Vegan Almond Anise Biscotti

Why Vegan Almond Anise Biscotti?

While there’s no lack of biscotti recipes out there ,you’ll want to try this Vegan Almond Anise Biscotti, because it’s vegan, naturally sweetened, and contains whole grain flour.

These are good plain, but for the chocolate lovers among you, I’m including a recipe for a chocolate sauce which is great for making chocolate dipped version.

This like any Biscotti recipe isn’t that difficult, but I won’t lie to you, “it’s a bit tricky”.

Here’s what to do to succeed:

• Keep the dough moist
• During the first baking, remove the biscotti from the oven while the loaves are still a little bit moist to the touch in the center.
• Cut while still hot, gingerly, with a very sharp knife.
• Watch carefully so as to bake them to the precise degree of crispness you prefer during the second baking.

If you can manage all that, you’ll be rewarded with some very nice looking and tasty Vegan Almond Anise Biscotti.

Vegan Almond Anise Biscotti Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup roasted almonds, finely ground
• 1/4 cup arrowroot or cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons powered anise
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened almond milk, or milk of choice
• 
  

Directions:

1. Position one of your oven racks in the center of your oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking liner and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
3. In a blender, emulsify the wet ingredients. Pour the wet into the dry and stir well to make dough, slightly sticky, but not too wet.
4. After mixing, scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and BRIEFLY knead it just until it comes together and the divide it in half. Shape each half into 8 x 3 inch logs and carefully transfer to prepared baking sheet. Make a 1/8-inch slit lengthwise in the center of each loaf, so it can expand without breaking.
5. Place the baking sheet on the center rack of your oven and bake for about and bake for 25 or so minutes, or until lightly browned. It should still seem a little moist at the center (if it gets too done at this point, the pieces will break and crumble as you try to cut them in the next step). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
6. Transfer to cutting board. With a sharp, moistened bread knife gingerly cut each log into 10 to 12 slices, each about 3/4 inch thick. Lay these biscotti on their sides on the cookie sheet pan and return to the oven for 10-12 minutes or until very lightly browned. For even browning, turn the biscotti over after 5 minutes.
7. Leave the biscotti on the cookie sheet pans, and after they’ve cooled a bit, dip one end into the warm chocolate sauce (see recipe below). While the chocolate sauce needs to be warm, it if is too hot it will become thin and run off the biscotti.
8. Chill the biscotti thoroughly before attempting to store them.

For the chocolate sauce:

Melt a 4-0unce bar of 100% cacao unsweetened chocolate (I used Ghirardelli) in a small sauce pan with 1/3 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/4 cup rice syrup, whisking constantly until the chocolate is fully melted and all ingredients combined. Taste to see if the sauce is sweet enough. I like it not too sweet, but add a little more maple syrup if you think it needs it.