B’s Biscotti

Every holiday season I bake dozens of cookies to send to the grandkids and friends. Some make special requests and some feel special just getting a couple of dozen of the baked goods from my kitchen. One of my favorites is biscotti and while I can’t send you a few, I can show you how to make your own awesome Italian treats!

This recipe will make about 4 or so dozen depending on how you roll and cut them and it can also easily be doubled or tripled as needed. I also like to make a variety of flavors-Almond, lemon, orange and sometimes pepper. This is a really easy, forgiving and versatile recipe. I made almond biscotti and my photos will reflect that.

Gather your ingredients:

3 Cups of flour–start with 1

1/3 lb of butter (do not substitute)

2/3 Cup of sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

Here is where the variations are made: Add 1 tsp of the flavoring of your choice such as almond, lemon, orange or black pepper.

If you make the almond variety also add 1/2 cup of finely chopped unsalted almonds

Note: I had a large bag of almonds that I put in the food processor and chopped myself

Allow your butter to come to room temperature and then place it in a large mixing bowl or use your stand mixer.

(I baked BATCHES of cookies this same day, so my beaters aren’t pristine.) Beat the softened butter until it is fluffy and smooth.

Next, gradually add in sugar

Once this is creamed and blended,

add your eggs

and then your flavoring. In my case I used Almond but enjoy the pretty photo of the Vanilla from Mexico.

If you are making Almond Biscotti, now is the time to add the almonds. If not, skip this step

Mix throughly. Now gather 1 cup of flour, salt and baking powder. Combine these and add slowly to the “wet” mixture. Add 2 additional cups of flour as needed.

This is what my dough looks like after the first cup of flour

This is after 2 cups of flour. Dough will be sticky but needs to have a bit more consistency to it, so I added that 3rd cup.

This is after the last cup of flour and you can see that it is like Play-Doh or perhaps a bit stiffer. I do like to remove the dough from the mixing bowl and allow it to sit in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before I begin to roll and cut my cookies. See those lovely bits of almonds poking out, here and there?

Prepare a bread board or cutting surface with some scattered flour so that your dough doesn’t stick. If it seems VERY sticky, then work in a bit more flour. It should be easy to form and work without being gummy.

I have to thank the Mister for helping me with cookie duty this year. He was great! He also took direction very well I must say. I was happy to take photos and he was happy to pose.

Start with about a baseball size piece of dough or around 3-4″ in diameter. Work it with your hands and form it into a ball. Manipulate it into a large log or cylindrical shape and place on your work surface.

Working from the center with one hand, roll the dough back and forth to form a longer log or snake.

Now with both hands, continue the rolling the dough to make a longer and thinner log.

Using a sharp knife cut the log diagonally into 2″ pieces. Continue cutting until you have completed the log.

This one piece will yield nearly a dozen cookies. I bake my biscotti at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minute or until light brown. If you over cook them they will be like the terrible over-dry, rock hard cookies that are passed off as biscotti in the store. We don’t want that!

Place your dough on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and bake.

They don’t spread or swell, so you can place them quite close together as they bake.

Place them on racks to cool and be sure to store in airtight containers. These cookies are fantastic to ship!

These can be rolled in powdered sugar while warm or glazed with a powder sugar/water glaze if you so choose. I am not a fan of sweet cookies AND I ship these, so it is all about keeping it simple. However, wouldn’t a lemon biscotti with lemon glaze be just awesome right now?