This recipe is a low-carb version of chocolate digestive biscuits.
In Britain, digestive biscuits are a national treasure loved by everyone. If you are not from England, they are semi-sweet biscuits with fibery texture, traditionally made with wholemeal flour.
The name “digestive” dates back to 19th century, when these biscuits were believed to have antacid properties because they contain sodium bicarbonate.
They are great for dunking in your tea, and are often crumbled for use in other recipes, for example, cheesecake base.
I think they might be similar to Graham crackers in USA but I am not sure (if anyone knows, please leave a comment below and let us know).
You can get plain versions of these, and chocolate covered versions. I am of course going for the latter!
Low-carb substitute for wholemeal flour
I started looking into low-carb versions of digestive biscuits when working on my cheesecake recipes. After much experimenting, I think a mixture of ground almonds and flaxseeds creates a convincing substitute for brown flour and bran. Biscuits come out with a fibery taste and coarse texture similar to the real thing.
Sugar substitutes
I tend to use a mixture of erythritol and Stevia in most of my low-carb baking, such as Sukrin Plus or Truvia.
For this recipe, I also added a little bit of Sukrin Gold brown sugar substitute. Sukrin Gold contains a small amount (3g per 100g) of tagatose, which is a type of sugar. However, the quantity is so small that overall it adds less than 1g of net carbs to the recipe. It does caramelise nicely and so improves the texture of the biscuits. You can skip this step and use more of the erythritol/Stevia instead.
If you have a different preferred sugar substitute, use that instead, but it must be granulated – liquid drops won’t work with this recipe.
Thickeners
You will definitely need to add some sort of thickener to the recipe, otherwise, it won’t hold together and will crumble away on you. I used arrowroot. Other options could be guar gum or xanthan gum.
Chocolate glazing
These biscuits taste quite nice on their own, but you can also cover them in chocolate for a bit of extra oomph.
I prepared my glazing using Willie’s Cacao baking chocolate and coconut oil. All of these ingredients are solid at room temperature, so once cooled, they create an additional strong layer to hold the biscuits in place.
Oven temperature
Everyone’s oven is different. I have learned this the hard way.
So the temperature provided in the recipe is for guidance only – please keep checking your biscuits and take them out when they are golden before they start turning too dark.
Low-carb chocolate digestives
Prep time:40 min | Cook time:15 min | Total time:55 min
Yield: 16 biscuits
Ingredients
For the biscuits
- 1 cup (90g / 3oz) ground almonds
- 1/2 cup (60g / 2oz) ground flaxseeds
- 2 tbsp psyllium husks
- 2 tbsp Truvia or a similar granulated sweetener
- 1 tbsp Sukrin Gold brown sugar substitute
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp arrowroot
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 90g (3oz) butter
- if required: 1-2 tbsp of milk (dairy or coconut or almond milk)
for chocolate glazing:
- 90g (3oz) sugar-free baking chocolate
- 45g (1.5oz) cacao butter
- 45g (1.5oz) coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5
- Mix all the dry ingredients for the biscuits together thoroughly
- Melt the butter and add to the dry mixture
- Mix everything together with your hands (works better than using a spoon)
- If the mixture seems too dry, add 1 tbsp of dairy or milk (either dairy, or almond or coconut milk)
- Form the dough into a cylinder shape using your hands
- Wrap in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so
- Take out and unwrap your dough
- Using a very sharp knife, cut out biscuits about 3-5mm thick
- Place biscuits on a baking tray lined with baking paper
- If biscuits attempt to crumble away, reshape them with your hands
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden (keep checking so that they don’t overbake)
- Cool completely before applying glazing
Optional – chocolate glazing
- Melt the chocolate, cocoa butter and coconut oil in glass bowl over simmering water (bain-marie)
- When melted, mix together thoroughly with a spoon
- If desired, add a couple of drops of liquid sweetener
- Leave the mix to cool to a semi-gooey state (like Nutella or peanut butter)
- Dip your biscuits into the chocolate mix and leave to cool further into a solid state
- If using cocoa powder, melt the butters first and then add the cacao powder to the cooled mix
Nutritional information
Per biscuit: 200 calories, 3g net carbs, 20g fat, 5g protein
Recipe by , published on
Cookbooks for low-carb baking and desserts
Do you need more low-carb baking and dessert recipes?
Check out these great cookbooks:
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