Have you ever thought about baking your own digestive biscuits before? No, I hadn’t either till I decided to attempt to make a vegan cheesecake and couldn’t find the exact English digestive cookies to crunch up for the base so I decided to make my own – as you do!
There’s nothing quite like dunking a digestive biscuit into a cuppa, – whether it has chocolate on or not. Normally when I bake a vegan biscuit it’s because I want my daughter Beau to be able to eat the same as us non-vegans. I’ll bake a sweet treat and then attempt to make a vegan version using substitutions but this time I made these first and they were so good I didn’t even attempt a dairy version. This non-dairy recipe for digestive biscuits is so good there wasn’t much point.
Vegan ingredient choices
I know I hate it when recipe blogs take ages to get to the point so I’m going to make this quick. Here are the vegan alternatives I used to make these digestive biscuits.
Butter alternative: Vegetable block
I’ve tried all sorts of butter alternatives to get a good consistency AND a good taste. I use President Butter in all my regular cake and biscuit recipes because it tastes fantastic so I want the same for my vegan bakes.
Vegetable oil based margarines are too soft for these digestives so I stick to block butter alteratives. Most are very “oily” or oil based, or coconut based. I don’t want the flavour to distract so I use Flora’s vegan butter. It’s a block so nice and firm and helps these biscuits hold their shape. The real winner of using Flora is that it tastes as close to butter as is feasibly possible without dairy. I’d even go as far as to say that I would have it on toast!
Milk Alternatives
My daughter Beau is the vegan and as she’s a coffee lover. Lets just say we have tried and tested ALL the milk substitutes around. Almond is the most flavourless and has a lightness to it which is good for baking. Soya is also good and a little thicker but for the win we use Oat milk.
Oat milk has a silkiness to it’s texture, adds a perfect flavor – especially with this vegan digestive biscuit as they contain oats, and it’s delicious. Beau prefers oat milk in her coffee to any other type so we always have it on hand.
Any of these milk alternatives will work in this recipe so I’d recommend going with what you have or like the most.
Vegan Digestive biscuit recipe
(Printable recipe below)
- 160g (1 ¼ cups) Plain flour
- 60g Oats (3/4 cup)- blitzed in food processor
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- Pinch of sea salt
- 130g (9 TBSP) Vegetable block (butter alternative)
- 200g (1 cup) Caster sugar
- 100ml (7 TBSP) milk alternative (oat works best)
How to make Vegan Digestive Biscuits
- Line a baking tray with silicon paper
- Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix till the dough is formed. It will be sticky. That’s okay. Avoid over mixing or the biscuits will become tough.
- Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes. This will allow the gluten to set and the stickiness to be reduced.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan ) 356ºF
- Roll out the dough to around 0.5cm thick. Use a circle cutter to make the biscuits. Place each one on the baking tray leaving space in between each one. They will only spread a little.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until the edges turn brown. Watch for this as they will over bake quicky.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking tray for five minutes before transferring onto a rack to go completely cold.
- Enjoy 😋
Tips for Perfecting Your Vegan Digestive Biscuits
- Over mixing is the easiest way to ruin these biscuits and it’s easily done. The trick is to blend all the incredients only until there is no lose flour left and you can’t see any yellow of the butter alternative. Avoid “one last stir”. It will make the biscuits lighter.
- Over baking is the thing I do the most – especially with biscuits. Unlike cakes, you can open the oven door on these digestive biscuits while they are cooking without ruining them. If your oven is hotter than the temperature you have set it to you may find you need to check on them more regularly. An oven thermometer is your best friend in these circumstances.
To keep them from over baking check on the biscuits half way through the bake. Carefully use a knife to lift up the corner of one and see if it si browning. Vegan biscuits don’t brown as much as ones with real butter so any sign of browning is good. If they are baking well you may need to reduce the bake time. - Turn the tray around. My oven bakes really evenly but if yours is a little wonky in it’s heat distribution you may find turning your baking tray around half way through will give you a more even bake.
- Leave to cool. As with most biscuits, if you remove them from the baking tray too early when they come out of the oven they will crumble in half – especially with vegan ones as they don’t have the binding ‘glue’ of egg. This is why I leave the cookies to cool for five minutes before moving them over to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Storing. An air-tight container is all you need to store these guys. They last around 2-3 days before they harden up. If your house is anything like mine you’re lucky if they last 24 hours!
- Freezing. The raw biscuit dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. I always recommend freezing them once cut to shape. If you freeze them on the tray then place them in a bag you can whip them out when you have a vegan guest pop round unexpectidly. Or, if you’re me, your daughter comes home from uni and is hungry. We’re always ready for a frezzer cookie sweet treat in our house.
So, there you have it. A vegan digestive biscuit recipe that’s a must-try for all you keen bakers out there! And as I said at the start, these taste great so even if you’re not vegan you’re going to love them. With just a few simple ingredients and super quick and easy steps, you can whip up a batch of delicious biscuits that are sure to satisfy your sweet cravings. So why not give ithem a go. I’m sure it’s time for a cuppa and a dunk somewhere!
enjoy!
Vegan Digestive Biscuits
Ingredients
- 160g (1 ¼ cups) Plain flour
- 60g Oats (3/4 cup)- blitzed in food processor
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- Pinch of sea salt
- 130g (9 TBSP) Vegetable block (butter alternative)
- 200g (1 cup) Caster sugar
- 100ml (7 TBSP) milk alternative (oat works best)
Instructions
- Line a baking tray with silicon paper
- Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix till the dough is formed. It will be sticky. Avoid over mixing or the biscuits will become tough.
- Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC
- Roll out the dough to around 0.5cm thick. Use a circle cutter to make the biscuits. Place on the baking tray leaving space in between each one.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until the edges turn brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking tray for five minutes before transferring onto a rack to go completely cold.
- Enjoy 😋
