Ginger Chickpea Cookies with Jasmine Hemsley

I recently had the pleasure of baking with the wellbeing author and chef Jasmine Hemsley. With a passion for home-cooked food and natural remedies, she has inspired others to return to a simpler, more mindful everyday life through her website and cookbooks. Her most recent cookbook, East by West, was inspired by her personal health journey and a modern take on Ayurveda.

Jasmine and I made her ginger chickpea cookies that were absolutely delicious. Ginger is a medicinal spice that is stimulating and warming. The chickpea flour is a popular flour in Ayurvedic cooking and when toasted, it becomes a deliciously nutty protein-rich flour. In this recipe, we added cinnamon and cardamom, which made the cookies very flavorful. The spices in the recipe can be adjusted depending how flavorful you would like them to be. These cookies are naturally gluten-free, and for a vegan recipe you can swap the ghee for coconut oil.

GINGER CHICKPEA COOKIES

Makes 9 large cookies

Soft, chewy gingersnaps made out of chickpea flour, which makes them naturally gluten-free and also nut-free – a lovely way to change things up. Require at least 1-hour chill time and are best enjoyed fresh.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups chickpea flour
• 3 tbsp ground ginger
• 1.5 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg/cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons ghee
• 1 cup jaggery
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the flax egg

• 3 tbsp ground flax
• 5 tbsp cold water

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F
• Mix the ground flax and cold water together in a small bowl. Allow to sit.
• Toast the gram flour for 15 minutes in a dry heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium heat, stirring frequently to ensure even toasting and to keep the flour from burning. At the end of this process the flour should be fragrant and a few shades darker.
• Remove from the heat. Allow to cool a little, then start to add the rest of the dry ingredients.
• Mix well and then stir in the ghee and flax egg, using your hands to mix in well, adding 3 tbsp of water slowly to form a dough.
• Taste the dough and add more ginger if necessary.
• Roll out 9 walnut-sized balls of dough.
• Place the balls on an ungreased baking sheet and press down so that the cookies are about 1 cm in thickness.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly toasted on the edges. They will still be soft at this point but will harden as they cool.
• Let the cookies cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
• They are best enjoyed fresh. When completely cool, store in an airtight container.

 

 

East by West by Jasmine Hemsley, published by Bluebird, is available from 1st September, $36.95

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