I spied this recipe on one of my favorite gluten free recipe blogs this morning and decided they were an absolute NEED to make it through the snow day. Who can argue with a legit need, right?

It was my first time making biscotti because I always imagined they took ages to make. Or rather bake, as I knew you had to bake them twice. But it really took very little effort. These will be a regular in my kitchen for sure!

You should be able to make them just fine with normal, non gluten free flour, though I have not personally tried it. I am writing down the recipe as I did make two small changes to the original.

They taste amazing! Very lightly sweet. Perfection with a cup of Kona coffee, compliments of my sweetest friend Kara who just spent two weeks in paradise and thought that was the same as bringing me on her family trip. And it kind of was as I was totally not expecting it. But geeze Kara, I'm bendy and totally could have fit in your suitcase. But I digress. These little nibbles are awesome with a cup-o-joe on a cold, snowy day.




Starbucks-like Vanilla Almond Biscotti

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 cups flour (I used Better Batter gluten free flour blend)
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp kosher salt
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup raw almonds, finely chopped (mine were salted because that's what I had on hand. I whizzed them in the food processor to get them chopped up.)
* 2 large eggs
* 2 tbls melted butter
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 tsp almond extract

Directions:

* Pre-heat oven to 350.
* Mix together all ingredients in large bowl. Dough will be thick and a bit tacky. You might need to use your hands to make sure everything is fully incorporated.
* Line baking sheet with a Silpat mat or parchment paper.
* Dump dough onto lined baking sheet and mold into a large, flat log. Mine was about 1" thick and 3" wide. And then however long you can get it- mine was maybe 9" long.




* Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
* Remove from oven and let cool on cooking sheet for about 10 minutes or until it is cool enough to touch.
* Lower oven to 300.
* Cut on a slight bias (or however you feel like cutting it) to create about a dozen cookies. Lay each slice on a cut side down. Don't worry about them being close together as they are not going to puff up or expand at this point.
* Bake at 300 for 10 minutes. Then flip each piece over to the other side. Bake 10 or so minutes more, depending on desired crunchiness.
* Enjoy warm or cooled and dunked into a cup of coffee.





** My addition was the butter and an extra tsp of almond extract. The butter makes the cookies a little less crunchy (though still rather crunchy and easy to dunk) but I like the texture and flavor it offers. Use the original recipe (what you see above minus the butter) if you are looking for a harder cookie.