Roasted Almond Biscotti

Sometimes baking alone is solace. It’s so much fun because the kitchen is closed, daily chores wrapped up and the entire house is fast asleep enjoying their deep slumber. And then you creep tiny footsteps into your kitchen knowing you'll venture into your little space with absolutely no snooping. It’s all your time, your space and just the you that you know. I enjoy that little 'me' time I get when I am there, putting together flour, sugar and nuts amass into a sweet smelling dough that bakes into a heavenly bite, lifting my weary moods. So what if it means sacrificing a bit on sleep, in the end it’s all rewarding.

So when my past two weekends went chock-o-block with work at office taking priority, this is exactly what I did. With deadlines to meet, I carried home quite a lot of the load, lost track of time, almost to a sense I had no time to blog or surf the net, cater to personal time and space for family which I so much love to balance. These are times when mid night baking comes handy, even if that means baking simple cookies or a quick cake that helps me vent the fatigue off the mind with some physical activity like baking that I love doing. These almond biscotti were a result of one such midnight baking attempt.

In the past few days, despite the urge to bake, I’ve not really baked much. I realize I posted a recipe for an eggless chocolate cake hardly a fortnight ago, but yet seems like ages since I baked. So these almond biscotti were the perfect excuse. Inspired again by BBC GoodFood, these biscotti were tweaked to be eggless replacing the same with milk powder and milk. The resulting biscotti is delicious dunked in tea. If you know how Indian Rusk tastes like and are missing them, then these little treats can be your answer to them.

Roasted Almond Biscotti

INGREDIENTS

70 g whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely
1 tbsp. oil (optional)
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
130g all-purpose flour
75g granulated white sugar
35 g milk powder
35 ml milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. In a small bowl lightly beat the oil, milk and vanilla extract together and set aside. In another bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, milk powder and salt. Gradually add the milk vanilla mixture and beat until a dough begins to come together. Add in the almonds and knead the dough gently. Lightly flour the surface and roll the dough into a log 15 cm long and 5 - 6 cm wide. Transfer to a baking tray and bake for 30 mins. Remove from oven and cool for 10 mins. Cut into slices 1-1.5 cm thick diagonally and arrange evenly on baking tray. Bake on each side for 10 mins or until they are golden. Remove from oven and cool.

Notes:

* Using oil is optional, but recommended since this recipe is eggless.
* Baking soda helps the dough in rising and makes up for the lack of egg.