Gluten Free Almond Biscotti
Classic almond biscotti, or cantucci, made natural and gluten-free thanks to almond flour. Gluten-free biscotti are wonderful dunked in coffee or given as a holiday gift.
Biscotti, aka cantucci, is one of those foods that always transports me back to Tuscany. We ate them at all hours there. Crunchy and lightly sweet, biscotti are perfect with a morning cappuccino, but are traditionally served after dinner. A small glass of vin santo, a sweet Tuscan dessert wine, is often served with biscotti for dunking. It’s the most wonderful combination of nutty sweetness.
I had been wanting to make classic Italian almond biscotti lately and finally did. These little cookies are easy to make. I love using alternative, less refined, more nutritious flours and realized that almond flour would be perfect in almond biscotti.
What are Biscotti?
The key to biscotti is that they are twice baked. Twice cooked is the actual translation from it’s Latin roots. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the word biscotti is plural. Please don’t say biscottis, or raviolis for that matter. My Italian is pretty poor for having studied the language for several years, but I can tell you that “i” is plural.
The double-baking dries out the cookies and gives them their trademark crumbly dry crispness. Rumor has it that biscotti has been enjoyed since ancient Roman times. Since they are so dry they last much longer than other baked foods and were taken on long trips.
How to Make Biscotti
Biscotti are traditionally made with just a few simple ingredients: flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and almonds. Sometimes orange zest or anise are added. Making biscotti gluten-free is such a natural thing. Almond is the classic biscotti flavor, so why not swap almond flour for the bleached refined wheat flour? There is NO reason. Literally none. Unlike some gluten-free foods (I’m looking at you, pizza), I couldn’t tell the difference between these and the traditional biscotti I’ve picked up in Italy so many times.
To start, I whisked together almond flour, arrowroot starch, baking powder, and salt.
How to Make Vegan Biscotti
I also wanted to make these biscotti vegan friendly (can’t tell, promise). I tested them with both coconut oil and Earth Balance vegan butter. Taste-wise, I would go with the Earth Balance, however, I think the coconut oil is the most natural. Choose what you will. To replace the eggs, many vegan biscotti recipes use applesauce. I tested this recipe twice with applesauce and didn’t think it was as good. My favorite alternative is Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer, or you can use eggs if you eat them.
The biggest challenge I had with this recipe was getting the dough just moist enough to hold together. The first try ended up too wet and spread out way too much. When first mixing the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture, it will seem much too dry. Mix with your hands or a rubber spatula and it will eventually come together.
When I first learned to make traditional biscotti in Italy, we used whole almonds, so that’s what I continue to do. Try to cover any exposed almonds with some dough so that they don’t fall out.
Why? WHY can I not make my logs the same size? I’ll work on it, friends. Remember the word biscotti comes from Latin roots meaning twice baked. The logs go in the oven for the first baking.
Next we slice the logs into the biscotti shape we are used to seeing. They may crumble a little during this step, but that’s okay, most should hold up. You can experiment with using a large sharp knife and a serrated knife to see what works best for you.
For the second baking we mostly want to dry the biscotti out. I reduce the temperature to 275 and bake an additional 20 minutes. Let them cool completely before eating or storing.
Chocolate Dipped Biscotti
Traditional almond biscotti are good. Chocolate dipped almond biscotti are AMAZING! I highly recommend this extra step. I simply melted about a cup of Enjoy Life chocolate chips in the microwave and dipped right in.
Gluten Free Almond Biscotti
These delicious almond biscotti taste just like the classic Tuscan Italian cantucci! Made with almond flour, this biscotti recipe is vegan, gluten free, and grain free. Homemade almond biscotti are perfect dipped in coffee or given as a holiday gift.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups almond flour
- 5 tablespoons arrowroot starch
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup organic sugar
- 2 egg replacer eggs (I used Bob’s Red Mill)*
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil (firm, or Earth Balance)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup whole almonds, toasted
- 1 cup gluten-free, dairy-free dark or semisweet chocolate chunks (I used Enjoy Life)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lin a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, arrowroot, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
- Add the egg/egg replacer, coconut oil/Earth Balance, and vanilla to the almond flour mixture. Combine using a rubber spatula or your hands, which seem to work best. This mixture will seem very dry at first but should come together after working for a couple of minutes. If it doesn't, you can add a few drops of water until it does. Be very careful not to let this dough get too moist or it will spread too much. Work in the almonds.
- Form the dough into two logs about 3-inches wide and place on the cookie sheet. They will spread, so leave a few inches between logs. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 275. Using a sharp knife, slice the logs on the bias into 1/2-inch slices. Place on the cookie sheet and bake again for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
- If dipping in chocolate, melt the chocolate chunks over a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring frequently. Dip one side of the biscotti into the melted chocolate and set on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Cool in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition information is approximate and calculated by a third party. It does not include chocolate for this recipe. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again.
*If you eat eggs, you can use 2 instead of the egg replacer.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 25 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 65Total Fat: 4gCarbohydrates: 7gSugar: 4gProtein: 2g
I just made these, they’re delicious! I’m wondering though if you can give me some tips on how to cut the log in order to keep it from crumbling. Thank you!
Hi I’ve made these plenty of times. I read in another website, in order To prevent from crumbling wrap individual logs in a very light weight cotton napkin. When cool proceed to cutting. I also use a large bread knife. This seems to work for me.
HI! I WAS JUST LOOKING OVER YOUR RECIPE FOR GLUTEN FREE VEGAN ALMOND BISCOTTI TO SEE WHAT INGREDIENTS I NEED TO PICK UP BEFORE MAKING THEM TOMORROW (SO EXCITED!!) I NOTICE THAT YOU RECOMMEND BOB’S RED MILL EGG REPLACERS AND AS I HAVE NEVER USED THEM, LOOKED THEM UP TO SEE WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE IN THEM. JUST THOUGHT I WOULD PASS ALONG TO YOU THE FACT THAT THE SECOND INGREDIENT IS WHEAT GLUTEN MAKING THEM NOT GLUTEN FREE. I BAKE ALOT AND USE FLAX EGGS SO I’M GOING TO TRY USING THEM. CAN’T WAIT TO TRY YOUR RECIPE – IT’S BEEN FAR TOO LONG SINCE I’VE HAD BISCOTTI! HAVE A LOVELY DAY!!!
HI! I WAS JUST LOOKING OVER YOUR RECIPE FOR GLUTEN FREE VEGAN ALMOND BISCOTTI TO SEE WHAT INGREDIENTS I NEED TO PICK UP BEFORE MAKING THEM TOMORROW (SO EXCITED!!) I NOTICE THAT YOU RECOMMEND BOB’S RED MILL EGG REPLACERS AND AS I HAVE NEVER USED THEM, LOOKED THEM UP TO SEE WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE IN THEM. JUST THOUGHT I WOULD PASS ALONG TO YOU THE FACT THAT THE SECOND INGREDIENT IS WHEAT GLUTEN MAKING THEM NOT GLUTEN FREE. I BAKE ALOT AND USE FLAX EGGS SO I’M GOING TO TRY USING THEM. CAN’T WAIT TO TRY YOUR RECIPE – IT’S BEEN FAR TOO LONG SINCE I’VE HAD BISCOTTI! HAVE A LOVELY DAY!!!
THere is a gluten free version
Can I adapt this recipe to use whole fresh eggs?
So sorry this is so late as i must have missed it. I can’t find the version with gluten. The link provided in the recipe card is gluten Free. https://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-vegan-egg-replacer.html
My bag of bob’s Redmill egg replacers has these ingredients:potato starch, tapioca flour, baking soda, psyllium husk fiber. (No gluten!)
My batch was crumbly when slicing, too. But very delicious! I used sliced almonds and a combination of almond & coconut flour.
hi, I just made these and they are delicious! I as well, found they crumbled a lot when cutting and would also like some tips on how to resolve that. my batch did not HAVE THAT SMOOTH CUT FINISH TO THEM AS THE ONES SHOWN IN THE PICTURE. I think I will try roughly chopping the almondS instead of using whole as they seemed to be coming out of the dough a lot and couldn’t get them to stay put in some areas. I ALSO ADDED RIND FROM A CLEMENTINE, wonerfully FRAGRANT AND GAVE A NICE EXTRA FLAVOUR TO THEM. PERFECT FOR A HOLIDAY COOKIE!
Just made these and they turned out wonderfully. Super easy to make. I didn’t have almonds so I used chocolate chips and white chocolate chips (all vegan) as the mix-in instead. Really tasty. Definitely would make these again. Thanks for the recipe!!
HI,
what can you use as a substitute for arrowroot powder?
This reply is 4 months late, so you probably already have your answer, but I always substitute arrowroot powder for cornstarch, so I imagine you could do the reverse and substitute cornstarch for arrowroot powder. It would be a 1:1 substitution.
so delicious and yummy. Thank you for the recipe. Don’t know why it’s in capitals, sorry about that.
What other egg replacer can you use besides bobs red mill? Flax? Or others? If so, what measurements?
A well-documented and thoroughly excellent recipe! I’ve made these twice now for a GF friend who loves biscotti. I followed the recipe as outlined and they came out beautifully. I made one small adjustment which was to smash the roasted almonds into small, pebble-sized bits (very satisfying, BTW) with a mallet before adding them to the dough, as it made the slicing easier. As a vegan, i really appreciate that these were dairy-free. My summary thought is that if you don’t like biscotti, we can’t be friends. Thank you!
It’s a great taste for vegans.