IN COLLEGE, BISCOTTI WAS MY ANCHOR FOOD.
You know, that one dish that brings you back to center when the world is ‘freaking the cuss out’ around you, and you need to remember where you came from. For some, it’s a dish their mother made when they were little, like mac n’ cheese or a casserole. For others, it could be something that stems from their ethnic background or cultural identity, like the British and their ritual of tea in the afternoon.
For me, it was (and is) biscotti. When finals were chewing me out, or I was feeling out-of-place in a university that was 550 miles from home, there was a settling comfort in a pan of orange and chocolate biscotti. Now that I’m a bit more health conscious, I wanted to create a version that was gluten-free, low in glycemic index and safe for my anti-dairy friends.
Italian desserts are very dry and not overly sweet. We tend to let our Mediterranean-ripened fruit plates at the end of the meal be our dose of sweet because when you have fresh apricots and figs, who needs cake?! Now, technically ‘biscotti’ is an Italian word applied to ALL cookies, so its very American of me to be referring to the long, twice baked cookies you dunk in cappuccino as ‘biscotti’ but we’re just trying to get some healthy cookies made here, so no sweat.
This version is gluten and dairy free, and made without sugar. I hesitate to say it is Paleo-friendly because I did use erythritol to sweeten. Erythritol can be found naturally in some fruits and fermented foods, but it is very important that you use an organic version like Wholesome. If you prefer not to use a natural sugar alcohol, you can substitute the erhtyritol for 1 cup of organic cane sugar. Flour has been switched out for almond meal which is much fattier, so it will bake differently but still produces a crunchy biscotti.
Almond Cinnamon Biscotti
Preheat oven to 350°F
Stir together
- 2 cups of almond meal (not almond flour)
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Stir together in a separate bowl
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup Wholesome Erythritol
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Add dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until the dough forms. If dough is too wet, add more almond meal. If too dry, add more almond milk.
On a greased cookie sheet, shape the cookie dough into an oblong-shaped loaf. Bake for 18 minutes or until the bottom of loaf starts to turn golden. Remove from oven, and cut loaf into diagonal slices.
Turn slices onto their sides, and return to oven for 18 minutes. When the slices are golden, flip, and bake another 18 minutes. This seals in the moisture, and keeps the biscotti from being too dry. Now, the finished biscotti will come out of the oven a little soft. That is fine. Remove from the oven and let them cool. Within 15 minutes they will have hardened up.
You can drizzle with warm almond butter if you feel so inclined but it really isn’t necessary. They are 100% delicious dunked in coffee.
Mangia <3
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