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Mar 21, 2017

Chocolate Covered Digestive Cookies

These Chocolate Covered Digestive Cookies are a take on a popular English biscuit brand, McVities. 


Chocolate Covered Digestive Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories

These chocolate covered digestive cookies are a semi-sweet whole wheat and oatmeal cookie, dipped in chocolate.

Evidently, digestive cookies, or "biscuits" in England, were invented to aid in digestion, mostly because of the inclusion of "whole meal" flour and bicarbonate of soda. The story of these cookies reminds me of the movie The Road to Wellville, the story of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of the cornflake (P.S. the movie is totally a Rotten Tomato). The nutritional theories are flawed, but, like cornflakes, these cookies are tasty.

Then again, these cookies, or "biscuits," are made with whole grains..... and there are some theories about the health benefits of cocoa. That's enough for me!

Chocolate Covered Digestive Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Digestive biscuits are typically dunked in tea or coffee in Great Britain, which is why I chose to make this cookie for this month's Creative Cookie Exchange theme, Cookies for Tea.

I broke out my cute scalloped cookie cutter for these cookies. I totally love the look. I've used scalloped cookie cutters for these homemade graham crackers, ginger snaps, and chocolate wafers. I actually think the scallops make the cookies taste better. Amirite?

I dunked the bottom of the finished cookies in melted semi-sweet chocolate, and let the chocolate harden on parchment lined baking sheets. The hardest part was waiting for the chocolate to harden.

Chocolate Covered Digestive Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories


These cookies definitely have a grown up taste, as they are not overly sweet. They are really easy to pull together, and they stay crispy when kept in an airtight container. I absolutely loved these.

For more cookies created for the Cookies for Tea theme, be sure to check out the links at the end of this post.

Chocolate Covered Digestive Cookies

Chocolate Covered Digestive Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces/170 grams) whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 8 tablespoons (4 ounces/113 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
  • 3/4 cups (3 ounces/85 grams) powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup (2 ounces/57 grams) milk, plus more if needed.
  • 4 ounces milk or semi-sweet chocolate

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Add the oats to the bowl of a food processor, and pulse 5 to 10 times, until coarsely ground. Add the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt, and baking powder, and process for a few seconds to combine.
  3. Add the butter to the food processor and pulse several times, until the butter is the size of small beads. Add the sugar and milk and pulse until the dough comes together into a ball. If the dough doesn't come together, or seems too dry, add milk, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse to see if the dough will come together, I needed just one extra tablespoon.
  4. Gather the dough together onto a clean work surface, and roll it out to about a little less than 1/4 inch thick with a rolling pin.
  5. Cut the dough into 2 1/2 circles with a cookie cutter, and prick the dough with a fork several times. Gather up the scraps, re-roll, and cut more cookies. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 20 minutes. Let them cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
  6. Melt the chocolate at 50 percent power in 30 second intervals in a microwave. Dip the bottom of the cookies in the melted chocolate, and place them back onto the parchment lined baking sheets. Let sit until the chocolate hardens completely. Store in an airtight container, separated by wax or parchment paper.
Yield: About 24 cookies

Recipe inpired by both King Arthur Flour and Serious Eats 

Cookies in the afternoon at “teatime” are a long held tradition, whether served with tea, coffee or even milk for an after school snack. No matter what you serve with your cookies, we’ve got a great list for you to choose from! You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:


Chocolate Covered Digestive Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories


Would you like to comment?

  1. You nailed this one! We almost always have a pack of McVities in the pantry. Years ago when I was first offered a "digestive biscuit" I paused and wondered what my mother-in-law was talking about. Then she presented me these biscuits and I was surprised! Yet another British English vs. American English translation I've learned over the years.

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    1. Thanks so much Holly. I took some to a woman at work who lived in London for two years, and she was giddy with nostalgia!! Made me very happy!

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  2. Karen! I love the combination of these digestive cookies and even more better is with chocolate dipped on one side, lovely cookies, and they are healthy too, I can't wait to try them, thank you for sharing.

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  3. What an AWESOME result. Your cookies are (like your breads) Professional quality. You should've been a pro baker, you'd make so many people happy:):):) Amazing work.
    xoxoxo

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  4. They are simply PERFECT. And no, I will NOT buy scalloped cookie cutters, so you can stop twisting my arm. It is hurting a little. Just a little.

    I made a dessert the other day that called for digestifs - long story, I messed up on a few details, but it should be on the blog soon.

    Never thought of making my own, but I bet they are worth all the trouble.

    you said 2.5 inch cutters, right?
    ;-)

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    1. I did!! They don't take up that much room. Just saying! I also have a digestive recipe on the blog cut with a square scalloped cookie cutter.... you need one.

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  5. These cookies look and sound awesome! I love a crunchy cookie and then you dunked it in chocolate - got me!

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  6. As a digestive fan from way back (we called them orthopedic cookies—don't ask, it's a long story), may I just say these are PERFECTO! I have yet to get mine to come out the way I imagine and now that's you've set the bar so high, I'll just have to sulk in a corner. Or try your recipe, which is a much better option. :D

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    1. Thanks so much Robin! Orthopedic cookies, I love it! These are really easy, definitely try them!

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  7. These are the ONLY digestives I ever liked - power to the chocolate!

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  8. I grew up eating digestive biscuits and always liked them with a little butter on top. We also had biscuits very similar to yours called Arnotts Chocolate Wheatens, which were also great. I just know that making these cookies will bring on a big jolt of nostalgia.

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    Replies
    1. I took some to work and got the same reaction from someone who had spent two years in London 30 years ago!

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