As many of you know, I often look to my plant-based friends for recipes. Their recipes inspire me. I then try to add my own special twist to them, but I always give credit where credit is due. For this one, I added craisins to the mix and it made for a wonderfully sweet burst in every bite!

There are many wonderful plant-based experts out there. My favorite family is the Esselstyn family. My wife and I had a chance to experience the Esselstyn farm in upstate New York first-hand, as we celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. During our time there, we were introduced to the Plant-Strong book by Rip Esselstyn. Rip was a guest on our podcast, Lean Green DAD Radio. The book has had me cooking and experimenting with all kinds of wonderful recipes. I honestly did not know that I liked biscotti so much until I tried this recipe from Jane Esselstyn, Rip’s sister. She is full of energy and positivity and I am happy to share this recipe with you, which was of course inspired by her “Cowgirl Biscotti” recipe from the book Plant Strong. If you don’t yet own the book, I highly recommend you get out there and grab it!

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cups of raw cashews (or any nut of your choice like walnuts or almonds)
  • 2 tablespoons of water
  • 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup of cherry craisins (or even better, just plain tart cherries)
  • 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup of old-fashioned rolled oats (dry oatmeal)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda


Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Put all the ingredients into a food processor or blender. We used our Ninja food processor, which really blends things well. You want to blend for the least amount of time possible to prevent the mixture from getting too firm.
  3. After everything is nice and blended, form the mixture into a long, thick log.
  4. Place the log onto a non-stick pan and cook in the oven for 25 minutes.
  5. Remove the log from the oven and let the biscotti cool all the way down so that it is able to be handled without burning your hand.
  6. Slice the biscotti with a serrated knife into 1/2 inch slices and place them on their sides. Return them to the oven for the final baking at 300 degrees. You want to bake them for ten minutes on each side.
  7. There you have it! Plant-based biscotti for your next party! 
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