I’m just thrilled to have “remade” this simple vegan almond biscotti recipe. Years ago, I made almond biscotti and variations on a regular basis. I always marveled at how easy it was to make and swore I would make it regularly to keep on hand. Fast forward to 20 years later and I was not making biscotti, regularly or at all. Those days are over! I’ve dusted off my recipes, added apple sauce as an egg replacer and voila! Uncomplicated and delicious biscotti that you can store in your cookie jar and always have on hand.
If you’ve never eaten biscotti, you will enjoy this sliced and twice-baked crunchy cookie. Since most of the moisture is removed from the cookie during baking, the crisp slices can be stored for a very long time. Biscotti is great for dunking into coffee or plant based milk, having as a quick snack or a nightly dessert.
Now, I went a little crazy on biscotti baking day. Since I had all the ingredients and supplies for biscotti out, I wanted to try baking a few different flavors. I wasn’t sure which one would be my favorite. In my earlier baking days, I often made plain vanilla or chocolate biscotti, then just decorated the tops with glazes, chocolate, and nuts.
Depending on how wide and deep you make your biscotti loaves before baking, you will get different servings of biscotti slices. My biscotti “loaves” were always about 8 to 9 inches long, 4 inches wide and 3/4 inch deep. I tried to slice each biscotti so that it was about 3/4 inch thick. I would get 24 slices per recipe, more or less.
In this recipe, I use both all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour absorbs more of the moisture from the apple sauce, so if you use wheat flour, you will increase the applesauce by one tablespoon (noted in the recipe). If you use only all purpose flour, you can omit the additional 1 tablespoon of applesauce. I’ve made the biscotti both ways, and my preference is to just use all purpose flour only. I found the dough was slightly less crumbly and easier to handle using only all purpose flour. But, the biscotti made with both types of flour came out great, too! No one eating them will notice any difference.
When cutting the biscotti, I’ve seen advice to use just a push down on your knife, 
rather than a sawing motion. But when I’ve tried this, the biscotti is squished down by the cut. What I have found works best is using a serrated knife, especially a knife made for cutting bread. Instead of just pushing down on the knife, I use a very small rapid sawing motion, while holding the biscotti securely into place (watch your fingers!). This gave me very little crumbling, a sharp cut, and no smashed down or broken biscotti slices.
After cutting about half of the biscotti, you might notice your knife accumulating crumbs and dough. This will make your cuts jagged or your slices might break on the ends. Rinsing, then drying, your knife to clean it before going on will keep your cuts clean.
When the biscotti are baking for the second time, I like to flip them over at the halfway point. It just seems like a good way to insure that both sides are crispy. I’ve always done it, but I’m not sure it’s necessary.
I’ve now made this almond biscotti recipe, a Triple Chocolate Vegan Biscotti, and Cranberry Orange Pistachio Biscotti. All three are mildly sweet and perfectly crunchy. The chocolate biscotti will easily satisfy any chocolate cravings you might have.
At first I was sure the cranberry orange biscotti was my favorite. Then, a few days later, I was loving the chocolate ones while watching TV in the evening. Later in the week, I decided almond biscotti was just perfect for breakfast. However or whenever you eat them, all three of these recipes are good!
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 25 to 30 minutes |
| Passive Time | 15 minutes for cooling |
| Servings |
biscotti
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- 1-1/3 cup all purpose flour or 2 cups all purpose flour, omitting the whole wheat flour
- 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1-1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup coconut oil melted and cooled to nearly room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/3 cup applesauce PLUS 1 tablespoon applesauce if using any whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds crushed by hand
- course sugar for sprinkling on top, if desired
Ingredients
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|
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour or flours, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, gently whisk together the granulated sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, almond extract, and applesauce.
- Using a spatula, add the dry ingredients into the large mixing bowl of wet ingredients, adding about 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time to the larger bowl. Once combined, add the next third of the flour mixture.
- After the final third of flour has been added, use your hands to gather all the crumbs into the flour and form a cohesive dough ball. Add in the crushed sliced almonds and use a gentle kneading motion, with the dough still in the bowl, to work the almonds in. Once the almonds look evenly spread throughout, divide the dough into two halves.
- Use your hands to shape the dough into two "loaves" 8 to 9 inches long. Place them the baking sheet a few inches apart and use your hands to flatten the dough until it is about an even 3/4 inches deep throughout. Even or smooth the sides and ends of the loaves using your hands.
- After shaping the second loaf, sprinkle the tops of the loaves with coarse granulated sugar, if desired. Place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Then remove the baking sheet from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
- Reduce the oven heat to 325° F. Remove and dispose of the parchment paper from the baking sheet. Slice each loaf into 3/4-inch thick slices, laying each slice back onto the baking sheet on its side. Bake 25 to 30 minutes more, turning over halfway through baking.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the biscotti cool on the pan for 5 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.
- Store in a cookie jar or other covered container at room temperature for 1 to 2 weeks. You can also freeze biscotti for up to three months.
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