Biscottis that will make you forget you are Celiac!

Now I never considered myself to be a baker. I would occasionally schluff out the homemade chocolate cupcakes or a good chocolate chip cookie, normally though I would just head to the store and buy a mix, which only needed very little of my attention to create. I always admired my friend Leah, who is a baking machine. I don't know anyone else of my age that gets up at 7:30 in the morning a couple days before Christmas to spend the whole day baking for parties. Now that is pure dedication to the baking world. Well now times have changed and I am forced into testing out my baking skills. I use Leah as my inspiration and think if she can do it, so can I! Gluten free baking mixes are basically non-existent in Europe, so I am forced to either follow a homemade recipe or create my own. I have been drinking a lot of tea and coffee over here, so I thought how much I would enjoy an excellent tasting biscotti. Well that led me to my first concoction. I pulled some ideas from other recipes, but highly limited with my ingredients over here, I had to use some creativeness. I was laughing to myself as I created these at 10 o'clock at night waiting for my boyfriend to get back from a hockey game. I had different bags of GF flours strewn about my tiny Italian kitchen and I was literally covered in every GF flour you could think of. At that moment I thought to myself, jeez how easy do non Celiac’s have it, they only have to use a single flour to bake with, whereas I am over here up to my knees in flours half of America probably can't pronounce! But at least our GF baking experiences are literally unforgettable in many ways! In the end the biscotti actually turned out fantastic!

Gluten Free almond chocolate biscotti
-adapted from The Gluten Free Guide to Italy

~1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
~1/2 cup potato starch
~1/4 cup tapioca flour
~1 cup sugar
~1 tsp. baking powder GF
~1 tsp. xantham gum
~3 eggs
~1/2-1 teaspoon almond extract ( depends on how almondy you like them)
*You can also use fresh slivers of almonds and then just a couple drops of almond extract
~1 teas vanilla extract GF
~3 tsp. orange juice, not concentrate

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Once ingredients are mixed roll into a rectangle shape or log shape on baking pan. Bake at 375 for 20min. Remove from oven and allow to slightly cool, about 10 minutes. Then slice the log into ½-1 inch pieces. Turn and lay pieces on their side. Place pan back into oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees for another 20-25 minutes. Biscotti should be hard in center and slightly brown.

Chocolate Coating
~1 GF chocolate bar, preferably 70% dark chocolate
~1-3 tablespoons milk

Heat a very small pot over low heat. Break chocolate into smaller pieces and place in pot. Continue to stir the chocolate as it melts, adding in tiny amounts of milk once the chocolate is almost melted. Continue stirring until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is almost boiling. However, do not boil mixture as it will burn. If mixture appears too thick, add more milk. Remove from heat and immediately dip half of one end of the biscotti into melted chocolate. Repeat with all biscotti. Allow chocolate to dry before eating.