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Weight Watchers Recipe of the Day: Low-Fat Gingerbread Biscotti
Italian-style Gingerbread Biscotti are one of my favorite holiday treats, with all the warm spiciness of a gingerbread cookie in a delicious homemade biscotti.
They are a perfect alternative when I’m craving the flavors of gingerbread, but just don’t have the time or patience for chilling, rolling, and cutting gingerbread dough.
How Many Calories and WW Points in these Gingerbread Biscotti Cookies?
According to my calculations, each low fat biscotti has about 90 calories.
To see your WW Points for this recipe, track it in the WW App!
(You must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
4 SmartPoints (Green plan)
4 SmartPoints (Blue plan)
4 SmartPoints (Purple plan)
2 PointsPlus (Old plan)
Recipe Notes
These low-fat gingerbread biscotti are much crunchier than your typical biscotti because they’re made without butter or oil. So, it’s important to slice them no thicker than 1/2-inch, a lesson I learned the hard way!
You can control their texture depending on how long you bake them – a little less if you want a chewier biscotti, and a little longer for a hard crispy cookie.
I think these gingerbread biscotti would make a perfect holiday gift too. They’re sturdy enough to travel well and last for days, or weeks, so you can keep them on hand throughout the holiday season to share with friends.
If you’ve made these low fat Gingerbread Biscotti Cookies, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Low-Fat Gingerbread Biscotti Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-1/4 cups flour
- 1-1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup lightly packed dried apricots, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
Instructions
- Position one of your oven racks in the center of your oven. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Line a baking sheet (affiliate link) with parchment paper or a nonstick baking liner.
- In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or, if mixing by hand, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and baking soda until well blended.
- Add the nuts and apricots and beat on low speed or with a wooden spoon (affiliate link) briefly.
- In a small bowl (affiliate link) or measuring cup, lightly beat the molasses, eggs,and orange zest with a whisk.
- With the mixer on low speed or while stirring with the spoon, slowly pour in the molasses/egg mixture. Continuing beating or stirring with the spoon or your hands until the dough is well blended and begins to form moist clumps, about 2 minutes.
- Scrape the dough on to an unfloured work surface and divide the dough in half.
- Shape each half into a 1-1/2 inch by 10-inch log. (The dough will be sticky so you may need to add more flour to your hands as you go along to accomplish this.)
- Carefully transfer the logs onto your prepared baking sheet (affiliate link), spacing them about 4 inches apart.
- Place the baking sheet on the center rack of your oven and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top of the logs are cracked and spring back when gently pressed.
- Remove baking sheet from the oven and place on a wire rack and allow the logs to cool about 20 minutes, (Leave the oven set at 350F degrees or reheat before resuming).
- Transfer the logs to a cutting board (affiliate link). Using a serrated knife, cut the logs on a slight diagonal into 1/2-inch thick slices. Use a gentle sawing motion to cut through the logs.
- Place slices on the baking sheet cut side down. It’s okay if they touch since they won’t spread. Bake the biscotti slices another 10 to 20 minutes, or until they are dried to your taste. At 10 minutes they will still be chewy and by 20 minutes they will be super dry and crunchy.
- Place baking sheet on a wire rack and allow the biscotti to cool completely on the sheet. The biscotti will harden as they cool. Store in airtight containers.
Notes
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.) 4 SmartPoints (Green plan) 4 SmartPoints (Blue plan) 4 SmartPoints (Purple plan) 2 PointsPlus (Old plan) These low-fat gingerbread biscotti are much crunchier than your typical biscotti because they’re made without butter or oil. So, it is important to slice them no thicker than 1/2-inch. You can control their texture depending on how long you bake them – a little less if you want a chewier biscotti, and a little longer for a hard crispy cookie.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Source: This low-fat gingerbread biscotti recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbook authors, Abby Dodge in The Best of Fine Cooking – Cookies.
More WW Friendly Gingerbread Recipes
- Low-Fat Gingerbread Truffles
- Crock Pot Chocolate Chip Gingerbread
- Single-Serving Microwave Mug Gingerbread
Click for More Holiday Cookies Made Lighter
Hello:
The original recipe for biscotti does not include butter,therefore it can last for months without spoiling.My question is: Can I substitute whole wheat instead of all purpose flour in any of the healthy recipes?Many thanks in advance for your reply,araucano!
Something is missing here… I followed this exactly but it doesnt form anything close to a dough. It’s too loose and not holding together.
Hi Heather,
So sorry to hear that you are having difficulty with the dough. I panicked at first, thinking I there was a typo in the recipe, but have checked my version against the original and it seems right. Here’s a link to the original recipe on the Fine Cooking Site – http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/gingerbread-biscotti – (It’s also provided as my “source” in the post.) I’d say if the dough is too runny to work with, add more flour, a little at a time, just until you can work with it. The dough is sticky, so using floured hands to form it into logs will help too. Hope this helps.