Vegan Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti
Vegan chocolate pistachio biscotti - these easy vegan biscotti cookies are delicious, chocolaty, easy to make and perfect for dunking! They keep really well so are perfect for giving as handmade gifts.
Servings 20 biscotti
Ingredients
- 180 g (¾ cup + 2 Tbsp) caster (superfine) sugar
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) unsweetened soy milk (other non-dairy milks will work but soy really is best) room temperature
- 2 Tbsp neutral oil (I use olive) or melted refined coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 230 g (1 + ¾ cups + 2 Tbsp) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 50 g (⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp) cacao or cocoa powder (I use cacao)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 80 g roughly chopped pistachios
- 80 g dark chocolate chips*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, soy milk, oil and vanilla extract until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cacao or cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until it forms a rough dough then add the pistachios and chocolate chips and mix until they are well distributed. Use your hands to bring it together into a ball.
- Divide the dough into two even pieces. On a lightly floured surface, shape each one into a log about 5cm (2in) wide. Place them well spaced apart on the baking sheet and use your hands to slightly flatten them and square off the edges for perfectly shaped biscotti.
- Bake the logs for 35 minutes until they are firm to the touch.
- Remove the logs from the oven and set aside to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 160°C/140°C fan/325°F/gas mark 3.
- Once the logs have cooled, use a very sharp serrated knife to cut them into diagonal slices about 1 to 1 ½ cm wide. Don't put too much pressure on the knife, try and gently saw through.
- Lay the slices cut side down on the baking sheet and return them to the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the slices over and bake for another 10 minutes. They should look mostly dry though they will firm up more as they cool. .
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. If you want really crisp biscotti you can leave them in the oven for a further 5 minutes
- Once cool store in an airtight container.
Notes
- *Some brands of dark chocolate chips are vegan friendly but not all are so do check the packet to make sure.
- For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
- This recipe will work with any non-dairy milk (except probably coconut), but unsweetened soy milk really is best as it has the highest protein content and therefore most closely mimics the egg.
- If you are using coconut oil, make sure that the milk is room temperature, or even lukewarm, otherwise you risk the coconut oil re-solidifying.
- Don't try slicing the logs before the 20 minutes cooling time is up otherwise they will be hard to slice and crumbly.
- Biscotti are tricky to slice neatly, vegan or otherwise, and you will get some crumbles no matter what you do. You need to make sure that you use an incredibly sharp serrated knife, preferably with a narrow blade, and don’t put too much pressure on the biscotti – try and gently ‘saw’ through the crust. If you are struggling to slice them you can try spraying the crust with a bit of water and leaving it for a minute before slicing them, this should help to soften the crust a little so it is easier to cut through.
- If you want softer biscuits you can reduce the second bake time a little; and if you want really super crunchy ones you can increase it a bit.
- Try adding the finely grated zest of an orange to the wet ingredients for a chocolate orange twist.
- The biscotti will keep for several months provided they are stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.