Double Chocolate Espresso Biscotti

NEXT DAY POST BAKING: These are even better today. They got crisper and the chocolatey flavor is intensified. Now, I must hide them from myself before I eat the entire batch:).

To dunk or not to dunk? When I was a kid, heaven was a sleeve of Chocolate Chip cookies and a glass of milk. The trick was to dunk just enough to wet the cookie but not let it fall apart before it hit your mouth. If it fell apart before it hit your mouth, it wasn't a good dunk.

Now that I'm all grown up (well, sort of), my dunking cookie of choice is a Chocolate Biscotti. There's something about submerging it for just a wee split second into a cup of coffee or hot tea and then letting the warm, slightly soft cookie melt in your mouth. You all know just what I'm talking about, right?

By the way, those of you who are regular readers of my blog might notice that I'm experimenting quite a lot with using coconut sugar and sucanat as the sweeteners, and coconut oil and vegetable shortening as the fat in my baked goods. Please see the note at the end of the recipe for other options.

This isn't any ordinary Chocolate Biscotti. Uh uh. This has two extra features - double chocolate AND espresso. This is dunking heaven.

So tell me, do you dunk or not?

Double Chocolate Espresso Biscotti

Dry Ingredients:
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup teff flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp ground espresso powder, optional and/or use decaf espresso powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp xanthan gum

Wet ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup sucanat
1/3 cup cashew butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup egg replacer whisked with 1/3 cup hot water
2 tbsp almond milk (or other alternative milk)

Extra:
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients into a medium-sized mixing bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the coconut oil, shortening, coconut sugar, and sucanat with an electric hand mixer (or use a stand mixer) until blended and fluffy. Add in the cashew butter and vanilla extract, beating until well-mixed. Add in the egg replacer mixture and almond milk until well-mixed. Using a wooden spoon, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to form a soft dough. It will be fairly dense. Mix the chocolate chips into the dough until uniformly blended.

Pour the dough onto your prepared parchment paper lined baking sheet and then press into two semi-flat logs, using the palm of your hand to flatten each log to your desired thickness. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Use two spatulas, one on the end of each log, to remove from the baking pan. Gingerly place on a wire cooling rack for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, decrease the oven to 300 degrees. After the logs have cooled, place on a cutting board and use a serrated knife to cut each one diagonally into approximately 24 biscotti. Lay each biscotti on its side on the baking sheet, and bake again for another 10 minutes, flipping the biscotti after 5 minutes (use fingers or tongs). Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the baking pan for 15 minutes, then carefully remove to the wire cooling rack.

NOTE: Upon slicing the logs into individual biscotti, some of the biscotti remained intact, some broke into smaller pieces. While the broken pieces didn’t make the picture cut, they were none-the-less delicious and imminently dunkable.

NOTE: If you don't have the six different flours listed in this recipe, feel free to substitute your gluten free flours or gluten free mix of choice. If your mix contains xanthan gum, eliminate the xanthan gum in the recipe. The 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup vegetable shortening can be replaced with 1/2 cup vegetable oil. As well, the 1/3 cup of coconut sugar and 1/3 cup cup of sucanat can be replaced with 2/3 cup of white sugar.

Click here for printable recipe
This recipe was submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free. Go there for lots more delicious gluten free recipes!