Veggie Platter: Z ~ Zucchini Biscotti

The A - Z marathon comes to an end today. The marathon and month seemed to whiz by so fast that it seemed like it was done in the blink of an eye. However "Behind the scenes" was a different story altogether for everyone who participated in it, if I am not wrong. The frenzy and the excitement started months before the actual marathon started. The participants through chain of emails decided on the themes, shared ideas and helped each other with the list of recipes if needed. Like many, I made an umpteen number of recipe lists / plans on paper in advance though only a handful recipes were ready when the marathon started. However when marathon started, everything fell in place on it's own (kinda) and I enjoyed the process immensely.

And I am ending this BM with these crispy zucchini biscottis, that I had bookmarked earlier from Harini's place. My earlier eggless biscotti experiment from a cookbook kind of fell flat and so when I saw this recipe I wanted to give it a try and I was not disappointed.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup oatmeal flour (or grind any oats you have.)

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

A pinch of salt

1 Tbsp yogurt

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbsp oil (I used canola oil)

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 cup peeled and grated carrot

1/2 cup peeled and grated zucchini

1 Tbsp of raisins / dried cranberries

Method:

* Preheat the oven to 190° C / 375 deg F.

* Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt. dried fruits and cinnamon powder in a mixing bowl.

* Add grated veggies, oil, yogurt and sugar in another bowl and whisk them well until the sugar is dissolved.

* Grease a baking tray with oil or line it with a parchment paper or aluminium foil.

* Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to form a stiff dough.

* Grease your hands generously with oil or dust them with dry flour. Work with the dough and shape it into a rectangle of about 4 inches wide and 3/4 inch thickness on the greased baking tray.

* Bake it for 25 minutes at 190°C / 375°F . (I baked for about 20 minutes.)

* Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely for 15 minutes.

* Slice the loaf crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces using a sharp knife.

* Place the cut side up and arrange the slices on a baking tray. Bake it at 190°C for 7-8 minutes till they become slightly brown. Turn them to other side and bake again for 6-7 minutes at190°C.

* They needed to be put on broil for a minute to get crisp. However don't be tempted to broil more than one minute or else you will end up with burnt ones.