This twice-baked Italian biscuit is often found in chic coffeehouses, but it isn’t a rookie’s cookie.
Aviva with her giant home made biscotti. Artwork by Kiera Classen
The word biscotti comes from the two roots “bis” and “cotto” meaning, respectively, “twice” and “baked.” It is an Italian cookie or biscuit which is baked in a log, then diagonally sliced by hand and re-baked to draw out all moisture, leaving a dry, crunchy cookie perfect for dipping. In Italy, biscotti are found in cappuccino cafés and gelato parlors.
Baking biscotti can be a nightmare for even experienced bakers, especially in Colorado. High altitude leads to crisp, but often too crumbly cookies. My father, Lewis, (my preferred baking partner) and I managed to make Biscotti Toscani (almond cookies with orange zest) without too much cookie dust (literally), but slicing the once-baked log was still pretty scary. The loaf was still soft inside, and the serrated knife turned it to crumbs, but the straight-edged knife was difficult to slice with. The cookies were also tricky to move back to the cookie sheet to re-bake. I wouldn’t recommend this for rookie bakers.
The next week we tried pine nut biscotti with lemon zest, called Pignoli Biscotti.
Biscotti Toscani (courtesy of Lou Seibert Pappas’ book, Biscotti)
Prep time: 20-30 min. Cook time: 35 min (total)
Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients:
Directions:
Place nuts in a single layer over a greased and foil-covered cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 325°F oven until golden brown and you can smell them throughout the kitchen, about 8-10 minutes. Let cool. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, almond extract, and orange zest. Add flour, nutmeg and salt, mix partially, then add baking powder and mix until blended into a dough. The reason for this is to not overmix the temperamental baking powder. Cut toasted almonds, if whole, into halves or thirds and fold into dough. Divide dough in half. Place on greased and floured cookie sheet (same as you used to toast the nuts) and form into two logs about ½ inch thick, 1 ½ inches wide and 12 inches long, spacing them at least two inches apart. Bake in the middle of a preheated 325°F oven for 25 minutes until a light golden brown. Transfer from the cookie sheet to a rack and let cool 5 minutes. Place on a cutting board. With a serrated knife slice diagonally at a 45° angle about ½ inch thick. Lay the slices flat on the cookie tray and return to the oven for 10 minutes, turning once, to dry slightly. Let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 3-4 weeks.
As a special treat for my father, every time we go to New York to visit my grandparents, they give him a big glass jar full of crispy biscotti they get from a local bakery. My father drinks tea every morning, and he loves eating the treats for a couple weeks with his drink. This is what prompted us to try making our own biscotti when we found this amazing cookbook.
