GF: Hazelnut & Chocolate Biscotti
I haven’t made biscotti since gluten was in my life. It’s been 14 years (ack!) or so since my roommates and I – freshly out of college and BROKE beyond words- decided to make biscotti for Christmas presents one year. I think our first several batches were so bad that we ran out of money to keep “remaking” them. I gave my sisters my favorite shower soap from Target that year. Yeap. The biscotti were.. .well… memorable.
I’ve never attempted a gluten-free version, but lately I’ve been craving something with my coffee at school. Since tomorrow is “Open House” (aka “Meet the Teacher” or whatever it is called in your neck of the woods), I know I will be at work from 7:00AM until about 9;00PM. Not only do these hours scream “Wear comfortable shoes!” but they also tell me I’m going to need to pack a snack.. .and a tasty one at that. Enter: the chocolate biscotti.
Since it had been such a long time, I was a bit overwhelmed by the consistency of this dough upon mixing. I even called my sister to check in with her, but her 10 year old son answered.
I told him what I was up to and then asked, “Hey, “J”, do you think I should still bake it if it just looks like two flat blobs of meatloaf?”
Yes. Meatloaf blobs. Really. But not nearly as pretty.
He didn’t miss a beat. He turned to his mom and said, “Hey Mom, Kate’s making biscotti and she says it looks like meatloaf. Do you think she should bake it or try to fix it? Yours didn’t look like meatloaf at all.”
She got on the phone, “What? What are you doing?”
Yeap, I admitted. You heard correctly. I have meatloaf blobbies and I want biscotti.
Needless to say, we didn’t ever really decide on the what we thought the consistency of gluten free biscotti blobs pre-baking should look like. So I baked these. I’m glad I did.
I’m looking forward to working on this recipe. However, I have learned that the best gluten-free recipes have come from community experimentation and sharing. Therefore, here they are. The meatloaf biscotti that actually taste pretty good! They have earned the seal of approval from the ten year old nephew who declared them “rather nutty and good”. Not bad for a first try. I’ll take it.
These cookies are NOT super sweet (thus my husband drizzled some chocolate on for my sweet tooth). Since they are chocolately but not sugary, they make a great dipping cookie for coffee.
GF Hazelnut and Chocolate Biscotti
Ingredients
2 cups GF Flour mix (with xanthan gum)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/3 cup nonfat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.
- Mix together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Reserve hazelnuts.
- Mix together wet ingredients: eggs, milk, extracts, and butter.
- Mix together wet and dry until blended then mix on medium-high for 2 – 3 minutes.
- Blend in chopped nuts.
- Shape into two loaves about 4 inches wide, 8 inches long and 1 inch thick on parchment paper.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Cool for 10 minutes.
- Slice into 1/2 inch thick cookies. Return sliced pieces to parchment paper. Lay one side on to the parchment paper.
- Bake an additional 20 minutes (turn over in the last five minutes). Keep in mind that biscotti – and our lovely gluten-free flours – have a tendency to continue to dry out a bit after baking. Take care not to over bake or over dry the cookies in the oven to prevent them from becoming too brittle and crumbly.
- Allow to cool completely before storing.
- Drizzle with melted chocolate (I think next time I’ll use white and dark chocolates not just dark.)
Enjoy with coffee in the mid-afternoon while wearing comfortable shoes, of course!
=)