Tiger Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies – Vegan, Gluten Free & So Chufa Good
One of my most exciting Christmas presents this year was some tiger nut flour from CT. I’m easily pleased. It resulted in a flurry of baking. These tiger nut chocolate chip cookies were one of the delights I conjured up. They are, without doubt, the easiest and quickest cookies I’ve ever made. Vegan, gluten-free and relatively healthy, they make a perfect sweet treat if you’re participating in Veganuary. They’re also my contribution to this month’s #WeShouldCocoa.
Tiger Nuts or Chufas
Tiger nuts earned their name from the orange stripes found on their tubers. They are also known as chufas or earth almonds, though their scientific name is Cyperus esculentus. CT has grown them on and off for many years, but has never managed to cultivate them on a large enough scale for me to play with. They are sweet and tasty with a slightly nutty texture. They are, however, neither nut nor seed; they are in fact tubers produced by a member of the sedge family. Chufas are an ancient crop eaten way back when in Africa and they formed an important part of the early human diet. They’re gluten-free, high in fibre and contain significant quantities of calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and a whole heap of antioxidants.
I first came across tiger nuts in Spain on one of my epic hitchhiking trips many years ago. The Spanish make it into horchata, a delicious creamy drink I’ve never forgotten. I’m still waiting for CT to grow enough for me to make my own horchata. Tiger nut flour is quite sweet, so less sugar is needed when using it. It’s also quite sticky, so it works particularly well in baking.
Tiger Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies
The first thing I made with my tiger nut flour were some super duper fudgy brownies. We were entertaining friends so served them up with ice cream. They went down a storm, though nobody had heard of tiger nuts or chufas. Sadly I never got around to taking any photos or even writing up the recipe. Perhaps this is a call to make them again.
The tiger nut chocolate chip cookies are the simplest and easiest cookies I’ve ever made. It’s pretty much just a case of stirring all the ingredients together, then forming the mixture into balls with your hands. I didn’t want to use vast amounts of fat in the cookies as I was trying to keep them as healthy as possible, so I ended up using water to bind the dough. I wasn’t at all sure how well this would work, but I needn’t have worried. The biscuits held together just fine. The ingredients needed are few, although I do understand not everyone is going to have a bag of tiger nut flour lying around in their pantry.
The tiger nut chocolate chip cookies are sweet, crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside and fudgy in the middle. They do soften if kept for more than a day, but are still quite delicious. A friend helped us demolish them a couple of days after I baked them and she was mightily impressed. The flavour is hard to describe, but it’s almost coconutty. The chocolate chips broke up the intensity of the sweetness wonderfully and are very much an integral part of the biscuit.
Tiger Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies – The Recipe
- 50 g coconut oil
- 100 g coconut suger
- 125 g tiger nut flour chufa flour
- 1 tsp baking powder gluten-free
- 50 g dark chocolate chips vegan
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp water
- Warm the coconut oil gently in a large pan until virtually melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar.
- Add the tiger nut flour, baking powder and chocolate chips and stir until everything is well mixed.
- Make a well in the centre and add the water and vanilla extract. Stir with a knife from the inside out until everything is well combined.
- Take a tablespoonful of the mixture and roll into a ball with your hands. Place on a lined baking tray and flatten slightly.
- Repeat with the rest of the mixture, leaving room on the tray for the dough to spread. I made 12 cookies.
- Bake in the centre of the oven at 180℃ for 15 minutes.
- Leave on the tray for a couple of minutes to firm up, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
These tiger nut chocolate chip cookies are my submission to this month’s #WeShouldCocoa.
I’m also sending them to Only Crumbs Remain for #BakingCrumbs
And also Casa Costello for #BakeOfTheWeek
Plus Free From Farmhouse for #FreeFromFridays
And finally my tiger nut chocolate chip cookies go to Easy Peasy Foodie for #CookBlogShare
Other recipes for vegan biscuits & cookies you might like
- Chocolate sesame cookies via Green Gourmet Giraffe
- Coconut shortbread with chocolate drizzle via Emily’s Recipes and Reviews
- Failsafe wouldn’t know they were vegan chocolate chip cookies via Free From Farmhouse
- Ginger cookies via Thinly Spread
- Oat & raisin cookies via The Peachicks Bakery
- Oil free date cookies with toasted walnuts via Let’s Brighten Up
- Purple corn flour Easter biscuits via Tin and Thyme
- Vanilla almond cookies via Tin and Thyme
Tiger Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies. PIN IT.
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Our Monthly Chocolate Challenge
Angie@Angie's Recipes
14th January 2018
These are super healthy and delicious too! Really need to order some tiger nut flour to try!
Choclette
14th January 2018
Thanks Angie. It’s amazing stuff and great fun to experiment with.
Galina Varese
14th January 2018
I don’t think I’ve ever tried tiger nuts or flour. Love the sound of these healthy cookies.
Choclette
14th January 2018
I’ve only ever found dried tiger nuts in health food shops before, so the availability of tiger nut flour now is really exciting.
Mary
14th January 2018
I am sorry to say that I have not ever heard of Tiger Nuts. I would love to get some that flour so will haunt the Health Food Shop till I find it. Thanks for telling us about this lovely sounding new product. Bring on the Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies!!
Choclette
15th January 2018
Good luck Mary. It’s well worth hunting out if you can.
Kat (The Baking Explorer)
14th January 2018
I’ve never heard of tiger nut flour before, but these cookies look delicious so I think I need to find out more!
Choclette
15th January 2018
It’s a really nice flour to work with Kat and of course, super good for us too 😀
johanna @ green gourmet giraffe
15th January 2018
I saw tiger nuts while in Edinburgh or Paris in 2016 and regretted not buying them as I have never seen them again and was intrigues. So am pleased to see you sing the praises of this elusive nut – no doubt one day they will reach our shores!
Choclette
15th January 2018
Oh I bet there are people growing them in Australia Johanna and I’d be surprised if they weren’t available somewhere. Your country always seems to be at the forefront of interesting ingredients and healthy eating.
Nicole
15th January 2018
I love learning about new types of food, and I’d never heard of the tiger nut before! Thanks for such a great recipe. I also eat and share too many results before taking pics, but I’ll try to remember and share this one all around. 🙂
Choclette
15th January 2018
Thanks Nicole. It can be tough being a food blogger 😉
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie
15th January 2018
I’ve never heard of tiger nut flour – but it does sound very good! And these cookies look delicious. Thanks for linking them up to #CookBlogShare. Eb x
Choclette
15th January 2018
It seems tiger nut flour needs a bit of PR. It’s good stuff.
Emily
15th January 2018
Mmm these look delicious. My vegan friend would love these too x
Choclette
15th January 2018
Thanks Emily. I sort of hope that everyone would love them 😉
jenny paulin
15th January 2018
oooh these look very tasty and I love how simple the recipe is too. I have to admit to having never heard of tiger but flour, but I am loving its name ad will look out for it next time I am browsing the baking aisles.
thank you for linking to #Bakeoftheweek x
Choclette
16th January 2018
Thanks Jenny. I think it might take a while for tiger nut flour to hit the supermarket baking aisles, but you should find it in a good health food shop.
Midge @ Peachicks' Bakery
16th January 2018
I love experimenting with new ingredients and had been looking into tiger nuts… Def saving this recipe for later!
Choclette
16th January 2018
Ooh let me know what you make with those tiger nuts and what you think of them.
helen @ family-friends-food.com
19th January 2018
Wow! I’ve never even heard of tiger nuts before. Those cookies look great and the flavour sounds delicious. I’ll have to look out for tiger nut flour on my next trip to the whole foods co-op!
Choclette
23rd January 2018
Oh yes do Helen. It’s well worth experimenting with.
Elizabeth
19th January 2018
Tiger nuts sound like the most exotic thing ever! I’d love to get my hands on some of those. Gorgeous looking cookies too!
Choclette
23rd January 2018
Haha, thanks Elizabeth. They may be exotic, but we evolved on them – apparently!
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain
20th January 2018
I’m absolutely fascinated by this recipe Choclette, I’ve never come across Tiger Nuts let alone the flour before, so am going to have a search in our local health food shop later today! Thankyou so much for sharing with #BakingCrumbs
Angela x
Choclette
23rd January 2018
Good luck Angela. I hope you were successful in your search.
Claire Jessiman
20th January 2018
Reading thought this I was like – I’ve never head of tiger nuts. Then you mentioned horchata. That I have drank!
Such a great name for a cookie though!
Choclette
5th March 2018
Ah horchata. I really need to try making some of that. My memory of it was so good.
Mel
25th January 2018
I’ve heard of tiger nuts before, but the whole prepping process with the soaking etc. sounded tedious and I never bought them to try. Now using tiger nut flour sounds a lot more appealing! I really want to try these cookies 🙂 Will pin now so I don’t forget. Thanks for joining in with #FreeFromFridays.
Choclette
28th January 2018
Ah yes, soaking things can be a real pain. Tiger nut flour is definitely easier to use 😀
Kate - Gluten Free Alchemist
11th February 2018
I am constantly amazed by the proliferation of new flours on the market. They are so often more nutritious too. These cookies sound wonderful….. I could happily eat the whole batch. x
Choclette
13th February 2018
Thanks Kate. I get very excited about flours, especially nutritious ones that are easy to use.