Rustic Cranberry Pumpkin Spice Biscotti

Happy Monday! Have a biscotti.

When I still ate gluten, biscotti were one of my absolute favorite things ever.  I liked them crunchy and small and would eat them with chai lattes, or slightly larger and softer, though I would invariably rail a bit that a biscotti should be small and crunchy.  Even then, I would still eat the softer version. 

I have been mulling vegan almond-flour based biscotti for a while, but it was only when I saw Katie of Nourishing and Flourishing had successfully made some that I decided to take the plunge and play with a recipe of my own after, of course, making her version. My one goal was to remove the small amount of arrowroot starch and see how the biscotti would hold up using coconut flour instead.

They did hold up, though they are a bit more fragile than traditional biscotti, such that when you slice them you might have imperfect looking biscotti and a couple of broken ones. I plan to experiment more with variations on this recipe, but this version is really quite lovely and too good not to share  – a warm pumpkin pie flavor combined with the tartness of the cranberries.  I qualified their name as rustic, since rustic makes imperfect edges supposed to be there.  Also, I kept them low in sugar, with just two tablespoons of agave and a sprinkling of palm sugar atop.  You could skip the later, but that teaspoon really makes the sweetness of the biscotti pop a bit more.

Rustic Cranberry Pumpkin Spice Biscotti (Gluten-Free, Vegan, Grain-Free, Soy-Free, Sugar-Conscious) – Makes 12 – 16 biscotti. Ratios and method inspired by Nourishing Flourishing

As mentioned above, these are a bit fragile on account of the lack of starch.  Feel free to swap half the coconut flour with a tablespoon of arrowroot starch.  Also, you will have most of a can of pumpkin leftover.  You could make this Pumpkin Ice Cream – it calls for a 15oz can of pumpkin, but the missing 1/4 cup will not affect it.  For the cranberries, you have several options: I used unsweetened freeze dried cranberries which I tossed in a bit of stevia, but you could also use fruit-juice sweetened dried cranberries or Ricki’s recipe for Sugar Free Oven Dried Cranberries.  A final note – while they do lose excess moisture if you store them only partially covered, these biscotti are not as crispy as regular biscotti, keeping a slight chewiness.

• 2 1/2 cup blanched almond flour 
• 2 Tablespoons coconut flour (I used nutsonline coconut flour which is similar to Bob’s Red Mill )
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I used this one)
• 2 Tablespoon agave (feel free to experiment with other liquid sweeteners)
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup pumpkin (I used this organic canned pumpkin)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened freeze dried cranberries or sweetened cranberries (see notes above for substitution ideas)
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla stevia (omit if using sweetened cranberries)
• 1 tsp coconut or palm sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a sheet pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper. Combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin spice in a large bowl. Separately, mix agave, vanilla extract and pumpkin.  Add to dry ingredients and stir to combine.  It will seem too dry at first, so just keep stirring. If the mixture does not come together, you can always use your hands to stir and form a thick dry dough.  If using unsweetened cranberries, toss with vanilla stevia in a small bowl (skip this step if using sweetened cranberries).  Add cranberries. Then, once dough is formed and cranberries are incorporated, wet hands and separate dough into two oval-shaped balls.  Place each ball on parchment paper and, using wet hands, shape into two logs, preferably about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Wet top of each log with wet hands, and sprinkle each log with 1/2 teaspoon coconut or palm sugar.  Bake at 350F until edges have browned (12 to 18 minutes).  Remove and let cool for about 30 minutes,  Using a sharp knife, slice diagonally, and lay biscotti on sides on the parchment paper. Lower oven to 300F and bake an additional 10  to 15 minutes, but watch closely.  If you would like crispier biscotti, leaving them out overnight partially/lightly covered will help them lose any excess moisture.

I am of course submitting this to several blog events:

Kelly of The Spunky Coconut is hosting a Spunky Holiday round-up for Halloween.  I associate pumpkin with so many parts of fall, including Halloween.

The theme for this month’s Go Ahead Honey It’s Gluten-Free, an event created by Naomi of  Straight To Bed, Cakefree and Dried,  and hosted by Noosh of For the Love of Food is gluten-free spiced desserts.  The warming pumpkin spice here fits right in, and these biscotti are lovely with a cup of tea for dessert.

The monthly Sweet or Savory Challenge is back, and hosted, as always, by Ricki and Kim.  The SOS ingredient this month is cranberries, including dried cranberries!

Ricki also hosts the weekly Wellness Weekend. The concept behind Wellness Weekends is “any good-for-you, whole foods, especially those with antioxidant properties or “functional foods” (ie, offering naturally medicinal or health-promoting qualities–such as garlic, coconut oil, all vegetables, fruits, herbs, etc.).”  Here we have pumpkin and almond flour and cranberries.  

A blog event hosted by Flip Cookbook called Sugar Free Sunday, which includes sweet and savory dishes made with non-refined sugars.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

Gluten-Free Wednesday at the Gluten-Free Homemaker

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