Biscotti with a Twist

Lemon-Cranberry Gluten-Free Biscotti

For sheer dunkability, you just can’t beat biscotti (“biscuits” in Italian). These crunchy treats are the very epitome of what Europeans mean when they refer to biscuits–a variant of bread that’s sweet, light, and served with tea. (As compared to American biscuits, which are generally doughy, savory, and served alongside main dishes.) Biscotti can be made with many flavors and flours; some are even drizzled with icing. All, however, have their characteristic long oblong shape, and all are best when dunked. An oil/grease-free dough makes for a high crunch factor!

For this batch of biscotti, I used gluten-free flours (for the sake of enjoying a different taste and texture) and a mixture of fruits–specifically, lemon and cranberry. Other welcome additions would be dark-chocolate chunks and/or slivered almonds.

(Note: you could just as easily use wheat flours in this recipe–simply halve the amount of baking soda and substitute the full amount of wheat flours for the teff and rice flours.)

Lemon-Cranberry Gluten-Free Biscotti

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Measure into a large bowl and whisk together:

3/4 cup sucanat
2 tsp. grated lemon rind (you can also peel the rind and then mince the peel)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 T. lemon juice
2 large eggs (preferably organic)

In another bowl, whisk together:

1 cup teff flour (this is an ancient grain from Africa–it has a slightly-sweet, crunchy texture and can be found alongside the standard flours in a well-stocked grocery or health-food store)
2/3 cup brown rice flour (again, look for this in a well-stocked baking aisle/section)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cardamom (optional, but lends the biscotti an exotic, fragrant character; cardamom goes well with fruit)

Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture. Stir in:

1 cup dried cranberries
(This would also be the time to add the dark chocolate and/or almonds.)

Grease a baking sheet, then divide the dough into halves. Working with one half at a time, shape dough into flattened loaves (12″ long and about 2 1/2″ wide) and place on sheet. You may have to coat your hands with a bit of additional flour to keep the dough from sticking to them–the absence of oil in the biscotti makes handling the dough a bit tricky.

Bake loaves for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Transfer loaves (one at a time) to a cutting board and slice into 1/2″ widths the short way across (i.e., you should have many short pieces rather than half as many long ones). Repeat with second loaf. Arrange slices on baking sheet, making sure that the curves match up. (You’ll be flipping these, so having them all curve the same way initially makes it easier to see what you’re flipping later on. Having baked the rounded loaves gives one side of each piece its curve.)

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove and flip each piece. Bake for another 10 minutes. Biscotti will then be golden on each side. Let cool before serving.

Enjoy!

Tags: biscotti, cranberry, gluten-free, lemon