Instructions

1. Powder the sweetener and the psyllium husk separately in a blender before anything else, and keep a little sweetener back for rolling. Whole husk stays as gritty flecks and unpowdered sweetener will not dissolve into a dough with this little liquid.
2. Mix the coconut, almond flour, powdered sweetener, pecans, psyllium, salt, maple syrup, tahini, sesame oil and vanilla together with your hands. Hands rather than a spoon — you need to feel when the dough stops being crumbs and starts holding together.
3. Add the water last and in small amounts. Psyllium keeps absorbing for a minute or two after it is wetted, so a dough that looks dry now may be right by the time you have scooped the first tray.
4. Wait a couple of minutes before deciding to add more. This is the step that ruins the batch when it is rushed, because over-wet dough spreads on the tray and never gets a crisp shell.
5. Scoop the dough into small balls, pressing each one firmly in your palm. A loosely scooped ball falls apart when you roll it in sugar later.
6. Dehydrate at 46 °C for 12 hours on a mesh liner, and leave them alone rather than turning them. Rolling them mid-run flattens the side that has set.
7. They are ready when the outside is dry and firm under a fingertip and the ball still gives when you squeeze it gently. Break one open: it should be dry a millimetre or two in and soft beyond that, and a ball that is dry all the way through has gone too far.
8. Cool them completely, then roll each one in the reserved powdered sweetener. Keep them in a sealed container in the fridge for ten days or the freezer for a month — the soft centre is real moisture, so these are not a cupboard biscuit.