Effortnesslessly: Guilt Free Biscotti

Blog's Category: My Staple Food

Guilt Free Biscotti

Intro

I make this biscotti often. Whenever I crave something baked, sweet for my tea-time or if I need to supply my college student with some healthy and long-lasting treats - I turn up to this recipe. I have to mention the best part of the recipe - it is super easy, just mix everything together, no chopping, no fridge timeouts and it's also fat-free not counting of course fat-containing nuts which are good for you anyway. Turned out it is my favorite cookie/pastry thing. Give it a try and you will see why it is so.

Variations
- Use nuts and dry fruits that you like. Try to stay away from fruits that are too dry (or soak them previously and then pat dry nicely). Also I stopped using figs in this biscotti because they give "sandy" crunch to it which most people don't like (though I love dry figs by itself!).
Also you can substitute part of fruits or nuts with chunks of chocolate. As well, you can substitute part of whole wheat flour with a ground flax seeds (or another ground seeds you like).

Taste Description
These biscotti is perfect on a sweetness level - not too sweet but sweet enough to go well with a cup of sugar-less tea or coffee. Depending on the nuts and fruits used, you will experience waves of different flavors and textures.

How to Store

It can be stored in a container, at room temperature, for several days. It may harden up a little bit but still be good. As baked, I like to cut it in 1.5" squares and have it handy whenever I need little "something" for my cup of tea of coffee.

Guilt Free Biscotti

For about 20 small biscotti:

2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups dry raw fruits (apricots, raisin, cherries, cranberries, etc.) whole, not chopped
2 cups nuts (walnuts, almonds) whole, not chopped
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbsp brandy
vanilla extract
olive oil (optional) for oiling baking sheets.

- Preheat oven to 350F.

- Mix flours, salt, soda and baking powder together and set aside.

- Whisk together eggs, brown sugar and vanilla extract. Add nuts and fruits to the egg mixture. Stir.

- Add flour mixture to the egg/nuts/fruits mixture. Stir to combine everything nicely. Add brandy, stir again. You will get somewhat thick mixture (well, mostly nuts and fruits with specks of dough :)).

- Cover baking sheet with a foil or parchment paper. Oil lightly with an olive oil. With your hand still oily, distribute dough mixture on a baking sheet in a thin, about 1/2 -1 ", layer.

- Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until your biscotti sheet is brown, has risen up and toothpick comes out dry.

- Remove from the oven and let it cool down for 10-15 minutes and then cut in a 1.5" squares. Enjoy!

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IN PICTURES

This time I used filbert nuts and almonds, apricots, cranberries, raisin and figs (which I regret - those were tough, dry and "sandy" to a tooth). Nevertheless, biscotti disappeared quickly and I have just memory of them right now :)

I wasn't accurate in flour measurements this time and got too much flour (so, stick to the recipe please). Biscotti were a bit tougher because of this but still very good.