I wanted to make a chewy cookie, and coconut and currants did give these a very nice chewiness. Somehow there is also a crispy and light dimension to the texture, akin to the caramelized oat biscuits that I baked a while back. The nutmeg sort of took over the taste after a few days in the cookie jar (and the chewiness took over the crispiness as well) so I’d say these are at their most delicious right after baking!

The Cookie Dough:

• 1 dl desiccated coconut
• 1 dl graham (whole wheat) flour
• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons currants
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch each: salt, cinnamon, nutmeg
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 2 tablespoons soy milk

First I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and covered a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Then I mixed all the dry ingredients (coconut through nutmeg) together in a bowl, and then poured in the oil. I mixed until a little combined, and then started adding soy milk until a nice, slightly sticky dough formed.

I placed tablespoon-sized dabs of dough on the cookie sheet, and flattened them a little bit with a fork. These cookies spread out pretty much, but I managed to fit them all on just one baking sheet.

Then I baked my cookies in the pre-heated oven for about 8-9 minutes, and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before removing them with a spatula. These cookies are soft right out of the oven, but crisp up while they cool down.

The combination of bitter cocoa flavor paired with intense pink peppercorns and sweet cinnamon is quite complex, and probably not to everyone’s liking, but I could live off the fragrance alone! Muscovado sugar imparts a pleasant, subtle sweetness, which situates these muffins somewhere between a dessert and a snack.

This recipe makes 6 muffins, but can easily be doubled.

The Dry Mix:

• 2 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pink peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg

The Wet Mix:

• 1/2 dl liquid margarine (or canola oil, or 50 g melted margarine)
  
• 3/4 dl muscovado sugar
• 1 dl plain soy milk
• 1 dl plain soy yogurt
  
• 50 g chocolate, melted

Garnish:

• 6 chocolate squares
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pink peppercorns

First I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. The making of the batter was quite simple: I just mixed together the two mixes in separate bowls, and then combined the two with a fork until relatively smooth.

I greased 6 cups of my muffin tin with a little margarine, dusted them with cocoa powder, and spooned the batter in the cups. I pressed a little square of chocolate in the middle of each muffin, so that they peeked out a little bit, and then popped the muffins in the oven. They were done after 15 minutes in 175 degrees Celsius.

When the muffins had cooled down enough to handle, I placed them on a rack, and sprinkled ground pink peppercorns over the melted chocolate in the middle of each muffin.

Maple syrup is a little bit of a luxury item, but it does deepen the flavor of these muffins. I ground the raisins along with the flaxseed because I am not a big raisin lover and still wanted to get some of their fruity sweetness. Lemon grass powder produced a nice, bitter edge with the sweeter flavors of cardamom and cinnamon, but ginger powder would be a more traditional addition.

Dry mix:

• 1 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl spelt flour
• 1 and 1/2 dl rolled oats, finely ground
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon dried lemongrass powder
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet mix:

• I mixed these in an electric mixer first:
  • 1 dl raisins
  • 1 dl soy milk
  • 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

• 1 and 1/2 dl soy milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 dl maple syrup
• 1/2 dl (or a little less) canola oil
• 1 organic carrot, brushed and finely grated or ground

First, I made the flaxseed “egg” by grinding the raisins, flaxseed, and 1 dl soy milk in our food processor until they formed an emulsified mixture. I also ground the rolled oats until they resembled a coarse flour, a little like spelt flour, and then coarsely ground the carrot as well. We have a mini food processor attachment to our immersion blender, and that’s my best friend when preparing ingredients like these.

Now, I mixed the wet and the dry mix in separate bowls first, and then combined the two. I stirred the batter with a wooden fork just until incorporated, and then filled the cups of my prepared muffin tin up to two thirds. This batter made exactly twelve muffins.

I baked the muffins in 180 degrees Celsius for about 18 minutes, and after a few minutes removed them from the muffin tin to cool down.