While these gluten-free almond biscotti make a fun gift for the holidays, it’s also a year round treat! Gluten-free biscotti is a crunchy, flavorful cookie that’s perfect with a hot cup of coffee or tea. This gluten-free, dairy-free recipe is sponsored by Enjoy Life Foods as part of my ongoing partnership with them.
Have you ever had biscotti? I first tried it as an adult. Biscotti are a twice baked cookie. The dough is formed into a log, baked, cooled, then sliced and baked again. This results in a crunchy cookie that’s perfect for dunking in tea or coffee (or my kids’ choice: milk)!
The almond flavor of this gluten-free biscotti is complemented by the hint of fruity sweetness from the dried cranberries. The melted semi-sweet chocolate gives the finishing touch and adds a little more sweetness to an otherwise not super sweet cookie. The roasted almonds make these higher in protein than a normal cookie too. Having a few of these with a cup of coffee or tea will hold you over until lunch or dinner for sure!
I was browsing through my old recipe notebook full of gluten recipes the other day and this biscotti recipe was in there. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t made this one gluten-free yet, meaning I hadn’t made biscotti at all in 7 years! I remembered how good it was and got to it right away! I’d had some very dry, flavorless biscotti before, so when I had my friend Angie’s biscotti, I fell in love! It’s so crunchy and flavorful! I was so glad that this converted over to gluten-free easily. Is it exactly the same as the gluten-full version? No not exactly, but so close, I don’t think anyone could tell. The only real difference I saw is that my gluten-free version didn’t brown as much.
There isn’t any dairy in this recipe at all, making it perfect for those of us avoiding dairy. I definitely didn’t want to add in dairy by using a chocolate with it, so I opted for my go-to Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks. They’re certified gluten-free, dairy-free and delicious! If you’re more of a milk chocolate fan, you could use their RiceMilk Chocolate Bars instead. If you’re a dark chocolate fan, then you can use their Dark Chocolate Morsels. Any of those options would be yummy! I’m just a big semi-sweet fan, so I opted for that.
Notes on Ingredients:
- Gluten-free flour: Use a good quality blend that doesn’t have bean flours for best results. If your flour blend has xanthan or guar gum in it already, then omit the xanthan called for in my recipe. Like most of my recipes, I tested this with both gfJules gluten-free flour and Gluten Free Mama’s Almond flour with great results with both.
- Slivered almonds: I prefer blanched slivered almonds for these. Roasted almond chunks would be great as well. You could swap the almonds for your favorite nut also.
- Chocolate: I used Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks. As stated above, feel free to use milk, dark, or semi-sweet chocolate. I buy the Enjoy Life chocolates at my local Natural Grocers, Wal-Mart, and Fred Meyer stores. Hopefully they’re easy to fine in your area too! Otherwise, they’re available online directly from the Enjoy Life store.
- Dried cranberries: While these can be omitted, I think they’re perfect in here! You could also swap out for dried cherries or raisins if you prefer.
- Almond Extract: I bumped up the almond flavor in these with a bit of almond extract. I love almond extract and feel just a bit of it adds so much flavor! Highly recommend you include this!
While I actually really like these gluten-free biscotti just plain, since they’re already flavorful, I do like dipping a portion in chocolate to give them a finished look. It makes them so pretty for packaging! You can really dip them however you’d like. You can dip just an end, halfway up, the tops or the bottoms of them all. I chose to dip the bottoms of mine in the melted chocolate, then just laid each on it’s side to set.
Dipping these biscotti is so easy! I just melted half a bag worth of Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks.
This gluten-free almond biscotti is perfect for gift-giving! I packed them up for Christmas gifts in some boxes that I lined with wax paper this time. Other times, I’ve put some in cellophane bags that I tie with a bow and add a gift tag to. Because they’re such a firm, sturdy cookie, they hold up well for transporting or mailing to others. They easily stay yummy for a few weeks! Another yummy gluten-free, dairy-free treat to make for the holidays is this gluten-free puppy chow. I also love making and giving these gluten-free peanut butter chocolate cookie cups that are dairy-free too. They’re so yummy too! I’m also wanting to make these paleo chocolate chip fudge bars; I think they’d be fun for gifting too!
Gluten-free Almond Biscotti
These twice baked treats yield a crunchy cookie that is perfectly dunkable!
Ingredients
- 2 cups good all-purpose gluten-free flour blend
- 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum* (omit if your flour blend has xanthan or guar)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups slivered almonds
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. almond extract
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries
- 5 oz. (1/2 a bag) Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
Directions
Preheat oven to 3500. In a large mixing bowl, whisk gluten-free flour blend, xanthan gum (if blend doesn't have it), sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in slivered almonds.
In a small, separate bowl, whisk together eggs, pure vanilla extract, and almond extract. Add to flour mixture.
Mix by hand or with mixer on low speed until combined. Add dried cranberries and stir just until mixed in.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide dough in half. Pat 1/2 the dough into a log shape by hand on the parchment paper. Repeat with other half of dough. I made two logs that were about 1" thick by 2.5" wide. They fit side by side on one parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake at 3500 for 30 minutes. The logs will have slightly risen and be firm. Slide parchment paper onto cooling rack and let logs cool about 20-30 minutes or as long as you need them to.
Place a cookie log onto a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut diagonal slices about 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Lay slices on another parchment paper lined cookie sheet. I ended up with 16 slices plus the ends total. Bake at 3500 for 13 more minutes. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Cool completely before dipping.
When ready to dip the biscotti, pour half a bag of Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chunks (or your choice of dark morsels or ricemilk bars) into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir. Continue to microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring after each, until all chocolate is melted.
Choose whether you want to dip the tops, bottoms, sides, or ends of the biscotti. Dip the chosen side of each biscotti into the melted chocolate, then lay on cookie sheet to set. Once chocolate is completely dry, you can package these for gifting or mailing. Otherwise, these can sit out at room temperature and be enjoyed for up to 2 weeks. *Note, these loose some of their crunch if you store in an airtight container, so I prefer to leave them out on a plate, or placed in a gift container that isn't air tight.
Recipe Notes
This sponsored post was created through my partnership with Enjoy Life Foods. As always, all opinions are my own. Collaborating with brands I love allows me to keep bringing you new and varied recipes! Thanks for your support!
Julia Librone says
Hi,, I made this recipe today but had to add several tlbs. of water to make the dough come together. I haven’t done the second bake yet, I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Sarah Vaughn says
I had the same problem! Something seems to be missing from this recipe.
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
I’m sorry for that! Can you tell me what flour blend you used? If it has any coconut flour in it, that would explain it. If not, then I will test this again for sure to make sure I didn’t make a mistake in recording in my notes or in typing up the recipe.
Noelle Gaburon says
Did anyone retest this recipe with the below suggestion of butter or olive oil (1/2 cup)?
Deanna says
I added 6tablespoons melted butter. They are in the oven now. Consistency of the dough seemed good. Will see how they turned out. (Using King Arthur gf flour.)
Tina says
There has to be an oil/butter element missing in your recipe! I just mixed in the egg mixture to the flour bowl & have a crumb mixture . . . not a dough to form into a log shape. ?? Please help.
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
I’m really sorry! I have checked my notes and this is how I made it but I promise to make it again as soon as I can. Can you tell me what flour blend you used? That will help me as I’m trying to troubleshoot!
Debra B Schaeffer says
The major difference between this recipe and my go-to biscotti recipe with regular flour is that there’s no fat in this one. That’s probably the problem.
Juanita says
We had a
sprinkle for our pastor’s wife with a tea last week. Everything was GF. It was wonderful. Thank-you for the wonderful recipe. I made scones and didn’t try it at the tea but there were biscotti put on my plate as I took it home. Both my husband and I devoured the biscotti and I hope to give some away at Christmas time.Again thanks you for your research and a wonderful recipe!
Juanita
Chris says
Looks to me as though it might be missing butter or olive oil. Perhaps that is why there is not enough Liquid in the dough. I have a similar recipe that requires 1/2 cup of cold pressed olive oil. Improves the texture and adds lots of flavour.
jules says
Just made this recipe and it was really yummy! The almond flavor was HUGE! The dough came together well and almost seemed like it had almond butter in it, it was so tacky. This made for easy work of forming a log.
I actually rolled it in a bit more gfJules Flour to make it easier to shape into a log and only baked one log, not two. It was 4 x 9 1/2 inches.
I will say that the final product was a bit more powdery tasting than I’m used to with biscotti, but there’s nothing wrong about that, just different. Tomorrow I’ll dip them in melted chocolate and look forward to enjoying them with some coffee!
Oh, I did use gfJules Flour in the recipe which already contains xanthan gum.
Thanks for the recipe, Michelle!
~jules
Bette says
I made this recipe with Bobs Gluten Free Baking mix and eliminated the baking powder since there is some in the mix. Used my standing mixer to blend and it came out very nicely. Crunchy with good flavor. My husband said he would like it even more with less cinnamon but I think that’s personal preference.
Tom says
I used KA gf baking mix and had to add water to make them come together. Perhaps using a mixer rather than a spoon would help. But while they felt solid after the first bake, they were a little too moist inside and so there was either crumbling or goo when I tried to slice them before the second bake. I now have a bunch of crumbs I can use for other recipes. But I won’t try these again.
Caroline says
I used the Namaste brand flour. Dough seemed very dry, but I was able to squeeze it into a dough by kneading it with my hands.
Karen M Vaughn says
I agree that some amount of fat is necessary. I used 6tbsp butter, softened, and it worked well.
I used half almond flour, half Namaste GF flour, 1)4 tsp xanthan as well.
Anne says
I haven’t made these yet – about to – but wanted to mention that the classic biscotti recipes my partner used to make and sell in cafes didn’t have any fat or oil. They did have rather more egg than this recipe – to preserve the same flour to egg ratio as the ones in our family, this recipe would need 2.5 whole eggs and 2.5 yolks instead of 3 whole eggs only. Makes a very crunchy and long-lasting biscuit… and the additional yolks add fat as well as some liquid.