You’re going to love these thin, crispy wafer biscuits! I’ve taken a recipe and tweaked it to be gluten & dairy free...in other words Holly friendly 🤣
But, if you’re not like me in the intolerant department, just switch out my alternatives for your regular ingredients a.k.a butter and plain flour.
For this recipe, you will need a baking sheet, and a template of circles. You can buy these ready-made, but I just made my own using a printed piece of paper. I only baked x4 biscuits at a time, and used one A4 piece of paper for each round. If you're going to make your own template, you just need to draw circles on a sheet of paper, and then cut them out, leaving four holes on the sheet. For the biscuits in the photo, I used a circle with a diameter of 10cm, but by all means, you can go bigger if you want more of a roll!
It's also important to note, that time is of the essence once you have removed the biscuits from the oven (hence why I only bake x4 each time). You will need to act quickly, and ideally have asbestos fingers(!) to wrap each wafer around the handle of a wooden spoon before they crisp up too much. If this does happen before you have managed to roll all of them, just pop the remaining ones back in the oven for a minute or two longer to soften up again.
Ok, enough chat....on to the recipe..
Ingredients
67g df Butter (I used Stork block baking spread)
58g Icing sugar (sifted)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Large free-range egg whites only (lightly beaten)
37g gf Plain flour (I used Dove's farm)
30g Rice flour (Dove's farm)
1/8 tsp Xanthan gum
50g Lindt 90% Dark Chocolate (optional)
Method
Use a hand-held electric mixer, or a stand mixer to mix the butter, sugar and vanilla extract.
Gradually add in the egg-whites, whilst continually whisking. At this point, you may see some little lumps of butter - don't worry, this is perfectly fine.
In a separate bowl, mix the flours and xanthan gum together.
Using a wooden spoon or spatula, fold in the flour mixture, a little bit at a time, and beat well between each addition.
Once all the flour has been mixed in, you should have a smooth, paste-like consistency. Leave this to rest for around 30 minutes.
Make a cup of tea...
Next, prepare a baking sheet, lined with either a silicone mat or greasproof paper, with you printed template resting on top.
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (170ºC fan).
Spoon a little of the mixture in to the centre of each hole, and spread to the edges of the template.
Using the edge of a spatula (or a knife), carefully sweep across the template to remove any excess mixture, leaving only a thin layer on the sheet.
Carefully lift off the template, to leave your circular shapes on the tray, and place in the oven for 5-6 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown.
Remove from the oven, and, working very quickly, take a wafer, one at a time, and shape around the handle of your wooden spoon (fingers may get a bit burned!).
Once all tiles are shaped, repeat the process for the rest of the mixture - you should be able to make at least x12 cigars, depending on how large your template is.
If you're feeling confident enough, you could also use a second tray, and prepare the next batch, whilst the first is cooking in the oven - just be careful you don't overcook them!
Optional extra..
Once the cigars are cooled and crisp, you can melt some dark chocolate - I used Lindt 90% Dark chocolate, which doesn't contain and milk, and therefore is fine for me to eat - but equally, you can buy specifically df chocolate - any would work. Once melted, dip each cigar in to the chocolate and leave to set on a sheet of greaseproof paper.
These are best eaten on the day you bake them, but will keep ok in a bit of tin foil for a couple of days.
Enjoy with a cup of coffee!
Holly @ TBD x