Friends, are you ready for vegan biscotti perfection? Because that’s exactly what’s about to go down.
Let’s bake, yo.
When I imagine a dreamy, idyllic morning, it involves a hot drink of some kind, biscotti, and sitting by a window with my journal or a good book. Oh, and obviously stretchy pants and an oversized sweater are involved. That’s a given.
A reader requested I make vegan biscotti (hi, Aditi!), and I thought it was such a great idea.
In my research, I learned biscotti means “twice baked” in Italian. And, as you might’ve guessed, this crunchy cookie traditionally enjoyed with a hot beverage originates from Italy – swoon. My girl, Giada, knows what’s up.
The first biscotti is believed to have been created in Prato, Italy in the 14th century. This crunchy snack was popular among sailors because of its long shelf life. And has since become a café staple around the world.
This recipe is simple to make, requiring just 1 bowl and 10 ingredients! It’s also made with coconut oil and sweetened with organic cane sugar (sub coconut sugar if you’d like!).
If you’ve never made biscotti, the concept is very straightforward.
Make a cookie dough, shape it into two logs, bake until slightly golden brown, and cool. Then slice into small segments and bake once more. That’s it! That is, unless you want to dip these beauties into dark chocolate (and why wouldn’t you want to do that, I ask?).
I think you guys are going to LOVE these biscotti! They’re:
Crunchy
Slightly tender on the inside
Perfectly sweet
Orange-scented
Studded with toasted almonds
SO delicious
& Easy to make
These would make the perfect treat to go alongside your favorite hot beverage in the morning, or for an evening dessert. A perfect pairing would be my 5-Minute Vegan Hot Cocoa, or my 3-Ingredient Ginger Latte. Serious yum.
If you give this recipe a try, let us know what you think! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and don’t forget to take a picture and tag it @minimalistbaker on Instagram. We’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, friends!
Orange Almond Biscotti (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar (sub coconut sugar with varied results)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin purée* (acts as binder)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour*
- 1/2 cup fine cornmeal (or sub more all-purpose flour)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1/2 cup toasted almonds* (well chopped // somewhere between coarse and fine)
- 3/4 cup vegan dark chocolate (optional // chopped)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C).
- Melt coconut oil in a large mixing bowl. Add organic cane sugar and whisk thoroughly to combine.
- Add pumpkin purée and vanilla and whisk until completely combined.
- Next add flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Stir until combined, but try not to over-mix.
- Add almonds and stir once more to evenly disperse.
- Use a knife or spatula to divide the dough into two even sections (amount as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size). Then using damp hands, form the two portions into long, semi-skinny logs (see photo). Try and make them as uniform in size and shape as possible so they bake evenly.
- Bake the loaves for 25-30 minutes, or until just slightly brown on the edges. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet, then use a serrated knife to gently slice into 3/4-inch pieces. Be very gentle when slicing, especially where the almonds are as they can crumble easily. I discarded (ate) the very end pieces because they were too small and already quite brown.
- Gently turn the biscotti on their sides and return to the oven to bake for another 20 minutes, gently flipping once at the halfway point (10 minutes), to ensure even baking.
- Let cool briefly before enjoying. If dipping in chocolate, add chopped chocolate to a mixing bowl and microwave in 30 second increments until melted, or melt over a double boiler on the stovetop.
- Once the biscotti are slightly cooled, dip one half of the biscotti into the chocolate, use a spoon to spread it slightly, then scrape off the excess.
- Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet to dry. To speed setting, pop in the freezer. Otherwise, let dry at room temperature until completely set.
- Store covered at room temperature for 3-4 days (I found a large jar is ideal). Will keep well-sealed in the freezer for up to 1 month. Enjoy with hot tea, hot toddies, hot chocolate, ginger lattes, or chai lattes!
Video
Notes
*Sub up to half of the unbleached all-purpose flour with spelt or white whole-wheat flour for a healthier biscotti. However, this will make them a bit more dense and rustic in flavor.
*You can substitute an equal amount of our NEW 1:1 gluten-free flour blend for the all-purpose flour in this recipe.
*If your almonds are raw, toast in a 350 degree F (176 C) oven until golden brown, fragrant and the skins are beginning to pop – about 10-12 minutes.
*Recipe loosely adapted from Epicurious and Giada De Laurentiis.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated without chocolate.
Cathy Mahoney says
These look delicious but 1/2 cup of coconut oil sounds alot. Is there a healthier option that might work?
Hi Cathy, hmm, the coconut oil is important for making it crunchy. You could try vegan butter if you prefer? Or replacing up to half with applesauce, but they likely won’t be crunchy.
Tara says
Could I use all purpose gluten free flour for these?
Yes! See the notes section for our recommended GF flour blend :)
Zuzu says
I made these biscotti tonight and was quite pleased. I had been making them with eggs and butter and they were sublime but we are trying to return to our vegan roots. I used Bob’s Red Mill Replacer and olive oil ( berio light and neutral), unbleached organic flour and dried orange zest with organic chocolate chips. Very nice!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the biscotti. Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Karen Schwartz says
Another win from your wonderful kitchen! The pumpkin purée is a brilliant idea and I have enough of the pumpkin left for another one of my favorites from you (the enchiladas made with pumpkin sauce…but I digress). I made the biscotti exactly as the recipe is written and wouldn’t change a thing. Can’t wait to share them with my guests for an upcoming tea party. Many thanks!
We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Karen! Thanks so much for the lovely review. xo
Lisa says
I doubled the recipe because I wanted to share some with my friends and I knew that whatever I brought to share would quickly disappear so I needed to have some extras at home! I added Sweetapolita VEGAN gold star glitter after dipping the biscotti into the dark chocolate for some extra fun! Delicious! Easy to follow recipe!
Sounds lovely! Thanks so much for sharing, Lisa!
Lisa says
I made the recipe with applesauce (instead of pumpkin puree) and used 1/2 C of sugar (instead of 3/4 C). Rave reviews from the Mr.! I added some Sweetapolita (vegan) sprinkls after I dipped the biscotti in the melted dark chocolate for some extra fun!
We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Lisa. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Lisa C says
Once again, a home run. A cookie that vegans and non-vegans alike will love! You do not taste the pumpkin at all and there is just a hint of orange flavour. I followed the recipe as it was written, but had to sub the cane sugar with regular old white sugar and this worked just fine. I made these about 2 weeks ago and they are holding up fine in an airtight container in the pantry.
Amazing! We’re so glad you are enjoying them, Lisa. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Bobbi says
Delicious! Yum, thank you!
We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Bobbi. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Anna says
I love this recipe and have made it several times with great success. It’s one of my favourites.
I have someone I bake for that avoids things sweetened with anything other than dates. I’m wondering if you think it would work to sub dates in this recipe and, if so, how to go about it.
We’re so glad you enjoy this recipe, Anna! Unfortunately we think dates will make it too soggy. Unless the person you’re baking for can have granulated date sugar? Then it might work 1-1?
Amy says
I was honestly a bit skeptical of this recipe since I’m not a huge fan of things that taste coconutty. But your recipes are always really good, so I gave it a try. And it’s delicious! I only had medium ground cornmeal, but I kind of liked the extra crunchy tidbits. Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Amy! We are so glad you enjoyed them! Next time, would you mind leaving a star rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! xo
Amy says
This is definitely a five star recipe!
Whoop! Thank you for sharing, Amy! xo
Babbie VAN DYK says
Absolutely delicious! I love chocolate but this is a “sand-alone” flavor!! No chocolate needed! I added 2 drops of orange essential oil to the mix, and it gave the biscotti extra punch!!! I also use your new flour blend, and it’s delicious. No aftertaste!!! I do have a question, because I have my biscotti fall apart when I sliced it and it was more crumbs than cookies (Still super delicious–so I ate it with a spoon. Nobody was watching!!) Do I have to cool it more that 4 minutes before I cut, do I have to add anything to the mix so it doesn’t crumble? Even if it crumbles, it will be a favorite of mine! Thank you for the recipe!!!
Woohoo! Thanks so much for the great review, Babbie. It’s best to cut the biscotti while they are still quite warm and soft to prevent crumbling, they only need to cool for 1-2 minutes before slicing. Hope this helps!
Stacie says
WOW. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be making biscotti at home… and never did I think a biscotti could taste so good! I feel like a total chef after making these and can’t wait to share with friends and coworkers who will be mighty impressed. Used applesauce, since I had on hand and they came out divine – truly shocked that they are a product of my kitchen and that they are vegan, but shouldn’t be because your recipes are always 10/10. Will 100% be making these again and playing around with the shape of the dough.
Aw, yay! This makes us so happy, Stacy! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Ellen says
This looks great! I’m making a large batch of vegan pistachio tiramisu, so I plan to triple the recipe and sub in pistachios for the almonds. Do you think this recipe will scale of I triple it as is?
Yum, sounds amazing, Ellen! This one should triple well, as long as you still cook it in the same shape/size. So with a triple batch you would have 6 logs of dough. Hope that helps!
Cynthia says
I just commented on this but I have made this now 4 times in the last two weeks, using it for breakfast and snacks to give to my friends and colleagues. Absolutely RAVE reviews every time!
I’ve used mashed bananas every time and don’t think I get too much banana flavor/banana bread-iness from it.
Some flavor variations I’ve tried:
~Candied ginger (1/2c) and toasted sesame seeds (1/4c)
~Candied ginger (1/2c) and semi-sweet chocolate chips (heaping 1/4c)
~Dates (1/2c), orange zest (1 tsp), cardamom (1.5 tsp), walnuts (1/4c) (inspired by your latest energy bite recipe!)
In case this is helpful for other readers, here are some other tweaks I’ve made that didn’t really turn out:
~Replaced 1/3 of the sugar with brown sugar–I think it made the biscotti too soft and brown in the oven too quickly
~Ran out of cornmeal so replaced the remaining cornmeal with additional flour–still good, but I missed the subtle cornmeal texture and I think they turned out more crunchy than I like them.
I can’t wait to continue experimenting with flavor combos! Thank you!
AMAZING! Your modifications sound SO delicious, Cynthia! Thank you for sharing! xo
Linsey says
Made these this morning, and wow – they are delicious. I subbed eggs instead of pumpkin and accidentally used medium ground cornmeal, but they still turned out fantastic (though I don’t recommend using the medium ground cornmeal unless you like large crunch bits :) they don’t bother me, but would prefer to not have them).
The orange flavor doesn’t come through that much, and I added about 2t of zest, but the overall flavor is really great. It definitely seems like a recipe that will be really easy to modify to what I have on hand, and to play around with different flavors. Next time I think I’ll skip the almonds (or use less) and add in cranberries.
I’d never made biscotti before, but the recipe was easy to follow and they turned out perfect!
Love the idea to add cranberries, Linsey! We’re so glad you enjoyed it overall! Thank you for sharing! xo
Cynthia says
WHOA–These are FANTASTIC!
Used mashed banana instead of applesauce, and flavored with lemon zest, candied ginger, and sliced blanched almonds (use what you got, amirite). Followed the rest of your recipe as written. Holy smokes, SO good. Will be making again and again! Thank you!
Question: If I freeze them, how do you recommend defrosting? Will they still be crunchy if I just leave them on the counter? Or should I pop them in the oven again?
Hi Cynthia! Thanks so much for the lovely review, that flavor combo sounds delish! They should still be crunchy after thawing at room temperature, popping them in the oven is up to you.
Nora Collins says
Hi! Would a different neutral oil work? Such as avocado oil? I’m allergic to coconut!
Hi Nora, we think it could work, but we haven’t tested it that way. Let us know how it goes!
Maureen says
Made these for Christmas. Delicious both as a dessert and as a breakfast treat with morning coffee!
Wonderful! We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Maureen! Thank you for sharing! xo
Nikki says
Delicious! I made a couple modifications based on what I have and like:
– used applesauce instead of pumpkin
– along with vanilla extract , I added 1/2 tsp. of almond extract
– I used all purpose flour and no cornmeal
– zest from one entire orange (about 1 tablespoon)
Previously, I tried with almond flour and it spread flat- not a biscotti. But then I used regular flour and the shape is perfect!
Thank you for sharing your experience and modifications, Nikki! We’re so glad you enjoyed it! xo
Mimi says
I made these today, and they are so delicious! I followed the recipes, using all flour subbed in instead of using any cornmeal. I was surprised at how easy they were to make. I kept an eye on baking time and checked for slightly golden edges when I removed the two loaves, before cutting and baking the slices. They had the perfect flavor and crunch! The chocolate coating also added delicious flavor.
Yay! We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Mimi! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
BiscottiMonster says
Have been loving making these :)) Makes the morning cup of coffee that much cheerier, and the family likes them too! Added in chopped dried apricots last time. Am going to try a bake with dried cherries and pistachios next. Thanks for this delightful recipe!
Ooo, yum! Love those modifications! Thanks so much for the lovely review!