Happy Meatless Monday. I have been wanting to try my hand at baking vegan biscotti. Recently a friend of ours brought over some of her handcrafted biscotti and I thought, what a truly elegant gift. I love edible gifts anyway but biscotti felt so exotic, like something you would only purchase….but not make in your own kitchen. We invited a friend to join us for brunch yesterday so I decided to bake my first biscotti. Not only was it delicioso…it was very easy to make. This is definitely going to be a go-to for holiday gifting. I found an easy to follow biscotti recipe on Food.com and began ad-libbing from there.
The fun thing about this recipe is that it is for a blank palette dough that is begging to be experimented with. I cut the dough in half and flavored each half differently which made for an elegant presentation. It looked as though I had been baking up a storm when in reality….I had been leisurely drinking coffee in my pajamas, having a ball with my biscotti. Foods that appear labor intensive but really aren’t, are some of my favorites.
Photo By: S. Duquet
Vegan Biscotti
Original recipe from Food.com and modified by S. Duquet
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cups unbleached sugar (This makes a very fairly sweet biscotti. If you are adding sweet ingredients you may want to reduce sugar)
3/4 cup smooth unsweetened applesauce
1 -3 tablespoon vegetable oil * (1Tbsp for crisp biscotti and 2-3Tbsp for softer biscotti)
2 tsp extract of your choice
1 1/2 cups nuts or add ins of your choice (chocolate chips, dried fruit, chia or hemp or sunflower seeds)
My variations:
Pistachio Lemon Biscotti
2 tsp lemon extract
zest of two lemons
3/4 C rough chopped raw pistachios
Almond Orange Biscotti
1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp almond extract
zest of one orange
3/4 C raw almond slices
Make it Happen
~Preheat oven the 325°F.
~Lightly oil two cookie sheets or line with foil and oil.
~In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt.
~In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, applesauce, oil.
~Stir the sugar mixture into the flour mixture. Halve dough if you would like to use two flavors then add the nuts and extracts to each. Finish mixing dough with your hands.
~With floured hands, shape the dough into two 3-inch wide “logs” about 3/4 inch thick, with the ends squared off.
~Place these on cookie sheet.
~Bake the logs for about 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 knife into 1/2 inch wide slices. I used a very sharp bread knife and began lightly sawing then pushed the knife through the rest of the way.
~Place the slices cut side down on the cookie sheets (you can remove the foil, if using).
Photo By: S. Duquet
~Bake 5-10 minutes, or until golden on the bottom.
~Turn the slices over and cook 5-10 minutes more, or until golden on bottom.
~Cool on racks, then store airtight for up to two weeks.
The finished biscotti were elegant and flavorful. We enjoyed them with brunch, then again and again, later that day with tea. The vibrant citrus, nut combos were the perfect companion to our warm and sunny Sunday. Celebrating meatless weekdays or weekends with baked good makes me so happy. Consider making these for your next meatless Monday, Tuesday…..
Tags: compassionate eating, dairy free, dairy free baking, egg free baking, exploits of a vegan wannabe, going veg, plant based diet, vegan almond orange biscotti, vegan baking recipes, vegan biscotti, vegan challenge, vegan dessert, vegan pistachio lemon biscotti, vegan wannabe
