Fennel Almond Biscuits/Biscotti

After my last baking experiment, I wanted something good, reliable, and a little lighter. Good thing Clea always has my number:

And mine:

Fennel and almonds...

I do love licorice - anything licorice. It's true, I've even had storybook dreams of a licorice wedding, complete with licorice laces, Pernod cocktails, anise, fennel bulbs...black and white stripes, top hats...

And almonds (butter and powder) round out the root-fennel-flavor so well, while the vanilla pulls out the fennel seed's sweetness.

I modified Clea's recipe, substituting 40 grams plain non-fat yogurt for her soy milk, as well as used vanilla extract instead of vanilla-ed sugar and mixed grape seed oil with olive oil (grape seed oil doesn't break down as much as olive oil at high temperatures).

She advised popping the dough into the fridge for 30 minutes before slicing, but mine was in there for 2 hours...and was still gloopy - hence her ultra thin slices and my thick shake-your-finger chunks.


But no hard feelings. With a spot of tea in the late afternoon, or served with a small bowl of vanilla ice cream after a dinner party, these flew pretty quickly out of the cookie tin. And with scant sugar, healthy almonds, heavenly aromas, and great crunch/crumble, these biscuits/biscotti darlings have earned their place in the frequent baking rotation.


Fennel Almond Biscuits/Biscotti

150g all-purpose flour
50g almond powder
80g sugar - unrefined fair trade/organic
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp fennel seeds
1 egg
40g plain non-fat yogurt
40g blend of olive and grape seed oil

* Metric conversions got you sweating? Check out this older post...then buy yourself a little food scale.

(original recipe and here, too)
(Clea's modified recipe: she took out the pine nuts and adjusted the animal product content to zero a la biotoniquasibonnnnne)