Chunky Hokey Pokey Biscuits (Vegan and Gluten Free)
Makes 12-15 biscuits. Takes 45 minutes.
First recipe of 2021! And hopefully one of many. These lovely biscuits are a play on the classic hokey pokey biscuit, which is a plain golden syrup cookie and not much else (lame!). So staying true to the name, I thought "why not put actual chunks of hokey pokey inside it!". I don't tend to think too much about how ingredients will react when cooked, so it was a surprise to me when the hokey pokey melted instead of staying crunchy. Nevertheless, it was a happy accident because these came out sooo chewy and sticky that I felt these would be good enough to share.
What is.....Hokey Pokey? It's New Zealand for Honeycomb (not the stuff bees make, the sweet). Honeycomb can also be called cinder toffee and is a light, airy, crunchy sweet made from sugar, golden syrup and bicarbonate of soda. It's incredibly easy to make and I will post a quick video to this page on how to make it in the next few days, for now please take a look at the instructions below. Visual aid coming soon, I promise!
Vegan and gluten free
These biscuits are of course gluten free, but I thought to try make them dairy free, and egg free as well. I know a lot of coeliacs suffer with other intolerances, especially dairy, so it's become a bit of a mission of mine to make my recipes a bit more inclusive (without, of course, compromising on taste). For the dairy free butter I used the brand 'Pure' which I highly recommend. I also used almond milk in place of regular milk for this recipe but please feel free to use whatever alternative milk works for you.
I N G R E D I E N T S
Hokey Pokey
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda.
Biscuit
100g Dairy free butter alternative
½ cup sugar
2 Tsp golden syrup
2 Tsp almond milk
1½ cups gluten free flour
1 tsp baking soda
M E T H O D
Make the Hokey Pokey: Prepare by setting up a timer, and a small tray or plate lined with baking paper.
Over a medium heat, in a pot on the stove, combine the sugars and the golden syrup and mix until together until it starts to boil.
When it's bubbling away, set your timer for 60 seconds, and leave it (no need to stir!).
At 60 seconds, remove pot from the heat and quickly mix in baking soda. It should rise and turn light golden. Immediately spoon it onto the prepared tray lined with baking paper.
Put it in the freezer until you are ready to use it in the biscuit mixture.
Make the biscuit. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Melt the dairy free butter, sugar, almond milk, and golden syrup together in a saucepan over a low heat until combined.
Take the saucepan off the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
Then sift in the flour and baking soda and mix together with a spatula.
Take the hokey pokey out of the freezer and break it up into little pieces.
Mix in about 1/3 of a cup of the broken up hokey pokey pieces (the rest you can eat!).
Take a tablespoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Repeat until you have used all the dough. You should have enough for 12 - 15 biscuits.
Flatten the dough balls with a fork and place into the oven to cook for 10 - 15 minutes.
You will notice the hokey pokey start to ooze out - which is fine. When you take them out, you can scoop the hokey pokey back into or on top of the cookie.
Let them cool before eating (the hokey pokey can get quite hot so don't burn yourself!).
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