Gluten-Free Halva and Chocolate Cookies made with Teff Flour

This week I visited the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem.

In HaAgas street (right across from the Banai family's vegetable shop), there is a hidden little shop with Ethiopian ingredients and food.

Among the variety of wonderful spices, I also bought ivory Teff flour for a very low price, without really knowing what to do with it.

It sat in my cupboard for a few days until today, when I decided to try and make vegan, gluten-free cookies from it. Why not? It’s worth a shot, isn't it?

First thing I noticed is that the flour is quite grainy and doesn't "behave" as easily as wheat flour, for example.

That's why I think pairing it with fat can help and turn it into a much more pleasant raw material to work with.

And there is nothing like tahini to make life a whole lot easier.

A little about the recipe

I prepared these cookies with Teff flour, but if you don't have any, you can make them with any flour you have at home.

I wouldn't recommend making these cookies with chickpea or soy flour due to their very strong aftertaste.

I used regular white tahini rather than whole (raw) tahini because the latter has a tendency to turn bitter when baked.

I added a tablespoon of sesame seeds for texture, but you can skip them.

Don't be afraid of the chocolate coating; it only adds about 10 calories per cookie.

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When to eat them?

One or two cookies make a perfect 4 PM snack, a pre-workout energy boost, or even a light night-time treat.

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Nutritional values by nutritionist and fitness coach Noam Bachar:

One cookie (out of 40) weighing 25g contains:

100 kcal

3g Protein

8g Carbohydrates

6g Fat

Want another gluten-free cookie recipe? Click here

Gluten-Free Cookies

Prep time 5 minutes

Cook time 8 minutes

Total time 13 minutes

Servings 40 cookies

Ingredients

• 400 g Ivory Teff Flour 2 cups
• 350 g White Tahini 1.5 cups
• 200 g Silan (Date Syrup) 1.5 cups
• 1 tbsp Sesame seeds Optional
• 100 g Dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp Canola oil
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 4 tbsp Water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix until you get a uniform, slightly sticky dough.
3. Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper.
   
4. Place another sheet of parchment paper over the dough and flatten it with a rolling pin.
   
5. Using a cup, cut out circles from the dough.
   
6. Bake for 8-12 minutes (depending on the thickness of the cookie).
   
7. Cookies should be golden and slightly toasted.
8. For the chocolate coating:
9. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler.
10. Add a tablespoon of oil and mix well.
11. Dip each cookie halfway into the chocolate and set aside to dry.
    
12. The cookies keep in an airtight container for about a month.
    

Notes

You can also roll the dough with wet hands into balls to get the shape of classic halva cookies.