Vegan Almond & Cinnamon Biscotti

I bet we all have that person in our life who can't enjoy baked goods as most of us can. Either they're allergic to things like lactose or flour, or they have decided not to use animal-derived products. Whichever restriction is applicable: fret not! There are plenty of substitutions around that will satisfy those challenged sweet teeth.




I don't know about you, but I feel a bit of a pressure when baking for someone with an allergy. I'm kinda afraid I'll make them sick by accident! What if there's still a bit of buttercream left in that bowl I used last week for example. Needless to say I was rinsing out every bowl I was using for this recipe with steaming hot water. And even then, I had visions of people going into anaphylactic shock.. I call eaters of my baking victims, but I'm hoping it will never be quite that literal!

I picked this recipe up for the researcher I'm interning for, as he is allergic to milk. It's funny how these recipes are often multiple allergy/diet applicable. This one can be used for a vegan diet, or egg-free for example. These were the first biscotti I've ever made and according to my victims, they were just the right consistency (crunchy, dunkable, not too sweet), even though I baked them twice longer than directed. You can add all sorts of nuts, dried fruits to the dough, you might want to try almonds or dried bananas for example. You can also swap out the cinnamon with other spices like cardamom. Without further ado, the recipe! 


For about 30 biscotti

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup organic granulated sugar
• ¼ cup organic packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup finely ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 175 gr silken tofu
• 2 tablespoon finely ground flax seeds (also known as “flax meal”)
• 1 tablespoon soy or almond milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 175 C/350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, ground almonds, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

3.In a blender, puree the tofu until creamy and slightly fluffy (mixture should equal about ½ cup once processed). Add the ground flax seeds, soy or almond milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract to the mixture, and puree until well combined.

4. Add the tofu mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing until forming a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface, and form the dough into two logs with rounded ends.

5. Bake the logs on prepared sheet for 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the logs from the pan and let rest on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Turn down the oven temperature to 150 C/300 F.

6. Slice the logs diagonally in pieces 1 1/2 cm- 2 1/2 cm thick and lay biscotti on their sides on the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, flipping the biscotti with a metal spatula half-way through to ensure even baking. Biscotti should be lightly golden but not browned; they will be hard if over-baked. Biscotti will keep up to two weeks in an airtight container.

Recipe adapted from about.com