The Ultimate Healthy Biscotti
These truly are the best biscotti I’ve ever tasted! These classic Italian cookies are very traditional with an extra crunchy texture and lots of sweet almond flavor. They’re perfect for pairing with coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or even milk! If the leftovers are fully hard and dry, they will keep for 1-2 weeks, if not longer, if stored in an airtight container at room temperature (and in the refrigerator also works!).
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (150g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 ¼ tsp almond extract
- 1 ½ tsp water
- ½ cup (96g) coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp (15g) sliced almonds (see Notes!)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, almond extract, and water. Stir in the coconut sugar. Add in the flour mixture, stirring until fully incorporated. Fold in the sliced almonds.
- Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet, and shape into a long and skinny rectangle that’s 2 ¼” wide and ¾” tall using your hands or a spatula. (If the cookie dough sticks to your hands, rub them with a little neutral-tasting oil first!)
- Bake at 350°F for 33-35 minutes. (The outside should be golden brown and very dry and crusty!) Let the rectangle of baked cookie dough cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes (no more and no less!).
- Transfer the rectangle of baked cookie dough to a cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the rectangle into ½”-thick strips (no wider!), working from one short end of the rectangle to the other. (Both diagonal strips and horizontal strips will work!) You should end up with cookies that are ½” thick, ¾” tall, and 2 ¼”+ wide.
- Place the cookies onto the original baking sheet with one cut side facing down and the other cut side facing up. Bake at 350°F, flipping the cookies halfway through, for 6-8 minutes (for centers with just a bit of “give”) or 12-16 minutes (for centers that are completely hard and dry). Cool completely to room temperature on the baking sheet.
Notes
For the gluten-free version, use a store-bought gluten-free flour blend, like this.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
It’s extremely important to measure the flour correctly using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own!) Too much flour will dry out your cookie dough, and it won’t come together to form a rectangle in Step 3. If this happens to you, add more water ½ teaspoon at a time until all of the flour is incorporated.
Brown sugar may be substituted for the coconut sugar.
I prefer sliced almonds that are toasted and unsalted, like this. I’ve found that sliced almonds, rather than slivered or whole almonds, really help ensure the biscotti bake evenly. (I also break the larger pieces into smaller bits to help ensure the dough bakes evenly!)
If you wait longer than 10 minutes to slice the log in Step 4-5, then it’ll be harder to cut. When you cut your one large log, use a sharp serrated knife (aka a bread knife!), and try to slice in just one direction, rather than back and forth. That minimizes the crumbs, as well as any potential broken biscotti!
Sometimes, it seems like the side facing upward can dry out faster than the side touching the baking sheet. Therefore, during the second bake, I prefer to flip my biscotti halfway through so I can guarantee both sides bake evenly.
If you end up accidentally baking your biscotti for too long during the second bake, that’s totally fine — just call them “dunkers” and always dip them in hot chocolate, coffee, tea, or even cold milk before eating!
This recipe is easily doubled!
See the text of my blog post above for more tips and information!!
{gluten-free, dairy-free, clean eating, low fat}
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I'd love to hear what you think of it in a comment below! If you take a picture, tag @amyshealthybaking on Instagram or use the hashtag #amyshealthybaking.