Dark Chocolate Orange Digestives

I'm a fan of Marks&Spencer, their food, especially their biscuit selection. Ever tried their shortbread fingers? Melt-in-your-mouth buttery goodness. Chocolate digestives? Creamy chocolate with a crunchy interior. You wouldn't stop at 1. Cranberry and Orange cookies? Best combination of sweet citrus and butter at the same time. Absolute Favourite. 

However, I'm also sure that all that butter and processed flour does no good to the thighs! When I chanced upon this whole wheat chocolate-covered digestives, the eyes lit up and the baking itch came on. It's been a while since my last bake as I eased into a new job. The inertia to start the whole measure-sift-mix-bake-and-wash process prolonged and weekend after weekend zoomed past. 

Thankfully, this is a really easy recipe, no need for heavy duty mixing nor massive clean up, its almost just a 2-bowl process! The bake took less than an hour to complete, excluding the cooling time. The resulting cookie was a healthy dose of goodness, tinged with bursts of orange peel and covered in a almost-bitter 70% dark chocolate coating. One cookie is sufficiently filling as a snack, and the crunch crunch crunch of the cookie is absolutely satiating. Love it and so did almost who tried. Gonna be a regular item on my bake list! 

Source

Ingredient List:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/3 cup rolled oats

1 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of salt

1/3 cup dark molasses

117g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Orange Peel from 1 orange

2 tbspn milk 

220g 70% dark chocolate, melted

Pre-heat oven to 180C. 

Steps:

1. Process flour, oats, baking powder, salt and sugar in a food processor, or since I don't have one, in a blender. 

2. Pour into a large bowl, add the butter and orange peel and cut the butter into the mixture, until it resembles small bread crumbs. Do not over-handle or mix to the stage where the butter has melted from the warmth of the hands. 

3. Add the milk and form mixture into a slightly wet dough. Add more milk if necessary, it should just clump together but is not wet. 

4. Roll between 2 parchment paper and cut out desired shapes. 

5. Place cookie dough onto a paper-lined pan. I had 22 cookies from above portion. Chill in freezer for at least 10 minutes.

6. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until edges turn slightly brown. 

7. Cool the cookies thoroughly. 

8. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering hot water until smooth. 

9. Dip each cookie in the chocolate and let the chocolate coat harden at cool room temperature or in the fridge. 

I made the mistake of letting the chocolate harden completely on the chopsticks, in the fridge. The base of the chocolate coat harden over the chopsticks and when I pry them apart, some of the base broke, leaving spots of cookie peeking out on the base. 

Keep the cookies in the fridge and enjoy them over the next week. Delicious Goodness!