Bounty-effect gluten free biscuits

This is a typical Italian recipe, but you won't find it anywhere online as I've adapted it significantly. This is totally gluten free and the coconut flavour is out of this world. Not only are the ingredients different, but also the method is different, so give it a try, as you won't make any other type of biscuits for a long time, guaranteed!

Ingredients (makes 40 biscuits):

• 200gr coconut flour

• 100gr desiccated coconut (pulverized in a mixer)

• 100gr caster sugar

• 10gr baking powder

• 150gr coconut oil

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 lemon (the grated zest, avoiding grating the white part)

• 4 eggs

• 150 soya or rice milk (not coconut to avoid overwhelming the coconut flavor, and I'm sure normal cow milk would work as well)

• 150gr or so of icing sugar for coating the biscuits (I used 140gr on the plate, and measuring the difference I ended up using 115gr of icing sugar on the biscuits)

• 200gr dark chocolate

Method:

• Measure and mix the flour, the coconut powder, the baking powder, the sugar and the lemon zest

• Tip it all onto your kitchen counter and make a hole in the middle (the usual fountain with the hole)

• Measure and mix aside the eggs (slightly beaten), the vanilla extract, the milk (leave aside 30gr of milk though)

• Pour the egg mixture in the middle of your flour fountain, and add the measured coconut oil (it's solid, and while mixing it behaves like butter)

• Mix it well and carefully, after a while you'll notice that this does not behave like the normal pastry and will not gather into a big unique ball

• You'll reach the end of mixing when you can easily make big balls (the size of your hands) without leaving any pastry/flour onto your kitchen counter (I have small hands, and with these amounts I made 5 big balls of pastry)

• Wrap each one of those balls in cling film and put them in the fridge for a minimum of 30 mins, up to 1 day

• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C

• Put some icing sugar onto a plate and a layer of baking paper onto the biggest oven tray you have

• Then, working 1 big ball at a time, make little balls (the size of walnuts) and roll them in your icing sugar, coating them well, shake the excess then lay them a little spaced from each other onto your baking tray

• Continue with the next big ball until you reach the capacity of your oven tray (I had to stop at a point, wait for the first batch to cook, then proceeded with the next batch, which is why you should take one big ball out of the fridge at a time)

• Reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees C (fan) and cook for 12 mins - test if cooked with the usual wooden skewer: if it comes out clean and not sticky they're done

• If not done, put them back into the oven for another 2 mins (check they don't burn on you!)

• Take them out of the oven and put them carefully (I use a fish slicer to avoid handling them too much, as they're soft) onto a grid to cool down to reach room temperature

• Break the dark chocolate into pieces and melt it down in the microwave (1 or 2 mins, depending on your microwave - stop it every 30 seconds to give it a good stir and stop when it's all melted)

• Use your hand, just two fingers, and very gently grasp each biscuit near the base and dip them into the melted chocolate halfway. Be very gentle, as they're likely to break

• Put them upside down (if you can, or on their side) onto a big tray covered with baking paper

• Leave them to set at least 2-3 hours, then give them a gentle shake, and leave to set another hour (as some of the chocolate will have been touching the tray, so it still needs to fully set)