Once Baked Biscottis (because who wants to wait for bake round two?)
Biscottis are a delightful dessert that go oh so well with coffee. Now, in my personal opinion, biscottis are extremely crumbly and I have a difficult time eating all of them because they fall apart with the first bite. However, they taste divine if made correctly.
And it could just be me, but who wants to wait an extra few minutes after the goodies are baked for them to bake a second time? Not this lady! I have developed this recipe that is more reminiscent of scones so that you may enjoy all the delights of biscottis without the crumble and with a shortened bake time.
First a little story about how these came about.
My husband is half Amazon Indian and he grew up not really eating super sweet foods like I did. (I spent many childhood years in Europe devouring the best chocolate in all the world. Yes, I was spoiled. And yes, I am still a chocolate monster as my husband would attest to.)
Anyway, my husband is more of a semi-sweet or salty kind of man. I love baking, so this makes things difficult because I am a fatty patty and will eat all the goodies by myself if no one helps me. He kindly tastes my desserts, but doesn't sneak into the kitchen at night to eat them like I do. So, needless to say, I eat most of the desserts in our house.
When we were dating, I would make cookies and desserts and all sorts of desserts (mostly because I was in college and I could because the amount of women around me on a daily basis who hankered after sweets was quite large). My husband was a dear and never declined to try my culinary confectioneries but he never really wanted them.
That is until I made these.
The first time I made them I believe he said something to the affect of, "you can make these anytime you want". I was pretty pleased with myself. I'm also pretty snobbish about my baking and it is one of the things I feel that I actually have a natural gifting at so this sealed the deal for me. I knew these had to be good, and I had struck gold.
Just the other day, as my husband was laying all his gear out for work the next morning he told me that he had been hankering after these delicious beauties and that he had been secretly hoping for some time that I would bring some to work for him. I had mentioned a few days prior that I was thinking about making some.
Being the good wife that I am, I made some and brought them to him at work. When he got home, he told me how he had resisted them all night even though he wanted to eat them all. (When he home there were only two left.) I was still very proud of him since I knew how much he liked them. Again, I felt like a pro for making a dessert that my non-sweet loving husband enjoyed.
So, if you have someone in your life whom doesn't really like sweets and you don't want to feel like a fatty patty for eating all the goodies by yourself, you should try these! (Or you can invite me over and we'll eat super sweets together. ;) ) Plus, there are a lot of variations you can try with these for toppings or mix-ins so it is accessible to everyone's tastes. I personally like Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips mixed in but to each their own.
So, without further ado, here is the recipe!
INGREDIENTS
-2 cups almond flour
-1/3 cup arrowroot flour (you can substitute corn starch or tapioca flour but there will be slightly different textures)
-a pinch of salt (I like Himalayan pink salt or sea salt)
-2 tsp of baking powder
-6 Tbsp of honey (or maple syrup)
-1/2 tsp of vanilla
-1 egg
-1/4 cup melted coconut oil
-1/4 cup of anything you would like to add in (i.e. chocolate chips, raisins, blueberries, nuts)
-1/4 cup of shredded coconut (can be sweetened or not depending on your tastes)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine dry ingredients (excluding the mix in and coconut) and mix well.
3. Combine wet ingredients but only using half of the honey. (The rest will be used later.)
4. Combine the mixtures and mix well. (I like to use my hands to mix it because it's more fun and I can sample my work after it's mixed ;) )
5. Add the mix-in and continue mixing until it is evenly spread throughout.
6. Flatten the mix into a square shape and cut into 5 rectangles then spread slightly so that they can cook on the sides.
7. Cut the rectangles in half so you will have ten roughly finger sized biscottis.
8. Drizzle with the other 3 Tbsp of honey and sprinkle the coconut generously on top.
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until they are lightly golden brown.
10. Remove and let them cool before you taste. ENJOY!