Pepper Biscotti (Eggless)

In Karnataka (a southern state in India), Iyengar bakeries who have their own name and importance in supplying baked goods sell a spicy cookie called Khara biscuit. Every time I make it, for some reason or the other I am unable to take pictures and post it. But, that cookie uses quite a bit of butter/fat. I wanted to come up with something that is savory and at the same time low in fat content. Then I thought why not convert a biscotti recipe to make a savory cookie. Here is the result of my experiment.

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Ingredients: (This is a very small batch. Can be doubled)
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Corn Starch - 2 TBSP
Yogurt - 1/4 cup (measured in wet measuring cup)
Olive oil - 2 TBSP (Can use vegetable or canola oil)
Sugar - 1 TBSP (optional but brings them all together well)
Salt - 1/2 tsp (See Notes)
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper - Crushed by mortar and pestle 2 1/2 tsp - 3 tsp (I used 2 1/2 tsp and it was plenty spicy for us)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a bowl take all the dry ingredients. Whisk them to combine. In a measuring cup, measure yogurt. Add oil to it and whisk together. Add the yogurt and oil mixture to dry ingredients and mix. You will have to use your hands to bring the dough together. It will be a bit dry and stiff. Don't worry about it. It will be just fine. Shape into a long. You can make them wider or narrower for bite sized biscotti. Press them so that they are 1/2" thick. You can wet your hands and shake off excess water to do this. Bake for 35 minutes. It will not brown on the top due to lack of sugar. (Sugar caramelizes giving baked goods a rich color)

Let it cool for 10 - 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 275 F. When cool enough to slice the log, move it on to the cutting board. Slice them 1/2" - 3/4" thick. You can slice them diagonally to get longer cookies or straight to get smaller ones. Since I was working with a very small batch, I sliced them straight to get more. Keep them on the cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes on each side or until dry. Each oven is different and a lot of these timings depend on how thick you have sliced them, so keep an eye on them. Let them cool on wire rack. Store in an air tight container when completely cool. These stay fresh for a week at room temperature. These freeze well too just like other biscotti.

Notes:
If you make it spicier by adding more pepper, you might have to adjust the salt a bit. For those who don't mind eating eggs, replace yogurt with 1 large egg. This could be spiced up with green chillies too. Variations are as many as your imagination takes. You could use just 2 tsp of pepper and after shaping into log, sprinkle some more on the top. If you are planning to do this, brush the log with some water (don't make it too wet) and then sprinkle the crushed pepper.
I was in a hurry and sliced the log too soon when it was still hot. That is the reason why the biscotti looks a little doughy even though in the second bake it dried up.

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