This Keto Biscotti recipe comes together with only a few minutes of work, is highly customizable, sugar free, low carb, and hits the spot!
Recently, I went on a wild Biscotti- making binge, for my main blog, Celebration Generation.
While the biscotti made my husband popular at work and made for some great holiday gifts, it was MADDENING to be churning them out, while low carbing myself.
So, I decided to get in on the fun, and come up with a low-carb, sugar-free version!
You know, it’s amazing how normalizing it is to be able to have a biscotti with your tea, while dieting.
It sounds such a little thing, but it goes a long way to combating the feeling that you’re on a diet, that you’re missing out, etc.
Anyway, while they’re super easy to make - the recipe is at the end of this post - there ARE a few things to go over that will make the whole process go smoothly.
And, you know, some general education type stuff, to appease the Google overlords
What are Biscotti?
Biscotti is a type of crunchy Italian cookie that’s been around for a couple hundred years (at least!).
It’s made from a loose dough that’s formed into a loaf and baked... then sliced up, arranged on a pan, and baked a second time.
This makes for a very dry, very crunchy cookie.
They’re typically served with a beverage - in North America, it’s usually coffee; in Italy, they’re usually served after dinner, with fortified wine.
Originally, biscotti was just flour, sugar, eggs and nuts - with no yeast, other leavening agents, or fat.
These days, biscotti recipes can go in different directions, with leaveners, fat, and all/or kinds of other additions added to them. (Though generally not yeast!)
For both my regular and keto biscotti, I like to make them fairly close to the traditional base ingredients - with no butter or oil added - but with the addition of baking powder and baking soda as leaveners.
Are Biscotti High Carb?
Usually, Biscotti are fairly high carb - they're mostly flour and sugar, after all!
This recipe comes out to about 2.5 net grams of carbs per biscotti, once you subtract the fiber and sugar alcohol from the total carbs.
This is assuming you make 14 biscotti, though. If you form/cut them to make more - or fewer - biscotti, that will affect the per-biscuit carb count.
Making Low Carb Biscotti
For this recipe, I went with a base of almond flour and unflavored / unsweetened whey protein powder, with a little coconut flour to round it out - both in terms of flavour and texture.
There's a little xanthan gum - a staple of gluten-free baking - to help hold it all together.
For the sugar substitute, I usually use erythritol... but lately I've been getting into using an erythritol / monkfruit blend, and I'm loving it.
Feel free to use whatever sugar substitute you like as long as it's one that is supposed to be "cup for cup" like sugar.
How do you Serve Biscotti?
As these are to mimic the traditional way- as a VERY dry, crunchy cookie - you definitely want to serve this alongside a beverage to dunk it in!
Try them with coffee, hot chocolate, tea, or hot apple cider.
Fortified wine is pretty high carb, so personally, I won’t be going TOO traditional with serving these!
Tips for Making this Keto Biscotti
Biscotti may be very easy to make in general, but there are a few things you can do to ensure it goes smoothly:
- The dough will look kind of scraggly after you mix it together; it really does benefit from a LIGHT kneading.
- Know that the dough is supposed to be a bit sticky once it’s been kneaded together. Don’t add more of any of the dry ingredients!
- While parchment paper is generally nonstick, this dough can stick to it.
If you spray the parchment in your pan before putting the dough on it, you’ll have an easier time forming the loaves.
While pan spray is best for the parchment, wet hands work better for forming the dough than oiled hands do.
How you form the loaves affects the final shape.
If you like long, narrow biscotti, aim for a relatively even thickness when forming your loaves.
If you like more of a curved top to your biscotti, form the loaf so it’s mounded up a bit more in the middle, along the length of the loaf.
Note that this recipe doesn’t rise and spread like normal biscotti recipes do, so aim for pretty close to the size and shape you want!
Know that the biscotti will get a LOT harder and drier as they cool.
Don’t expect / wait for full hardness when you take them out of the oven after the toasting - if you do, you’ll end up with burnt biscotti in the end.
Cutting technique matters. Use a very sharp, knife - a thin one, if you have it (I use my sushi knife!). Use the tip to gently break the surface, then cut down from there.
While the loaf / sliced cookies are warm, they’re really fragile - so take your time!
Once they’ve cooled down, though, no worries!
Keto Biscotti Variations
Swap the Nuts - Or Skip them Entirely!
While I used shelled pistachios for this, you can do almost whatever you like.
Most nuts are Relatively low carb, especially in the quantity used here.
Whole or chopped hazelnuts, whole or sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, and halved or chopped pecans are all great options.
You can also mix and match, using 2 types of nut in a batch!
On the other hand, you can just leave them out altogether. It’s all good!
Swap the Extract
I used almond, as that’s what I tend to be in the mood for. (Also, I had a bit bag of pistachios to use up, and I love how almond extract tastes with pistachios).
That said, you can use whatever extract you like!
Vanilla, orange... Anise extract is a traditional option... peppermint for a festive variation. Totally up to you!
Add some Zest
Adding some fresh lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit zest is a great way to add a punch of flavour, without adding a ton of carbs.
Spice
You can add warming spices to this, to make them more fall or holiday-themed. I’ll add up to 2 teaspoon of spices to the dry mix, depending on what I’m in the mood for.
A couple of ideas:
Gingerbread Keto Biscotti: 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, pinch of cloves. Also, I like to use packed Brown Swerve as the sweetener when making this one!
Chai Keto Biscotti: Add 1 tablespoon unsweetened instant tea powder, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, ¾ teaspoon cardamom, ¼ teaspoon cloves, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg.
Add some Sugar Free Chocolate
You can add ⅔ cup sugar-free mini chocolate chips to the dry mix, in place of the nuts! I like to do this two ways:
”Chocolate Chip Cookie” Keto Biscotti: Use Swerve Brown instead of a white/granulated sugar. Swap the almond extract for vanilla, and double the amount.
Mint Chocolate Chip Keto Biscotti: Use peppermint extract instead of almond, tint the dough pale green. This is easiest to do if you add the dye to the wet mix and stir it in, before adding it to the dry mix.
Alternatively, you can melt some sugar-free chocolate and dip the ends of each (fully cooled!) Biscotti in it.
Place the dipped biscotti on parchment paper to harden.
Birthday Cake Keto Biscotti
Skip the nuts, add 2 tablespoon sugar-free sprinkles to the dry mix. Use half almond extract and half vanilla extract - this will make it taste like funfetti cake!
Mini Keto Biscotti
Instead of forming the dough into one loaf, divide it into 2 loaves.
When forming them, keep them the same length as you would have, so you have 2 long skinny loaves.
These will require much less in the way of cooking time, so check for doneness at 12 minutes, and bake longer if needed.
Keep an eye on it!
Softer Biscotti
This recipe is for traditional style, VERY crunchy biscotti.
If you’d like softer biscotti: when toasting your sliced biscotti, do 5 minutes per side, rather than 15.
Sugar Topped Biscotti
You can sprinkle sugar substitute on top of the unbaked loaves, for extra crunch/texture / a pretty finish.
Be sure to pat down slightly on the sugar before baking.
Biscotti Gifting!
Biscotti makes a great gift!
Not only do they have a great shelf life - and are pretty durable! - they can look really pretty in the packages.
I like to buy long, thin clear plastic baggies, and package 1 biscotti per bag.
Some good options are 3" x 11" clear plastic bags or 2"x 10" clear plastic bags.
Then I tie it off and arrange a selection of these individually packaged biscotti in a gift bag with some tissue paper.
One nice thing about biscotti being so easy to make, is that you can make several varieties at once, and mix / match them for variety packages to gift!
I can make 4-5 batches in a morning, easily. I just make a batch, get it in the oven, and make the next batch while that’s baking.
When the first batch is done, I take it out of the oven, and put the second batch in.
While the second batch is cooking, I slice up the first batch and put it aside, then make the 3rd batch of dough.
I’ll continue this way until all of them have had the first cooking / slicing.
Then I turn the oven down and do the second bake for all of them, in batches.
How to Make Keto Biscotti
Full recipe follows at the end of this post, here is the pictorial overview:
Preheat oven to 350F, Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, spray with pan spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flours, protein powder, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar substitute, eggs, and vanilla until well combined and smooth. Pour into the bowl with the dry mixture, stir to combine.
Add pistachios, mix well to combine.
Gently knead the dough to pull it together, then form dough into a loaf on the prepared pan. This dough doesn't really rise or spread like the original flour version, so form it basically into the size / thickness you're going to want.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on the outside. Remove from oven, turn heat down to 250F.
Use a very sharp knife - carefully - Cutting on a slight diagonal, slice each loaf into ½" slices.
Arrange slices on the pans. Bake for 15 minutes, flip each piece over and bake for another 15 minutes, or until desired texture. (Note: They will harden more as they cool!)
Remove from oven, allow to fully cool. Note: I like to stand them upright, so both cut sides are drying out at the same time.
More Low Carb Dessert Recipes
Looking to indulge your sweet tooth in a way that won’t spike your blood sugar? Here are some keto recipes to try!
Carrot Cake
Cheesecake
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Truffles
Cream Cheese Mints
Creme Brulee
Fudgy Brownies
Ladyfingers
Lemon Bars
Low Carb Holiday Desserts
Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
Protein Chocolate Cookies
Raspberry Coconut Bars
Raspberry Truffle Tart
Tiramisu
Traditional Chocolate Mousse
... but wait, there's more! We have a whole Low Carb Dessert Recipe section! Check it out!
Share the Love!
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Well, the published nonsense, anyway!
Keto Biscotti
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup Almond flour
- ¼ cup Unflavoured protein powder
- ¼ cup Coconut flour
- ¾ tsp. Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Xanthan gum
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Sugar Substitute
- 2 Large eggs
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ cup Pistachios
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, spray with pan spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flours, protein powder, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar substitute, eggs, and vanilla until well combined and smooth. Pour into the bowl with the dry mixture, stir to combine.
- Add pistachios, mix well to combine.
- Gently knead the dough to pull it together, then form dough into a loaf on the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on the outside. Remove from oven, turn heat down to 250F.
- Use a very sharp knife - carefully - Cutting on a slight diagonal, slice each loaf into ½" slices.
- Arrange slices on the pans. Bake for 15 minutes, flip each piece over and bake for another 15 minutes, or until desired texture.
- Remove from oven, allow to fully cool.
My husband and i really enjoyed these! I made mine plain to try them out- but i will be getting some pistachios for the next batch. There will be a next batch! Very satisfying and very close to the texture i expect from a normal biscotti. Thanks for a great go-to for when i need something sweet with my coffee.