Air Fryer Vegan Chocolate Biscotti (rich, Dark and Perfect for an Edib

It's July 2022 (for those of you reading this in the future), and it's super hot. I have decided to make chocolate biscotti, but in a crazy twist of events, experimented with baking it in the air fryer instead of putting the oven on. And it worked!

Biscotti are a traditional Italian biscuit, also known as Cantucini, served with coffee or Vin Santo after a meal. They are twice-baked, ensuring that they are dried right out. This drying out process produces a biscuit that will keep for longer and is perfect for dipping into an espresso.

I have written at length about Biscotti in my fully loaded Biscotti post here, but I will briefly explain the process of making my air fryer vegan chocolate biscotti in the air fryer, although fundamentally it remains the same as in the oven.

• Vegan or plant-based chocolate chips
• Espresso powder. These biscotti don't taste like coffee, but it enhances the dark, rich chocolate flavour.
• Cocoa Powder. Use a good quality, dark cocoa powder.
• Plain or all purpose flour.
• Baking powder. Rather than add lift, these add air to the biscotti mixture.
• White sugar and soft brown sugar. One adds sweetness and crunch (white sugar), the other adds a gently caramel flavour.
• Vegan Yogurt. Used your favourite brand. I like Alpro plain. This replaces the egg element. If you find that your dough is really too stiff to bring together, try adding a little more yogurt.
• Almonds. If you are nut intolerant, just omit, and add chocolate chips instead. Make sure to add an extra half a cup of flour to the mix too (remember that we blended up some of the almonds to make ground almonds).
• Flavourings: almond and vanilla extract. The almond essence enhances the flavour of the nuts.

• Get several bowls ready. This dough is quick to make but requires separate mixing of wet/dry/melted chocolate. After that, it's a breeze!
• Firstly, toast your almonds. The original recipe (by Maida Heatter) uses whole almonds. I ran out of whole and so used a mixture of whole and slithered. That made for an interesting toasting job, where I had to move them constantly. The slithered almonds obviously toasting much quicker than the whole. I recommend using all whole (and buying enough in the first place!).
• To toast almonds, I simply place them in one layer on the bottom of a dry skillet or frying pan. Shameless affiliate link for my Ninja Foodi Zerostick frying pan. I have it for nearly a year now, and it is still amazing.
• Once the almonds are turning golden brown and smell fragrant and toasty, remove them to a bowl to cool off.
• In one of the large mixing bowls, sift together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder and salt, the stir in the white sugar.
• Place all of the vegan chocolate chips and half and cup each of the cooled toasted almonds and the flour/cocoa mixture. Blend until you have a powdery mixture, then add this the rest of the flour mixture with the rest of the whole, toasted almonds.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, extracts and vegan yogurt until smooth. Pour this into the dry mixture.
• Now, mix this up until you get a stiff dough.
• The dough is simple enough to make although it does get quite stiff, and requires a little elbow grease to get it all mixed. I actually gave up with my wooden spoon and just went in with my hands instead and that was much easier!
• Divide dough into two.
• Make sure to form the biscotti dough into a flat log shape, and wrap tightly in clingfilm. Chill for at least an hour, or overnight.
• When you are ready to bake your biscotti, preheat your air fryer to Bake function, 180c.
• I have a Ninja Foodi 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker, so I can just place the log of biscotti, on a sheet of tinfoil, and then straight into the basket. Bake for 15 minutes.
• Carefully remove log from the air fryer and leave to cool for another 15 minutes.
• Turn air fryer down to 150c.
• Place on a chopping board and, using a sharp knife (a cleaver works best for this job), cut quickly into slices. I find if you cut slowly, the biscotti can fall apart.
• Turn them over, cut side up, and place on tinfoil again.
• Bake on each side for 5-8 minutes. Once one side looks dry, carefully turn them over using a spatula, then bake on the other side.
• Once baked, leave to cool for a couple of minutes before popping onto a cooling rack and leaving to cool completely. They will harden up on cooling.
• You can dip the freshly baked chocolate biscotti into some melted chocolate if you like, or serve just as they are! My vegan chocolate biscotti make a fabulous gift!
• They will keep for at least a week in an airtight container.

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