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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Chocolate Banana Biscotti

Last weekend I was challenged to cutting eggs out of baking. Since I’d never really thought about taking out eggs I decided to give two of the suggestions a try in one recipe – Chocolate Banana Biscotti. These turned out 100 times better than I ever imagined! First out of the oven they have crip outsides, a warm and chewy inside, and a flavor that is sweet, but not too sweet. I could have eaten them all day, but I stopped myself after two. : )biscotti 1small

The best part is the calorie count – I sliced my logs to make 19 cookies, and with a little math I discovered that puts the average sized ones at 93.42 calories. And with the fat corners I cut, the only fat involved is what comes in the original batter, and what’s in the chocolate chips. Not a bad treat!

Chocolate Banana Biscotti

  • 1 package banana bread mix (I used Pilsbury)

  • 3 Tbs water

  • ½ banana, mashed

  • 4 oz plain, fat free yogurt

  • 2 Tbs natural applesauce

  • 2 servings of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I actually counted them so that I could do the calorie math and I used 64)

Combine all wet ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until combined. Add wet ingredients to banana bread mix and stir until mixed. Chop half of the chocolate chip pieces until slivered, then add them and the rest of the chocolate chips to the batter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper. Since I took all of the oil out of the recipe, I sprayed the foil with cooking spray until well coated for ease of removing logs. Divide dough in half and form two rectangular logs (about 4.5 inches x 8 inches) – dough will be sticky, but touchable (use wet hands if needed).

Bake logs for 30 minutes, remove from oven and cookie sheet, and allow to cool on wire racks. Once the logs are cooled cut them into ½ inch strips. Put strips back on the cookie sheet, cut side down, and bake for another 10 minutes. Flip strips to other side and bake another 10 minutes.

biscotti 2smallKim’s note: Mine were crisp on the outside with a chewy center using the method described above, but have softened even more as I’ve stored them. If you want them to be truly crispy throughout like a coffee house biscotti, I’d suggest baking the strips longer, but still doing the 10-minute flip so that the edges don’t have the chance to burn.

Happy Cooking!

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