Bella’s sugar-free biscotti: delicious in four
flavors. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE
NIBBLE.

Thanks to Deanna Bellacicco, owner of Bella’s Home Baked Goods, for affording everyone on a sugar-restricted diet the opportunity to have her delicious sugar-free biscotti.

Her regular biscotti line is just lovely, with classic flavors and the cutting edge (try the Peanut Butter Pretzel Chip Biscotti).

But the good news here is that sugar-free biscotti are available in four flavors: Sugar Free Almond, Sugar Free Cappuccino Chip, Sugar Free Chocolate and Sugar Free Lemon Pistachio.

The all-natural sugar-free biscotti are sweetened with isomalt and acesulfame-K (see the different types of sugar substitutes). There’s a subtle bitterness from the sugar substitutes, but the enjoyment of crunchy biscotti far outweighs it.

The boxes are conventional plastic, but anyone who receives a gift of Bella’s sugar free biscotti will be so excited, they won’t notice that it isn’t a deluxe gift box.

Don’t worry about buying too many boxes: Biscotti have a shelf life of many months (more about this below).

 
The History Of Biscotti

Biscotti date back to ancient Roman times. Because they’re twice-baked (a loaf is baked and sliced, and the slices are baked again), most of the moisture is evaporated and the biscuits (cookies) don’t deteriorate for a long time. The Roman biscotti were more about a durable convenience food for travelers, including sailors who were away from reliable food sources for months on end.

Here’s the full history of biscotti and Mario Batali’s recipe.