Hey, long time no see : ) I feel like it’s been ages since I checked in with a new recipe. I meant to post this ‘Almond Biscotti’ recipe before christmas but was totally out of time and energy to do so. We have been renovating our bathroom and it has taken all my time and energy for the last month or so that I wasn’t even able to put two words together.
The bathroom renovation was all I was able to think about for a while, oh and the fast approaching Xmas and friends visiting for holidays. It was quite a tough month for me both physically and mentally. We had to move in to the guest room which wasn’t very good for my back as the mattress in there is a little too hard for my liking. My husband loves it but I had constant back pains for over a month 🙁 I also slept very poorly during this time as I couldn’t switch off my mind at night, worrying how and when this would all end. We had to watch the builders very closely at all times which felt like we were doing the hard work. Anyway we finally managed to have a usable bathroom and return to our bedroom just a couple of days before our guests arrived.
Even though I’ve been living with a broom in one hand and a dust cloth in the other I still spent a considerable amount of time in the kitchen, cooking daily and baking my favourite Christmas treats. Biscotti or Cantucci is an Italian classic and very popular in my family. It is baked a lot during holidays and is one of the best homemade gifts as they last a long time and transport well as they aren’t fragile.
Biscotti means double/twice baked in italian as the cookie dough is first baked whole then sliced and baked again. That’s probably why they last so long as most of the moisture inside is removed by the second bake. It is the perfect accompaniment to tea and coffee or you can do like Italians and dunk your biscotti in vin santo.
- 1¼ cup flour (175 gr)
- ¼ cup semolina (50 gr)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (115 gr)
- 3 generous Tbsp butter, room temp (50 gr)
- 1 large egg
- zest of 1 large orange
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ⅔ cup unblanched almonds (100 gr)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp orange liqueur or cognac (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) and line your baking tray with parchment.
- Beat butter and sugar with an electric whisk until smooth and mix in the egg.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, ground coriander and salt.
- Combine all ingredients except the almonds and mix till you have a soft dough.
- Mix in the almonds and halve the dough.
- Shape each half into two flat logs about 9 inches long and 2½ inches wide (23x6).
- Bake for about 30 mins, until golden and a little firm to the touch. Remove from the oven, let cool.
- When cool cut each log into ½ inch slices, using a serrated knife.
- Return to the baking sheet and cook for a further 10-15 mins until golden and crisp.
- Transfer to a cooling rack.
Make sure the logs are cooled before slicing them, otherwise they will crumble.
You'll end up with about 24 biscottis, you can shape the logs thinner for more but they'll be smaller in size.