What do we mean by ‘nutritious ingredients’?
When we say that our cookies bring together nutritious ingredients, we mean something very specific. At Bisous du Biscuit, we did not start with a traditional cookie dough and then add a few nutritious ingredients as an afterthought. We approached it the other way round. We began by looking at the ingredients themselves. What do they naturally bring to the recipe? What do they offer nutritionally? And how can we bring different ingredients together in a single cookie?
It starts with the foundations
The foundation of our cookies is made from several types of pulses, including black beans, adzuki beans, mung beans and red lentils.
Perhaps an unusual choice for a cookie, but a very deliberate one.
Pulses naturally provide nutrients including plant-based protein and dietary fibre. Depending on the variety, they also contain different vitamins and minerals, which is why we combine them.
We did not want to use them as a token addition. We wanted them to form part of the very foundation of the cookie.
Rather than making a cookie first and adding something nutritious afterwards, we began by choosing the ingredients and made a cookie from them.
Nuts and seeds for a richer nutritional matrix
We then add a variety of nuts and seeds.
Almonds, hazelnuts, macadamias and chia seeds each bring their own nutritional profile. Nuts, for example, naturally provide unsaturated fats, protein, fibre, vitamins E and B1, and minerals such as iron.
This is precisely what we find so interesting about working with a variety of plant-based ingredients: they do not all need to serve the same purpose or provide the same nutrients.
Their strength lies in the combination.
Sweetness, fruit and plant compounds
Of course, a cookie should also simply taste delicious.
For sweetness, we use ingredients including date powder, complemented by freeze-dried strawberries or orange, depending on the flavour.
We also use ingredients such as dark chocolate made with 85% organic cocoa, carob and grape seed flour.
Cocoa powder contains fibre and magnesium and is rich in copper. Copper contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress. Cocoa also contains flavanols, plant compounds that are widely studied in nutritional science. Because of this natural composition, cocoa is often described as a superfood.
Fruit and grape-derived ingredients also contain a range of plant compounds, including OPCs, which are antioxidants. Each of these ingredients brings its own spectrum of plant compounds.
For us, these ingredients are therefore more than flavourings. They form part of the cookie’s overall composition and have been chosen with care.
And then there is the fibre
Fibre is an important part of our recipes.
It occurs naturally in ingredients such as pulses, nuts, seeds and fruit, but we also use a range of additional sources of fibre.
Why use different ones?
Because ‘fibre’ is not a single ingredient. There are many types of dietary fibre, each with different properties.
This idea, bringing variety to our plant-based ingredients and sources of fibre, plays an important role in how we develop our recipes.
From the very beginning, the gut microbiome has been a key source of inspiration for us.
So… what do we mean by nutritious?
We do not mean that any one ingredient is magical.
Nor do we mean that a single cookie can solve everything. It is, after all, still a food product.
What we mean is that we have deliberately chosen ingredients that naturally provide fibre, plant-based protein, unsaturated fats and a variety of plant compounds. We then brought them together to create something that must, above all, still be a truly delicious cookie.
That is what ‘More in every bite’ means to us.
Further reading
For those who would like to explore the science behind our ingredients in greater depth, our information is based in part on publications and information from Voedingscentrum, Gezond Leven and ILVO, as well as scientific review articles.
Pulses
Voedingscentrum · ILVO
Nuts and seeds
Voedingscentrum · Gezond Leven
Fruit and plant-based bioactive compounds
Scientific literature via PubMed Central
Cocoa and polyphenols
Scientific literature via PubMed Central
This page provides background information about the ingredients we use and is not intended as medical advice.