Hazelnut Biscotti (Vegan)

Happy Monday! It seems like it's been forever since I've posted a new recipe. I was busy in the kitchen this past week, unfortunately making a bunch of flops and the experiments that did come out well I managed to get horrible photos of (curse the sun setting so early and leaving me no natural light!). Fortunately, I have an awesome boyfriend who surprised me by building me a photo box! So between that and the Ottlite he bought me, I can take well-lit pictures day or night! Which is great because once I make something it doesn't stick around for long, I don't normally have the luxury of waiting until the next day to take the picture. I have to maintain a now or never mentality. I don't mean any of this as a complaint, I take it as a compliment that my food rarely lives to see the morning light.

Anyway, moving on. I love making biscotti. I'm not exactly sure why, I've always just found it fun. So when I was trying to come up with a Christmas gift to give my boss, I figured what better to give the ultimate coffee lover than biscotti? (I'm also giving he and his wife a bottle of my homemade vanilla extract). I decided to keep with a simple and classic biscotti. Sometimes around the holidays you get so weighed down with such strong flavors it's nice to have something that doesn't overwhelm your senses and of course, pairs perfectly with your morning coffee. For this recipe I again adapted it from A Baking Girl's recipe for her cranberry biscotti. It's just such a great basic recipe! I look forward to many more adaptations! These biscotti are deliciously crunchy and taste fantastic on their own or dipped in a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate. 

Hazelnut Biscotti

Adapted from A Baking Girl

• 3 cups whole spelt flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar (cane sugar will work as well)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon unrefined coconut oil, melted
• 3/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

Makes one dozen.
 Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a second bowl, mix the sugar, applesauce, vanilla and coconut oil. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until just combined. Fold in the hazelnuts.
 Turn the dough onto a baking sheet and form the dough into a flat log that's about 4 inches tall and 1/2 inch thick. Using a butter knife, score the lines of what will be the individual cookies (about every 1/2 inch or so). Bake for 25 minutes.
 Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Allow the dough to cool for 5 minutes then cut the cookies along the score lines and place them on their sides, cut side down. Return to oven and bake another 10 minutes until golden brown, then flip the cookies and bake another 5-10 minutes or until hard and crunchy.
 Allow to cool, then share with a friend over your favorite type of coffee.

What is your favorite holiday beverage?

I'm partial to peppermint mochas or peppermint hot chocolates, heavier on the mint and light on the chocolate.

Honey Almond Milk Latte (Gluten Free, Vegan Alternative)

Some days you wake up at 4 AM  for no reason. And once you're awake you wonder how you were ever asleep to begin with because your mind is buzzing. Sometimes when this happens you think to yourself, this would be a great time to catch up on any one of the four books I'm reading at the moment. And sometimes you have every intention of doing just that, but somehow when reaching beside your bed your hand "mistakes" your ipad for one of your books. Before you know it you are deep into the throws of reorganizing your Pintrest boards and reading blogs for two and a half hours. ....This is all completely hypothetical of course.

When one wakes up at four o'clock in the morning, coffee is of no question. That is unless it's freezing cold outside and really, since you don't have a job you shouldn't be spending money on coffee even though there are so many adorable coffee shops downtown that you can't wait to try. 

Enter the homemade latte. The best part? You can make it without an espresso machine! Even though I'm probably making my old Starbucks manager and all the Italian guys at the little cafe I used to work at cry. But when you're pinching pennies sometimes you just have to make sacrifices. Sorry guys.

Honey Almond Milk Latte

• 1 Tablespoon Instant Espresso, feel free to do more or less depending on how strong you want it. (I recommend the brand shown above, it's good as far as instant coffees go)
• 1 Tablespoon Hot Water
• 1-2 Cups of Almond Milk (basically you want enough to fill your mug, if your mug is huge, double the espresso amount)
• Honey to taste (Vegans feel free to use Maple Syrup or Agave)
• Sprinkle of Cinnamon (or any other spices you have-nutmeg, cocoa or vanilla powder would also be good)

Over medium heat warm the almond milk in a small pot until it's reached your desired temperature, if you have a thermometer aim for around 145-160 degrees. Use a whisk to quickly stir the almond milk while it's heating if you want to create some foam for your latte. Once it's warm, stir in the honey to melt it. Next, dissolve the instant espresso in hot water in the bottom of a mug. After stirring and completely dissolving the espresso slowly pour the almond milk/ honey mixture over the espresso. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and enjoy your homemade latte.

P.S.- The good news in all of this Pintrest reorganizing- You can now follow me on it! Just click here to get to my boards.

Happy Wednesday!

Love, Joy