One of my biggest problems after my surgery was sourcing a snack while out and about. Since I had had a total gastrectomy, I was unable to eat most breads or cake as they could act like a sponge and block the gut, which made me feel very ill indeed. Since I had also had my gall bladder removed, I couldn’t eat anything deep fried. And since I was hoping to maintain the weight loss that resulted from my surgery, I didn’t want to eat anything too high in fat or sugar. As you can imagine, that didn’t leave me much choice, except to bring my own from home.
Among all the usual healthy choices available to me were, of course, muesli bars from the supermarket. (See Take Out Snacks) However, as ‘healthy’ as we might think them, most muesli bars are still very high in sugar. I determined, therefore, to work out how to make my own actually healthy alternative.
If you peruse the contents of the biscuit aisle of your supermarket, you might come to the conclusion that biscuits (or cookies) have to contain sugar and the only possibility for savoury biscuits are crackers (or dry biscuits). I decided to challenge this assumption.
By scouring the internet and experimenting myself, I discovered that you can make tasty high-protein biscuits that are sweet without containing sugar, or – and this was my greatest discovery – savoury without being crackers, and – since I’m no baker – very easy to make. Furthermore, your friends will like them, too.
However, if you prefer them, I’ve discovered that you can take the same approach to muffins. See the entry Quick and Healthy Snacks: High Protein Muffins.
All the ingredients are readily available, while the recipes are easily adapted to your particular dietary requirements.
- If you have a nut allergy, you can omit the almond meal and use a little more flour, oats and/or skim milk powder.
- Rather than sugar, in these recipes the sweetness is provided by desiccated (or shredded) coconut. If you have an allergy to coconut, you can omit it and, if you prefer, substitute 1–2 tbsp. sugar or honey.
- To make the biscuits gluten free, you can substitute 2 cups of oat flour for the 1½ cups of wholemeal flour.
- The skim milk powder can be substituted by neutral protein powder or by soymilk powder.
- The preferred Parmesan cheese is the finely grated cheese that you can find on the supermarket shelf, or vegans can substitute nutritional yeast.
- The recipes specify olive oil for the savoury biscuits and canola oil for the sweet biscuits, but you can substitute the cooking oil of your choice, or if you’re a better baker than I, you can substitute butter or margarine.
Recipes:
Savoury Cheese Biscuits
- 1½ cups wholemeal flour
- ½ cup quick oats
- 200gm grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup skim milk powder
- Chives and pepper
- ½ cup olive oil (approx.)
- Sift flour and mix in dry ingredients
- Rub in enough oil to make a mixture with the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs
- Add approximately ½ – 1 cup cold water, making a sticky batter
- Divide mixture into two or three batches and knead lightly
- Press or roll out to a thickness of ½–¾ cm and cut into rounds or squares
- Place rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper
- Bake in a pre-heated hot (200°C) oven for approx. 10–15 minutes until golden
- Makes 18 – 20 biscuits
Variation: substitute 200gm light sour cream or natural yoghurt for skim milk powder and cold water
Tip: keep refrigerated.
Savoury Pumpkin Biscuits
- 2 cups pumpkin, peeled and cubed
- 1½ cups wholemeal flour
- ½ cup quick oats
- 100gm grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup skim milk powder
- Ginger and cinnamon
- ½ cup olive or canola oil (approx.)
- Boil, drain and purée the pumpkin
- Sift flour and mix in dry ingredients
- Rub in enough oil to make a mixture with the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs
- Stir in puréed pumpkin, making a sticky batter (add a little cold water or flour as necessary)
- Divide mixture into two or three batches and knead lightly
- Press or roll out to a thickness of ½–¾ cm and cut into rounds or squares
- Place rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper
- Bake in a pre-heated hot (200°C) oven for approx. 10–15 minutes until golden. Makes 18 – 20 biscuits
Tip: keep refrigerated.
Pumpkin and Coconut Biscuits
- 2 cups pumpkin, peeled and cubed
- 1½ cups wholemeal flour
- ½ cup quick oats
- ½ cup almond meal
- ½ cup desiccated (or shredded) coconut
- ½ cup skim milk powder
- Ginger and cinnamon
- ½ cup olive or canola oil (approx.)
- Boil, drain and purée the pumpkin
- Sift flour and mix in dry ingredients
- Rub in enough oil to make a mixture with the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs
- Stir in puréed pumpkin, making a sticky batter (add a little cold water or flour as necessary)
- Divide mixture into two or three batches and knead lightly
- Press or roll out to a thickness of ½–¾ cm and cut into rounds or squares
- Place rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper
- Bake in a pre-heated hot (200°C) oven for approx. 10–15 minutes until golden. Makes 18 – 20 biscuits
Tip: keep refrigerated.
Banana and Coconut Biscuits
- 2 medium bananas, very ripe and puréed
- 1½ cups wholemeal flour
- ½ cup quick oats
- ½ cup almond meal
- ½ cup desiccated (or shredded) coconut
- ½ cup skim milk powder
- Ginger and cinnamon
- ½ cup canola oil (approx.)
- Sift flour and mix in dry ingredients
- Rub in enough oil to make a mixture with the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs
- Stir in puréed bananas, making a sticky batter (add a little cold water or flour as necessary)
- Divide mixture into two or three batches and knead lightly
- Press or roll out to a thickness of ½–¾ cm and cut into rounds or squares
- Place rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper
- Bake in a pre-heated hot (200°C) oven for approx. 10–15 minutes until golden. Makes 18–20 biscuits
Tip: if the bananas are not ripe enough, place them in the warming oven until their skin goes black
Tip: keep refrigerated.
Fruit and Nut Biscuits
- 1½ cups wholemeal flour
- ½ cup quick oats
- ½ cup almond meal
- ½ cup desiccated (or shredded) coconut
- ¼ cup chopped nuts (optional)
- ½ cup skim milk powder
- ½ cup mixed peel
- ½ cup canola oil (approx.)
- ¾ cup fruit juice (approx.)
- Sift flour and mix in dry ingredients (except mixed peel and chopped nuts)
- Rub in enough oil to make a mixture with the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs
- Work in the mixed peel and chopped nuts (optional)
- Add enough fruit juice to bind the ingredients and make a sticky batter
- Divide mixture into two or three batches and knead lightly
- Press or roll out to a thickness of ½–¾ cm and cut into rounds or squares
- Place rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper
- Bake in a pre-heated hot (200°C) oven for approx. 10–15 minutes until golden. Makes 16–18 biscuits/li>
Lemon and Ginger Biscuits
- 1½ cups wholemeal flour
- ½ cup quick oats
- ½ cup almond meal
- ½ cup desiccated (or shredded) coconut
- ½ cup skim milk powder
- Ginger and cinnamon
- ½ cup preserved ginger, chopped
- ½ cup canola oil (approx.)
- ½ cup lemon juice
- Sift flour and mix in dry ingredients (except chopped ginger)
- Rub in enough oil to make a mixture with the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs
- Work in the chopped ginger
- Add lemon juice with enough water to bind the ingredients and make a sticky batter
- Divide mixture into two or three batches and knead lightly
- Press or roll out to a thickness of ½–¾ cm and cut into rounds or squares
- Place rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper
- Bake in a pre-heated hot (200°C) oven for approx. 10–15 minutes until golden. Makes 16–18 biscuits