I first realised that I could make my own biscotti after reading Meg’s recipe for her Christmas DIY series, it simply hadn’t dawned on me that it would be anything other than horrendously complicated to make. Moments before making it, I even tweeted again… just to double check that I wasn’t about to embark upon a biscuity (biscotti, gettit?) nightmare. The responses were positive, biscotti is indeed, easy to make.
Which is why I’m sharing this diet-friendly version as part of this week’s Weight Watcher’s challenge. The brief was simple: “Eggscellent Easter Treats – Rather than succumb to high ProPoint sweet treats that could derail your weight loss, why not use your knowledge of the Weight Watchers plan to whip up something plan-friendly instead?”
That’s fine. I’m still going to eat my body weight in hot cross buns… no-one can stop me, I’m sorry. Hot cross buns are my favouritest things in the whole world. You can keep your easter eggs, your Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, your roast legs of lamb, and even your simnel cake… I’m not interested. It’s all about the Hot Cross Buns. Served at room temperature with cold, cold butter. Oh god.
QUICK! BUNS OUT, BISCOTTI IN…
the cast of characters
My second favourite thing (after hot cross buns), is lemon cake. Lemon anything really… the clean flavour really tickles my taste-buds. Considering I’m going for an Easter-themed treat, my health(ier) alternative needed to pay hommage to the life-giving force otherwise known as chocolate. So here we are, White Chocolate & Lemon Biscotti courtesy of www.cookinglight.com (but somewhat modified by yours truly).
You’ll need (makes approximately 32 biscotti at 2PP-a-piece):
3/4 (150g) cup sugar
3tsp grated lemon rind
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp lemon extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 (200g) cups all-purpose flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4tsp salt
1 1/4 cups (170g) white chocolate, chopped
Cooking spray or a Silpat mat1. Preheat oven to 150° celsius and prepare your baking sheet by covering it with a silpat mat / spraying it with non-stick cooking spray (or grease and lightly dust with flour).
2. Add the first five ingredients to a large bowl and mix until well blended. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and salt and gradually add them to the sugar mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in the chocolate.
3. Turn the (wet) dough out onto the baking sheet and shape it into two (12-inch-long) rolls; pat to 2-inch width. You may need to flour your hands, it’s quite messy… just keep working the mixture into shape. These will spread quite a lot as they cook, so beware that you’ll need to allow space on the sheet for this OR use two baking sheets on different shelves.
4. Bake at 150° for 30/35 minutes. Remove the rolls from the baking sheet(s) and let them cool for 10-minutes on a wire rack.
5. Cut the rolls diagonally into 1/2″ slices. Place them, cut sides down, back onto the baking sheet and bake at 150° for 10-minutes. Turn the biscotti over and bake an additional 10-minutes on the other side. Remove them from baking sheet and allow them to cool completely on wire rack. The biscotti will harden as they cool.
a hint of lemon with chunks of white chocolate
I don’t like black coffee, this was purely for the photo. Someone needs to fix their nails.
about 1/8th of the finished quantity. We’re gonna beeescotti sick of biscotti!
What’s your favourite Easter indulgence? Will you be attempting to side-step the chocolate treats for healthier alternatives this year?
* I am a Weight Watchers blog ambassador and my links to their website are affiliated. I have received no payment for this post.
I’m on Weight Watchers too (for the second time around – a 3 month trip around America pretty much scuppered my first attempt) and I have loved reading your blog posts. I also work from home so I totally understand the struggle to exercise! I love the way that you write and it has given me inspiration to continue 🙂 Thank you!
Good luck Laura, I can completely appreciate a US trip putting a spanner in the works. I would have to lose 2-stone in advance of going if I wanted to stay on an even keel! Good luck missus!
Thank you so much for this! I had some lovely biscotti in the US but of course, it is too high in fat to have all the time. I will definitely give this a try.
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