I love biscotti. It’s crunchy, flavorful with barely a hint of sweetness, and is convenient consume. Paired it with a foamy cappuccino it’s one of the most amazing afternoon treats on cold afternoon. It’s almost summer and this crazy gal is writing about cold days and biscotti? Well, up in Seattle the spring is a time a taunting. It will be gorgeous, no jacket and sun glasses weather for a few days then dissolve into a week of grey skies and soggy drizzle. The up-side is that it’s not freezing like it is during the winter.
When it’s grey or cold out, I get a baking itch. In high-school I developed a dairy allergy, which made baking a much harder task. This was before food allergies were really main stream. It proved quite a task to learn the alternatives for cooking and baking without dairy. I’ve long tweaked and updated different recipes, but this one has been a tried and true biscotti recipe for years.
So, while you may think that biscotti and baking are reserved only for the fall or winter time, but you can personalize this recipe for whatever season you crave biscotti. Give this recipe a spring twist and sub the nuts for poppy seeds and add a little lemon!
Vegan Almond Biscotti
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unbleached cane sugar
3/4 cup smooth unsweetened applesauce
1 -3 tablespoon vegetable oil
(I used one tbsp apple sauce)
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
(can also use 1 tsp each vanilla and almond)
1 cups almonds, chopped & toasted
Directions
- Pre-heat oven the 325°F
- Chop and toast the almonds and put them in the pre-heating oven to toast
- Lightly oil two cookie sheets.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, applesauce, oil (1 TBS for a hard biscotti, 2-3 TBS for a softer biscuit), and extract.
- Stir the sugar mixture into the flour mixture, add the nuts
- With floured hands, shape the dough into two 3-inch wide “logs” about 3/4 inch thick, with the ends squared off and place on cookie sheets
- Bake the logs for 25 minutes.
- Remove the pans and reduce the oven heat to 300°F.
- Cool the logs on a rack for 15 minutes.
- Cut the logs carefully with a sharp bread knife straight across into 1/2 inch wide slices.
- Place the slices cut side down on the cookie sheets
- Bake 5-10 minutes, or until golden on the bottom then turn slices over and repeat on the other side.
- Cool on racks, then store airtight for up to two weeks.
Variations
- Use the original recipe’s method -1 tbsp oil instead of apple sauce which will change the consistency a bit
- Sub almonds for different nuts (Pistachio, Walnut, hazelnut), chocolate chips, currants, dried cranberries
- Try cutting the sugar
- Use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white
- Dip the biscotti in white or dark chocolate for a sweet treat