You'd never know that these crunchy biscotti are gluten-free! With a crunchy, buttery crumb and candied hazelnuts all dipped in chocolate, they make a classy coffee break (or anytime!) treat. If gluten isn't an issue for you, make these using the base recipe for my wheat flour biscotti.
Prep Time: 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 45 minutesminutes
Cooling time: 2 hourshours
Total: 3 hourshours15 minutesminutes
Servings: 30cookies
Ingredients
Hazelnuts:
3/4cup(95 g) toasted hazelnuts (or almonds, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, or other nuts), plus a handful of finely chopped hazelnuts for sprinkling
1teaspoonunsalted butter
3tablespoons(37 g) granulated sugar
1teaspooncorn syrup, golden syrup, or honey
Biscotti:
8tablespoonsunsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
8ounces(225 g) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, for dipping
Instructions
Make the hazelnuts:
In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, add enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan. Add the sugar to the center of the pot, moisten it evenly with the water, and wash any crystals that get on the sides of the pan down into the water. Add the syrup or honey and cover the pot with a lid. Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil until the sugar has dissolved.
Have the butter and nuts measured and at the ready, and have a sheet of parchment paper or a baking sheet ready on which to dump the candied nuts.
Remove the lid from the pot, and, without stirring, boil the syrup until it reaches an amber caramel. (If the mixture begins to crystallize, you can save it by adding more water and beginning the caramelization process again.) Remove the pot from the heat and immediately swirl in the butter, then add the nuts and stir quickly to coat with a heat-proof silicone spatula.
Dump and scrape the nuts out onto the parchment, and quickly separate the pieces with the spatula as much as possible. When the nuts have cooled, chop them coarsely. Bigger chunks of hazelnut look pretty, but small pieces make the biscotti easier to cut, so choose your own adventure!
Make the biscotti:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the eggs with 3/4 cup of sugar on medium-high until thick, foamy, and lightened in color, about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, sift together the oat flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
With the mixer on low, add the melted and cooled butter and vanilla. Stir until combined. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Increase the mixer to medium and beat for about 20 seconds; this helps activate the sticky qualities of the flour which will help the dough hold together.
With the mixer on low, stir in the candied chopped hazelnuts. Remove the bowl and give the dough a final fold with a flexible spatula, scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure the dough is well-combined and the hazelnuts evenly dispersed.
Cover and chill the dough until firm enough to handle, 1-2 hours. You can chill the dough for up to 2 days at this point, you’ll just want to let it soften a bit before proceeding with the next steps.
Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350ºLine 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a log that’s about 12 inches long, 1 inch high and 2 inches wide. Place longways on the baking sheet (or sheetspaced at least 3 – 4 inches apart. (You can use one sheet for both, but you will need both sheets for the cut cookies.)
Bake the logs until golden, firm, and cooked through, 25-30 minutes, rotating once or twice. Let the logs cool completely. (At this point, you can wrap and freeze the logs to be baked later if you like.)
Use a wide metal spatula to remove a log to a cutting board. With a large, sharp chef’s knife, cut the log on a steep diagonal into ½ - ¾-inch thick slices. Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets and repeat with the other log.
Bake the cookies a second time until dried and golden, about 12-17 minutes, flipping the cookies over halfway through if they are browning more on the underside. Let cool completely.
Temper the chocolate:
Tempering will prevent the chocolate from forming streaks after it cools. Bring 2 inches of water in a saucepan to a boil. Place the chocolate in a heatproof metal bowl. Remove the pot from the heat and place the bowl over the pot. Stir frequently until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the bowl from the pot and set it aside while you do other things, stirring the chocolate vigorously every few minutes. The chocolate will cool to room temperature and the stirring keeps it in emulsion. This will take about 30-60 minutes depending on how warm your kitchen is. Note that this method doesn’t work well in high humidity.
To test the chocolate, smear a little on a piece of parchment paper. It should look matte and mostly set within a minute or two. If the chocolate becomes too firm to work with, place the bowl over the pot of steamy water for a few seconds, stirring constantly, until the chocolate has just barely softened.
Dip the biscotti in the tempered chocolate and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.
These biscotti keep well, in an airtight container, for up to 1 week if they last that long.
Notes
To simplify this recipe:You can skip the candied nut step and use toasted, chopped hazelnuts, almonds, or the nuts or seeds of your choice instead. Decrease the sweet rice flour by 2 tablespoons and proceed with the recipe. You can skip the step of tempering the chocolate or use another tempering method if you prefer. Chocolate that hasn't been tempered will likely form streaks when it hardens but it will still taste delicious. Make-Ahead Options:Biscotti take several steps that can be broken up over time. You can make the dough up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate until ready to use, or freeze to bake in the future. If chilled for more than 2 hours, you'll need to soften the dough at room temperature until soft enough to shape, 15-30 minutes. If frozen, defrost before using. The baked logs can be wrapped and refrigerated for several days or frozen before slicing and baking. Baked, undipped biscotti cookies can be frozen for up to 1 month. Refresh in the oven until crispy before using. Biscotti Troubleshooting:Biscotti, like all cookie recipes, are sensitive to slight changes in measurement. Use the weight measurements listed here for the most accurate results. If measuring by volume, use the dip and sweet (aka scoop and swoop) method: dip a dry measuring cup or spoon into the flour or starch and use a small offset spatula or the back of a knife to sweep away the excess flour flush with the cup or spoon.If your biscotti logs spread too much during baking, try adding an extra tablespoon or two of either flour next time. If the biscotti don't spread enough and the cookies feel dense or dry, decrease the flour by the same amount next time. If the biscotti logs are difficult to cut or fall apart when cut, be sure to let them cool to room temperature in their middles before slicing. For extra sturdy logs, wrap and chill the logs for several hours or overnight. Chopping the nuts into smaller pieces will also make the logs easier to cut.