Gluten-Free Quinoa Flour Chocolate Biscotti

Biscotti is one of my mom’s favorite cookies. Actually, probably a favorite of my whole family as it is often requested, especially during the holidays. Now that I am doing more gluten-free cooking, biscotti has been on my gluten-free baking list.

I saw some great-looking recipes of gluten-free baked goods using quinoa flour from Camilla Saulsbury’s blog: enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com. All of them look so good that I may try them all. Yesterday I finally got some quinoa flour and today I made a chocolate version of quinoa biscotti adapted from her recipe found here: Quinoa Flour Biscotti (Gluten Free).

Camilla Saulsbury has been a role model of mine for healthy cooking and baking. She has many cookbooks and has won many awards for her recipes. When I first saw her win so many baking competitions on Food Network, I was in awe. I found her blog and it has been a great resource for me. Thank you Camilla!

These biscotti are great to satisfy your baked-good fix when you are watching what you eat because they are made with quinoa–a superfood! So it will make you feel good and not heavy like baked goods can. 🙂

The dough will be a bit crumbly–don’t worry that’s how it is supposed to be. It smells really good, like a brownie. Divide into 2 and place directly on a lined baking sheet.

Shape into logs with damp hands–press the dough well! This dough tasted good raw. That’s right, I taste the raw cookie dough that I make. Haven’t you done that? Of course, I wouldn’t eat too much raw cookie dough though.

Quinoa Flour Chocolate Biscotti

adapted from Enlightened Cooking
Makes ~3 dozen biscotti

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/4 cups quinoa flour, toasted (grind your own in coffee grinder using uncooked quinoa, or use store-bought like I did, Ancient Harvest brand)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (if you are on a health kick, you can sub raw organic cocoa powder)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup your favorite cooking oil (safflower, grape seed, coconut, etc.) or 1/3 cup melted butter (I was feeling primal today so I used melted butter, grass-fed is preferable)
• 3/4 cup evaporated cane juice, sucanat, organic granulated sugar, or coconut palm sugar (I like my baked goods a little less sweet so I used 1/2 cup and it was the right sweetness for me, plus I am a fan of intense chocolate flavor)
• 2 large eggs (or 2 tablespoons ground flax mixed with 1/3 cup water)
• 2 tsp gluten free vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp gluten free almond extract (optional), I didn’t use this today because I didn’t have any and it was still good
• 3/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped (raw walnuts or toasted-your preference)
• 1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips, the mini size works better in this recipe, optional (or for something different and anti-oxidant-rich you can use raw organic cacao nibs)

1. Place the oven rack in middle of the oven. Preheat your oven to 300°F.
2. In a small mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
3. For your wet mixture, in a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil/melted butter, sugar, and vanilla.
4. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. I like to add the dry ingredients a third at a time, combine, then add another third, etc. After that, mix in the chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips/cacao nibs until a dough forms. I didn’t use the chocolate chips/cacao nibs today.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Divide the dough in half and place each dough portion on the lined baking sheet. With wet hands, form each dough portion into 12 inch long and 2 inch wide rectangles. Bake for ~25 minutes or until slightly firm to the touch.
6. Remove the biscotti loaves from the oven and cool at least 15 minutes. One hour would be better. Once cool, use a serrated bread knife, cutting diagonally into 1/2 inch-3/4 inch thick slices.
7. Place the biscotti back onto the baking sheet cut side down. Bake 12-14 minutes until biscotti have become dry and feel firm. Rotate the pan half-way into the baking time. When done, transfer the biscotti on a wire rack to cool down. They will continue to firm up and get crisp while cooling down.

• Notes:
  • Store biscotti in an airtight container for up to 1 week or wrap it well and freeze for up to 1 month
  • If you are making this for a special occasion or for some decadence, half-dip the biscotti in melted chocolate and cool until chocolate hardens.
  • Toasting your quinoa flour before you use it takes away some bitterness in the flour and gives a lovely flavor.

You can’t really tell that these biscotti are made with quinoa flour. They taste pretty much like the gluten-containing versions. Had a couple of them this afternoon with oolong tea and it was divine! If you are a fan of biscotti, this is a great recipe to have under your belt 😀

Related articles

• Quinoa Soda Bread (foodflavorfascination.wordpress.com)
• Gluten-Free Dishes Become a Lot More Tempting (nytimes.com)
• Chocolate Almond Fig Biscotti (tastyeatsathome.com)