Nut & Seed Biscotti

I saw this recipe on a fun blog that I like to frequent. I thought the idea of nuts and seeds in biscotti sounded interesting. The gal who makes these suggests cutting them quite thin to make more of a crispy cracker. But because I am not good at reading directions, I cut them like normal biscotti size. So they aren't crispy, but definitely have the texture of any other biscotti I've eaten.

These are really fun and different. Ok, why did I just say they're fun? Oh, that biscotti is so fun. That's weird. Anyways, they're good and they were really easy to make. I love all the nuts in there, which isn't going to make these low fat for those of you who are counting, but at least it's the "good" kind of fat.

Nut and Seed Biscotti

adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups mixed nuts and seeds

scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup natural cane sugar, fine grain

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 300F degrees. Rack in the middle. Lightly butter or oil a 1-pound loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, nuts and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a separate large bowl whisk together eggs and sugar. Add the flour-nut mixture to the egg mixture and stir until combined. The dough will be quite thick. Scoop into the prepared pan and press the dough into place using damp fingertips. You want to be sure everything is nice and compact, level on top, with no air bubbles hiding in there. Bake for 45-50 minutes - or until the loaf tests done. If you under-cook the loaf at this stage, it makes slicing difficult. Remove loaf from the oven, and turn the oven up to 425F.
Immediately run a sharp knife around the perimeter of the loaf, remove it from pan, and set the loaf upside down on a cutting board. Using a thin serrated knife (or the thinnest, sharpest knife you have), slice the loaf into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a baking sheet. brush tops with a bit of olive oil and bake for 3-4 minutes or until the bottoms are a touch golden and toasty. Pull them out of the oven, flip each one, and brush the other side with olive oil. Bake for another 4-5 minutes or until nice and crisp. Let cool.
Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen.

My notes: She used 1 cup of hazelnuts, 1/3 cup of light toasted walnuts, pistachios, and pumpkin seeds and 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds.

I used about 1 cup of walnuts, a little more than 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds, a little more than 1/4 cup of blanched almonds, and 1/4 cup sesame seeds. I didn't worry about it being exactly 2 cups of nuts and seeds. I used regular whole wheat flour. I used regular salt and regular sugar. I was a little confused about exactly where the 1/4 cup of evoo is supposed to go. I ended up putting just a little bit in the biscotti batter and then using the rest to brush on the biscotti during the baking, as the directions suggest. I just used nonstick cooking spray in my pan and then lined it with parchment paper.