Thursday, November 1, 2012

Banana Bread Biscotti

Ever had one of those recipes that turns out so unbearably, horribly, awfully wrong that you cannot for the life of you think of a way to save it?


Yeah. Me too.

That is what resulted of the Banana Bread recipe in Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food that I tried to make on the weekend. I was heartbroken, to say the least - I bought the soy yogurt recommended, used the almond milk and Earth Balance... the only thing I changed was to add a tiny pinch of cinnamon and leave out the pecans. But, as you can see, the poor thing was a gloopy mess inside even after almost twice the oven time. That, dear readers, has never happened to me with banana bread, even gluten free ones. 

But there's a first time for everything - and this was mine. Normally, any normal-thinking soul would bin the nasty result and chalk it up to experience. I was going to do that, but something inside me kept nagging at the fact that I had spent extra money on the soy yogurt (which I can't stand the taste of on its own) and that the thing did smell delicious even if it looked like Frankenstein's monster. Re-baking the loaf whole was obviously not going to work, since extending the baking time during the initial process did diddly-squat. But I could still double bake it... biscotti style.

I've fallen into the habit of "biscotti-baking" items that, after cooling, were a little soft, cakey, gummy or (in this case) goopy for my taste. The last one I mentioned was the Lighter Granola Cookies, but 
the same technique is great for re-crisping cookies and even granola and cold cereal that was stored in a not-quite airtight bag!

With the banana "bread", I made more or less "true" looking biscotti by cutting the loaf into tiny fingers. A light sprinkle of raw sugar added a little colour and crunch, and by the time they came out of the oven they were crispy, dark brown, smelling to high heaven of goodness and screaming "eat me"! So if you have a loaf of banana bread that didn't quite bake all the way through, or just have some leftovers that are going stale? Slice them up and make Christmas cookies!


We're halfway through the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats! Can you believe it? I know my freezer is chock full of good stuff already, and I can't wait to see the looks of my giftees faces!










Banana Bread Biscotti
Inspired by Baking Bites
Makes about 24 pieces
3/4 loaf of banana bread (use your favourite recipe, NI is based on a PPK recipe)
1 tsp coarse raw sugar
  1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment or silicone.
  2. Slice the loaf into "sticks" (I cut slices, then cut those in half width-wise) and place on the sheet.
  3. Sprinkle evenly with sugar.
  4. Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on how moist the banana bread was originally. Cool on the sheets.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 76.5
Total Fat: 1.4 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.0 mg
Total Carbs: 15.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.0 g
Protein: 1.0 g

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