Healthy Snack Biscotti

Part of me wants to continue on with the indulgent dessert and baked goods recipes, but I know a lot of people are trying to eat better right now. So for the month of January, I will be making and posting healthier recipes. But that's where it ends, because Valentine's Day will be coming up. ;)

I haven't shared any of my new year's resolutions with you yet. I've really thought about some of them this past week. So here are some personal goals of mine for 2010:

-Read more books!
-Work on more recipe contests.
-Work on my blog, blog photography and increase traffic.
-Go fly fishing with Eric!
-Make some life changes.
-I have some business venture ideas. Ooohh...
-Work on creating baking segments for Sugar Plum.
-Run a race. A short one... ha. I've never even considered this before. Or just run and workout more.

What's one of your resolutions?

I consider myself a pretty healthy person... I work out every day, and I eat a balanced diet, but I do have a weakness for desserts (obviously). I absolutely love them. I'm one of those people that have to have dessert every day! I try to keep the portions small and not overindulge. A lot of you wonder if I eat all of the desserts I make, or what happens to them. Well, I will taste everything I make, but I really can't be wolfing down a whole cake or a batch of cookies every week, so I usually give the dessert away, or bring them into work, etc. Sometimes I will freeze things for later consumption. Sadly I end up throwing away a lot of treats.

This is one cookie I don't mind hanging on to a while: Healthy Snack Biscotti. They last for a week or two, and I don't feel guilty about eating them. They're good for a quick snack, a pre-workout energy boost, or a late night treat.



White whole wheat flour is mixed with spices, oats, Grape Nuts, dried cranberries, almonds and dark chocolate chips. The dry ingredients are mixed into a combination of pumpkin, egg, molasses and honey, until a stiff dough is formed. The dough is formed into a log, baked, sliced, and baked again. No added fat or sugar! How do you like that?

Healthy Snack Biscotti (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup Grape Nuts
3/4 teaspoon ground sea salt
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds (or pecans, walnuts), toasted
1/2 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 large egg
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg; whisk in oats, Grape Nuts and salt until combined. Whisk in cranberries, almonds and chocolate chips until combined.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together egg, pumpkin, molasses and honey until combined. Stir in dry ingredients until well combined. Divide dough and shape into two (8 x 3–inch) logs on cookie sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes; cool 5 minutes before transferring logs to wire racks to cool an additional 20 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut rolls diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices. Place, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees; bake 10 minutes. Turn cookies over; bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire racks.