How to Cook It: Almond-Flour Biscotti

It’s no secret that almonds are literal well being nuts. They’re usually really useful as a wholesome snack or salad topper due to their fiber, protein, heart-healthy fat, and vitamin E, notes the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The analysis on the various well being advantages of almonds has led to an explosion of merchandise created from these nuts, together with almond butter, almond milk, and almond flour.

Various flours have change into a preferred method to make baked items which are gluten-free, keto-friendly, low-carb, and diabetes-friendly. Almond flour is floor from almonds which were peeled and blanched. You’ll find it within the well being part of your grocery retailer and even make it at dwelling in your blender. You might even see the phrases “almond flour” and “almond meal” used interchangeably, although almond flour is usually made with peeled, blanched almonds whereas almond meal is made with uncooked unpeeled almonds; the primary distinction is within the grind, which is finer in a flour than a meal, in line with Bob’s Red Mill.

Almond flour can be utilized as a cup-for-cup substitute for all-purpose flour, and its delicate, barely candy and nutty taste gained’t radically have an effect on the style of most baked items. A study published in March 2022 in Food Chemistry: X discovered that cupcakes made with almond flour have been moister and have been usually most well-liked to these made with coconut flour, one other common various.

Almond flour shares rather a lot nutritionally with its supply nut. It’s naturally gluten-free and is larger in protein, fiber, and calcium and decrease in carbohydrates than all-purpose flour, in line with knowledge from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). That, and its low impression on blood sugar, has made almond flour extremely common amongst followers of a gluten-free, diabetes-friendly, or ketogenic diet.