bake until golden, and you're done!
Nutty Millet Breakfast Biscuits |
I've been having these with my morning coffee for breakfast and they're just gorgeous. They've got a tender cakey texture, with the millet and the toasted nuts providing wonderful crunch. (As I've mentioned numerous time throughout this post, I am all about the contrasting crunch!) The toasted pecans are especially fragrant and fabulous. I'm glad to have a stash of these on hand to prevent me rushing to find something to buy on my way into work, spending excessively, or worse still - not being able to eat breakfast until mid-morning and being super hangry and tired. (I wake up hungry and need to eat something pretty quickly). I was planning on freezing half for future breakfast emergencies, but given how good they taste, I might just eat them all!
Nutty Millet Breakfast Biscuits |
Do you make time for breakfast? Do you make your own or buy? Do you ever skip breakfast?
Nutty Millet Breakfast BiscuitsRecipe (lightly) adapted from Whole-Grain MorningsIngredients1+1/4 cup (150 grams) wholemeal/wholegrain/wholewheat plain flour3/4 cup (75 grams) rolled oats1/4 cup (45 grams) millet1/4 cup (15 grams) wheat bran1/2 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon baking powder1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg1/4 teaspoon ground ginger1/4 teaspoon sea salt1/2 cup (125 millilitres) coconut oil, melted1/2 cup (125 millilitres) maple syrup1 large egg1 teaspoon vanilla extract1/3 cup chopped pitted dates (approx. 3 large medjool dates)1/4 cup (25 grams) walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped1/3 cup (35 grams) pecans, toasted and roughly choppedMethodPreheat the oven to 175C. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.Place the wholegrain plain flour, rolled oats, millet, wheat bran, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt in a bowl, and stir to combine.In a large measuring jug, whisk together the coconut oil, maple syrup, egg and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.Add the dates, walnuts and pecans, and stir until evenly distributed. Allow the dough to sit for 10 minutes.Using 2 tablespoons of dough, scoop balls onto the lined baking sheets. (I used a small ice-cream scoop to keep them even). Gently flatten to just under 2 centimetres thick.Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until lightly golden around the edges and slightly firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes on the baking trays, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.Makes approx. 20 biscuits
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3 comments
Hehe how sheltered am I? I've never eaten those Belvita biscuits or cooked with millet before!
ReplyDeleteI feel like perhaps Belvita biscuits won't be that exciting for you haha but I do love them :)
DeleteI've made these over 8 times now, I LOVE these biscuits! I freeze them to slow down how fast I consume them. I use raisins instead of dates and wheat germ because I can't locate wheat bran here, but otherwise I follow the recipe. They are VERY addicting. I eat them as a breakfast cookie and I've eaten them as a night time snack. Thank you for the recipe these are great!
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