Orange, Cardamom and Pistachio Masala Biscuits

I LOVE the smell of citrus zest. I have been known to buy lemons and limes purely for the joy of being able to walk past the fruit bowl and pick them up and smell them.

Oranges too, have the most gorgeous scent, but they don't tend to last long around here; the kids wolf down a mountain of fruit every week (but hey, I'm not complaining!).

I bought a huuuge bag of oranges last week and so had the luxury of EXCESS fruit. I decided to create a spin on my raspberry and almond spelt cookies using oranges and middle eastern spices.

They turned out DELISH... lots of lovely aromatic spices and that earthy richness from the spelt flour - yum.

ORANGE, CARDAMOM AND PISTACHIO MASALA BISCUITS

• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup orange, chopped into small bits
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/3 cup pistachios
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons apple puree
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds
• 1/2 tablespoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius and cover two cookie sheets with baking paper. 

Combine the spelt flour, almond meal, spices and baking powder in a bowl, then add the egg, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and apple sauce to make a thick sticky batter. 

Add the chopped orange and almonds and gently stir to combine. Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and flatten slightly before placing on the cookie sheet. They don't spread out like regular butter/sugar based cookies so you can put them fairly close together.

Bake for around 15 - 20 minutes - and note that spelt flour seems to change consistency as it cools so don't worry if they appear a little stodgy at first. Once they have cooled, they dry out, but the orange still provides plenty of moistness. 

Makes about 18 tasty biscuits.  :)