Biscotti are a must have during the holiday season.  I love them with my holiday flavored tea or lattes.  Plus they typically aren’t overwhelmingly sweet, which is a nice break from the typical Christmas cookie.

If I’m at Starbucks and I need a treat, I often turn to the biscotti to enjoy with my mocha latte (grande with skim milk please).  I love their vanilla almond flavor so when I saw a copycat recipe for it on a blog, I pinned it right away.

I got the chance to try the recipe when I was home visiting my parents.  I know my mom enjoys a good biscotti.  Plus I packaged some in a mason jar as a last minute bridal shower gift for my friend because her gift didn’t arrive in time!

I was very satisfied with the results. I always enjoy a traditional almond biscotti, but this version has a great neutral vanilla taste rather than the overt almond extract flavor; and you still get the almonds throughout.  These would be great to have on hand this season for a party or when a friend stops by for some tea!

Copycat Vanilla Almond Biscotti

Yeilds about 10-15 depending how you slice them, from Cannella Vita

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I used half a.p and half whole wheat)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped almonds
• 3 Tbs butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 egg plus 1 egg white
• 3 Tbs buttermilk
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Combine the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and about 3/4’s of the chopped almonds.
3. Cut the butter in with a pastry cutter, like you would with a biscuit or pie dough recipe.
4. In a separate bowl combine the buttermilk, egg, egg white, and
5. Combine the wet and the dry and mix to combine.  You might need to kneed it a little to get it to come together.  It will seem too dry at first, but the liquid should be enough.
6. Form a log about a foot long on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  The log will expand so you can make it pretty narrow at about 3 inches wide.  Sprinkle the left over almonds on top and pat them into the log slightly.
7. Bake log for 30-35 minutes until light golden brown.
8. Remove from oven and after it was cooled for a few minutes, slice on an angle, place slices on their side and put them back in the oven for 10 minutes at 325.  Then turn them over and bake 10 more minutes until lightly toasted.
9. You can let them dry out over night if you would like.  The nice thing about biscotti is that they will stay at room temp for quite a few days.