Christmas Vegan Biscotti with Cardamom and Anise
Looking for a flavor-bomb of Christmas flavors, in a crunchy, dippable format? Try these Christmas vegan biscotti, flavored with cardamom and anise, and studded with dried red cranberries, green pistachios, and rich white hazelnuts. Since they’re biscotti, they don’t easily stale and are perfect for giving as a gift. They’re made with a little bit of teff flour to help add a little nuttiness and increased crunch, and the anise, cardamom, hazelnuts, pistachios, and cranberries make each bite that perfect bit of holiday season!
Skip the Post, Jump to the Recipe!
2020 is the Year for Holiday Baking!
I’m not the first to say 2020 has been a terrible year, but unoriginality won’t stop me from saying it- 2020 has pretty much sucked. All sorts of plans had to be broken and altered. A whole lot of time spent at home, and even though I work from home it was surprisingly hard to get work done. But I think the key to moving forward is to focus on the positive, and I will say 2020 has been a good year for baking. There’s something exciting, and yet super calming about mixing together a batter, kneading dough, creating flavors, sticking it in an oven and creating something beautiful. Plus, then you get to see how many cookies you can eat when there’s nothing else to distract you from eating cookies.
And there’s no better time to bake than December- it’s cold, and turning on the oven makes the house a little cozier. Smells like cardamom, molasses, spruce, and cinnamon float through the air, and it’s not January yet so any thoughts of trying to be healthier or dieting still have a month to surface. Plus Christmas cookies are the perfect little gift to show someone you care. And since you really shouldn’t be going out this winter, and there’s only so much online shopping you can do, might as well try a few handmade gifts this year!
Looking for Sweet Treats? Try one of these!
- The Ultimate Vegan Christmas Cookie- Vegan Spruce Sugar Cookies
- Cardamom Hazelnut Vegan Snowball Cookies
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Ganache Truffles
- Vegan Santa Lucia Buns with Saffron and Cardamom
- Stout, Pecan and Ginger Bread (Vegan)
- Molasses, Ginger and Oat Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Green Tea Vegan Matcha Truffles (AKA Grinch Truffles)
Making Christmas Vegan Biscotti
Biscotti mean “twice baked” in Italian, and that’s the key to making these delightful Christmas biscotti. Start by making your dough- mix the dry and wet ingredients separately before incorporating them together. Fold the nuts and fruit in once the dough has come together, and then shape your cookies. For the first bake, the biscotti are shaped like a fairly flat loaf of bread. Once it’s cooked, take it from the oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes before cutting them. A really sharp, large knife with decisive cuts works best- I tried a serrated one at first, but that will make your cookies crumble. The second bake toasts and dries the biscotti- once they’ve been removed from the oven and cooled down they will get nice and crunchy. Store the biscotti in an airtight container, to keep they from getting soggy. Eat them by dipping into coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or whatever beverage you like.
Christmas Vegan Biscotti with Cardamom and Anise
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup teff flour
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. dried cardamom
- ½ tsp. fine salt
- 2/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup vegan butter, melted
- 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 tsp. anise extract
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ cup shelled pistachios
- ¼ cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking tray with a silicone mat and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl combine the all-purpose flour, teff flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt. Whisk to combine. In a second bowl, add the sugar, vegan butter, apple sauce, and the anise and vanilla extracts. Combine the wet with the dry ingredients, and stir to make a smooth, shiny dough. Add the pistachios, hazelnuts and cranberries, and fold until well incorporated.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts, and form them into long rectangles on your silicone mat, roughly 8 inches long, by 4 inches wide and a ½ inch thick. Make sure there is some space between them as they will spread. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F (160°C).
- Use a nice and sharp knife to slice the two rectangles into even slices, about 1 inch thick- you should end up with roughly 16 cookies. Place them standing upright back on the baking sheet for another 30 minutes or so to dry them out. Let them cool fully on a cooling rack before eating or storing in an air-tight container.
Like this Recipe? Pin it!
You forgot to add the applesauce in directions
Fixed, thanks!