Sugar Free Biscotti With Dried Fruit And Nuts

I love biscotti, what can I say, but I don't love the idea of eating a cookie packed with sugar and wheat, even if it is low-fat, as most biscotti are. So, I decided it was time to come up with a sugar free biscotti recipe, even though I'm not exactly an expert baker! Experimenting in the kitchen can have all kinds of results, but I have to say, my daughter and I really loved these fruit filled oat biscotti, even if my young boys crinkled up their noses and didn't even finish the pieces I gave them. Silly boys, I guess they need some chocolate chips thrown in there, sigh.

So I will say, these biscotti are for those who have shunned the taste of processed, sugar laden, white flour baked goods and whose tastes lean in the all natural, not so sweet direction. And I won't claim to have come up with the end-all in recipes, but it certainly is good enough to share, and maybe one of you will have fun tweaking it some more? I would love to make an egg-free version so that these could be classified as vegan biscotti, any ideas? And I do wish that these were crisper, like real biscotti. These are much softer, not sure why, maybe I needed to bake them at a lower temperature, so that they would bake longer without burning, next time! And just by the way, one can make biscotti that are vegan, and if you are vegan or want to incorporate more vegan foods in your diet, check out more tips for vegan deserts and lifestyle from Vegan Liftz

Preheat the oven to 180C

Recipe makes about 18 small biscotti

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oat flour (or the flour of your choice)
• 1/2 cup oats (or oatmeal)
• 1 cup coconut
• 1/4 cup almonds (not roasted)
• 10 dates
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (no sugar added)
• 4 egg whites (hope to make a recipe that is vegan soon)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder

Preparation:

Soak the dates in warm water, such that they become very soft, Chop them up as small as possible. Chop almonds, roast if desired, but not really necessary as this happens in any case when you bake the slices.

Mix dry ingredients, add moist ingredients and then the fruit. Form one or two flat logs. Bake for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and slice, and then return slices to the oven to bake a second time, until browned. (Note: I actually made the oat flower by grinding oats in my coffee grinder, gotta love it!)

That is it! You can certainly make all the substitutions that you like as I do believe that this recipe is quite forgiving. And please let me know if you give this one a try!