My favorite biscotti is not very biscotti-like. I like the kind you can find in the cookie aisle of most grocery stores including Costco. Nonni's classic biscotti dipped in dark chocolate makes a perfect dunking stick. This biscotti has almonds and is flavored with just the right amount of aniseed. Unlike traditional biscotti, the crunch of this biscotti is more cookie-like due to the butter.
I love the look of the pistachio-cranberry biscotti with flecks or orange rind but when it comes to flavor, my favorite is the classic almond-anise.
Yields about 24 biscotti depending on how you shape your loaves and how you cut your slices.
3 large eggs
1 cup baker's sugar
1/4 cup unsalted sweet butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons whole aniseed
3/4 cup whole raw almonds, coarsely chopped
Mise en place:
1. Bring eggs to room temperature.
2. Coarsely chop the raw almonds. You can use the blanched almond slivers but I like the look of whole almonds. I buy mine from the bulk bins of a natural grocery store.
3. Grind the aniseed. I use my nifty Cucina Bella. I love the little machine. It makes my smoothies, grinds up my flax seeds and spices, blends small amounts of soup…
Method:
1. In a large bowl, cream together eggs and sugar. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and anise.
3. Melt the butter in a microwave-safe measuring cup.
4. Add the melted butter and vanilla extract to the creamed eggs and sugar and stir until combined.
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix well but do not overmix.
6. Fold in the chopped almonds.
7. Cover the dough and refrigerate until cold.
8. After the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare two baking sheets lined with silicone baking sheets. You can use parchment paper but I tried that at a friend’s house and it burned the bottoms. It could have something to do with the fact that her oven had been on for six hours or maybe the calibration of her oven temp is different from mine.
9. Divide the dough into two parts. I flatten it in the bowl, divided it in half and scooped it out using my plastic pastry scraper. I've had this scraper for a long time. The first day of Baking & Pastry 101, Chef Kramer gave us all a plastic scraper. It was probably a free item from one of the school's sponsors. It says "ConAgra" on it. I use the scraper for cutting dough and for gently folding delicate batters so that I do not overmix (overmixing means tunneling in the finished product).
10. Form each part of the dough into two rectangles about 8 inches by 4 inches and 1 inch high.
11. When the oven is preheated, bake them until deep golden brown. It should take about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. You may need to shift the baking sheets around and turn them to get even browning.
12. Remove the dough from the oven and let them cool slightly. They should be cool enough to handle and the sugar, as it cools, should harden the dough a bit.
13. Slide the slab onto a cutting board. Using a good serrated knife*, slice the slab into ¾ inch slices.
14. Spread the biscotti slices on a baking sheet, cut side down and bake for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip them oven to the other cut side and bake another 10 minutes.
15. Let cool completely.
To dip:
Melt some dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. You will have to microwave a few minutes, stir, microwave some more, stir, and continue to do this until the chocolate is melted. Do no scorch the chocolate. Dip the bottoms of the biscotti in the chocolate, place on wax paper and let them set. I did not dip them this time. The bf doesn't like chocolate so I left them plain.
Tips:
1. It is very important to use a good serrated slicer knife. It doesn’t have to be expensive. I used my inexpensive large serrated knife from my cheaper Cuisinart triple-riveted set. I like this set a lot. They have a good weight for handling. The tang of the knife goes all the way through. I find that I turn to this set more often than my f.dick set because my f.dicks are not in a knife block on the counter. They are stored in a portable plastic knife case.
2. I gave this recipe to a co-worker and she said that there was not enough anise flavor. They used ground aniseed. For this recipe I use whole aniseed and I ground it myself. It makes all the difference. I find that 1 ½ teaspoons of whole aniseed is just the right amount. You will have to adjust accordingly if you use ground aniseed or not so fresh aniseed.
3. Let the dough bake until golden brown during the first baking. This will make the slicing easier.
4. Don’t let the almonds clump too close together. It is hard to slice through them all and the biscotti slice with break apart.
5. Variation: You can replace the almond and vanilla with shelled pistachios, dried cranberries, and orange zest. Dip them in melted white chocolate. The colors are gorgeous. You can make a few varieties and place them in the clear treat baggies and give them as holiday gifts. Other flavor additions can include: mini chocolate chips, coconut, dried cherries, pine nuts, dates...use your imagination. You can also vary the extract. I used vanilla for this but you can use lemon, orange, almond, pandan leaf...I think pandan biscotti is next on the list.
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