Sugar Low Friday - Banan Pecan Biscotti

Sam is really forcing us to think creatively this month. For Sugar High Fridays, the sweet-filled event invented by the Domestic Goddess, she's decided to set the theme "Sugar LOW Friday". Oh. Sugar low? Huh.

I leafed through my recipe box the other day, and came across one of my biscotti recipes. It calls for bananas and pecans. Hey, I had two over ripe bananas begging to be used up (and I hate eating ripe bananas, so that's never an option) and for once, I had pecans. Lots and lots of pecans.

The recipe calls for some sugar, sure, but not very much. I switched from regular white sugar to very dark muscovado sugar instead. I don't know if it has any healthy benefits - I doubt it - but it seems a bit better than the evil white stuff. This recipe is also very low fat, as most biscotti recipes are, calling for just a tablespoon of oil. I decided to add in a little bit of dark chocolate, to make it more festive. (And frankly, to make it tastier. Low fat, low sugar - hey, we're not making bread.)

It turned out awesome! Do give it a try - these keep well as long as they're kept dry and preferrably in a tight-lidded container.

Banana Pecan Biscotti
about 36 cookies

1 egg
250 g ripe, mashed banana (peeled weight! Equals about two medium bananas)
1 tbsp neutral oil
1 vanilla bean (or use vanilla extract - about a teaspoon)
250 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
75 g dark muscovado sugar
60 g chopped pecans
50 g finely chopped dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Score the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds in a large bowl. Add the oil, mix well. Add the banana and the egg, and mix. Add the sugar, salt, baking powder and flour. Mix well. Finally, add the pecans and the chocolate, and fold in. The batter will be quite sticky.

Flour your hands, and shape two flattened logs on a baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until they seem fairly dry and have a bit of color. Remove from oven, and let them cool a bit. Lower oven temperature to 120°C.

When the logs are cool enough to handle, slice them into 1 cm slices. Place, cut side down, on a baking sheet, and let dry in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip them over to their other cut side, and dry for 15 more minutes.

Tagged with: SHF # 15 + Low Sugar

Biscotti med banan och pecannötter