Dark Chocolate Orange Peel Cookies – recipe

This recipe uses dark chocolate baker’s cocoa and fresh orange peel rather than candied dark chocolate orange peel, however the taste and texture is similar. The ingredients are gluten free and vegan (egg free, dairy free) because I have to be able to taste a recipe to create it. Recipes can be modified with substitutions once you are familiar with the basic ratios of baking or cooking.

I have provided a second list of the basic ingredients I would use instead if I was making it with butter, eggs, sugar and wheat flour. The citrus peel along with zinc in the nut butter might provide some antiviral benefits and the tapioca starch is beneficial for the intestinal microbiome. The recipe is somewhat low sugar for a cookie but they do taste sweet. If Gumbo file is used as the emulsifier it is likely adding some hydrolyzable tannins which may also have an antiviral effect and is beneficial for intestinal health.

Dark Chocolate Orange Peel Cookies

  • Made approximately 40-48 small cookies. One to three cookies would be a serving, roughly. Bake at 300-325’F oven, rotate racks for even baking of the cookies. Once cooled store in an airtight container at refrigerator temperature to create resistant starch from the tapioca, which is a good thing because it supports beneficial intestinal bacteria that turn resistant starch into a positive type of fatty acid – “short chain fatty acids (SCFA). “. (1)

Ingredients/Preparation

  • 1 large orange, wash the orange, and remove the outer peel, leaving the white part on the orange to eat fresh (I eat half the orange as a serving), mince the orange zest peel, yield was 6 tablespoons.
  • 1 cup water, simmer the orange peel in a sauce pan with:
  • 1 tablespoon Stevia (my stevia sweetener is 1/2 cup to = 1 cup sugar)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
    • bring to a simmer briefly then remove from heat and stir into:
  • 1/4 cup Gumbo file, premeasured in a small mixing bowl, stir until the consistency thickens and turns a dark greenish/brown (Gumbo file is powdered sassafras leaves and acts as an egg substitute and provide some hydrolyzable tannins which can have an antiviral effect.)
  • 1/2 cup almond butter or cashew butter, add to hot emulsifier & stir
  • 3/8 cup coconut oil, melted, add to emulsifier mixture & stir

In a separate large mixing bowl stir the dry ingredients together:

  • 1/4 cup Stevia sugar substitute
  • 1/2 cup Brown rice flour
  • 1/2 cup Tapioca starch
  • 1/2 cup Coconut flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder, Dutch style is darker & smoother in flavor

Add the emulsifier mixture to the dry ingredients along with:

  • 1 cup Coconut milk, (part of a 13.5 oz can), or a little more until the batter is moist and could be used in a pastry bag if desired or a cookie press with a large opening (the minced orange makes it slightly lumpy).

Spoon the batter onto two oiled cookie sheets in small teaspoon mounds, 20-24 per cookie sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes at 300-325’F. Remove from oven when they have formed a slight crust but are still moist. Let cool on a cookie rack and then store in an airtight container in a refrigerator overnight. The tapioca changes to resistant starch once the cooked product it is made with is chilled (Bubble Tea fans – the bubbles are tapioca pearls (like round noodles but made from tapioca starch).

Modified recipe, roughly, for people with standard ingredients in their cupboard:

  • Prepare the orange peel in the same way, except 2 tablespoons of butter could be used – fat to help draw some of the fat soluble phytonutrients from the citrus peel,and 2 tablespoons sugar.
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter, almond butter, or cashew butter – for protein & zinc
  • 3/8 cup butter – soften, or melt depending on if you use a mixer or are hand stirring.
  • 1/2 cup sugar – this is low sugar for a cookie but if health is the goal, less sugar is healthier and the coconut adds a little sweetness too.
  • 1/2 cup tapioca starch or flour
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda or 2 teaspoons Baking Powder (it contains starch so is less concentrated)
  • 1/4 cup baking cocoa powder
  • 1 cup milk or less if the eggs add enough moisture.

For other cookie recipes and information about modifying recipes see: G8. Cookies & Bean Soup.

For more about hydrolyzable tannins, see ACE2, Diarrhea, COVID19…It gets complicated.

For more about pomegranate peel benefits and preparation (may have antiviral benefits and is a much richer source of hydrolyzable tannins which can be soothing for an inflammatory bowel condition/diarrhea) see: G13: Pomegranate, and G10: Nrf2 Promoting Foods.

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.

Reference List

  1. Bruna L. B. Pereira, Magali Leonel, Resistant starch in cassava products., Food Sci. Technol (Campinas) vol.34 no.2 Campinas April/June 2014, https://doi.org/10.1590/fst.2014.0039 http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-20612014000200012
  2. Dr Andrew Weil, Sassafras Tea Safety, DrWeil.com *Which is made with the root which would contain significantly more than the leaves. https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutrition/food-safety/sassafras-tea-safety/
  3. Forum topic: Safrole is not nearly as dangerous as you would think. Jan 16, 2011, HomeBrewTalk.com, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/safrole-is-not-nearly-as-dangerous-as-you-would-think.218174/
  4. Yamaguchi, M.U., Garcia, F.P., Cortez, D.A.G. et al. Antifungal effects of Ellagitannin isolated from leaves of Ocotea odorifera (Lauraceae). Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 99, 507–514 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-010-9516-3 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10482-010-9516-3 *Ocotea odorifera is related to the North American Sassafras tree and has hydrolyzable tannins – egallic acid.
  5. pg 37, hydrolyzable and condensed tannins in the diet. https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/91014TYI.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1986%20Thru%201990&Docs=&Query=%28hydrolyzable%20tannins%29%20OR%20FNAME%3D%2291014TYI.txt%22%20AND%20FNAME%3D%2291014TYI.txt%22&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C86THRU90%5CTXT%5C00000027%5C91014TYI.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=37