It's been a year since I began a plant-based diet (no meat, dairy, eggs, NO animal products), but I still crave that biscotti. So, I decided to make a vegan version of it. I cannot believe how great they came out! I thought I would have to throw the batch away but it's a keeper. The only problem is that it takes more than twice the time to bake (I think I baked them for an hour the first time and a half hour the second time - I wasn't expecting to keep them in the oven so I wasn't paying attention to the time when I saw they weren't cooking as quickly). I'll post the recipe as soon as I properly time it. In the meantime, feel free to experiment if you want to make the vegan version. My friend, who LOVES my biscotti, told me he likes the vegan version better. I, actually, can't taste the difference (I did try a regular one just to compare).
For this recipe, I used unsalted Earth Balance Natural Shortening http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/product/natural-shortening/ (yes, I know, it sounds similar to what your mother used to use in the 60s and 70s). I use the Earth Balance brand of spread (it doesn't taste anything like butter, but man, it makes no difference in the biscotti). Look up the ingredients of most "spreads" and "margarine" these days and you'll see they're filled with ingredients you can't pronounce. Earth Balance contains expeller-pressed palm fruit, canola, soybean, flax and olive oil blend AND no GMOs! So, it's healthier. Heck! There are times you need to let go of the NEED to eat healthy foods every day and enjoy that "not so healthy" dessert once in a while!. I also use Ener-G Egg Replacer (http://www.ener-g.com/catalog/product/gallery/image/1600/id/223/) in place of regular eggs. With the Kitchen Aid mixer I have, it's a breeze to mix it all together. Like I wrote, though, you definitely need to bake it much longer. All in all...A delicious cookie!