Corn Bread Biscotti

This was the first GF biscotti I made after finding out I had celiac disease. Actually it's the first biscotti I ever made. It's funny how finding out you have some kind of dietary restriction can bring out your inner chef. Before discovering my gluten-intolerance, I never even thought about making my own biscotti. I figured it was too laborious to make the process worth it, especially since most coffee houses had an ample supply of the stuff. However, now things are much different. Go to any coffee house you know and try to find one that supplies gluten free biscotti, and if you find one, please let me know about it! It must be human nature to always want most, the things you can't have. This is especially true for people with celiac disease.

The following recipe comes from Peggy Cullen's book: Got Milk? The Cookie Book.. I know, I use her book for almost every cookie recipe, but it's only because her recipes are that good! In her book, she calls this "Thanksgiving Biscotti." Biscotti is a lot easier to make than I though it would be. Once you get this recipe down, you'll have no problem experimenting with a variety of biscotti recipes. Biscotti is simply twice-baked cookies, nothing more. You can use pretty much any pre-packaged GF Flour mixture, but I typically use the flour combination below.


The Following gluten-free flour recipe was adapted from the book The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Fast And Healthy by Bette Hagman.

Gluten Free Flour Mix

• 3 cups white rice flour
  
• 1 cup potato flour
  
• ½ cup tapioca flour
  
• 2 tsp xanthan gum
  

Corn Bread Biscotti Ingredients

1/2 cup yellow stone-ground cornmeal (check the ingredients for gluten in any form)

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour

1 cup sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling

1 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of salt

1/2 stick cold unsalted butter cut into pieces

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cups dried cranberries

Directions
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Take some aluminum foil or parchment paper and line a heavy baking sheet, or coat the baking sheet with cooking spray. 
2) Whisk up the cornmeal, GF flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add the butter and mash up until the mixture has a gritty texture. A potato masher works great for this recipe. Or is you have access to one, use a food processor and pulse the mixture.
3) Beat the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl.  Pour over the dry ingredients and mix to blend. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the mixture from the sides of the bowl. Add the cranberries and mix until the dough begins to clump.
4) Turn the dough out onto a table. Gather it together and form into a disk.  Using a knife, divide the disk into two equal parts.  Lightly flour a surface and form each piece into a 12 inch log.  Transfer the logs to the baking sheet.  Sprinkle the top with sugar.
5) Bake for 30 minutes, or until the logs begin to turn golden.  Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Leave the oven on.
6) Use spatulas to transfer the logs to a cutting board. Using a large knife, cut the logs crosswise and slightly diagonal, making 1/2 inch-thick pieces.  Transfer the pieces back to the baking sheet, arranging them cut-side up.  Bake for 12 more minutes, or until the undersides of the cookies show a little color (don't burn them!).  Take out of oven and leave on baking sheets to cool completely. 
The picture shows how I used some chocolate chips that were leftover from another cookie recipe.

*Makes about 3 dozen cookies