Double Biscotti
I have wanted to have a go at making biscotti for a while now, I always wondered how it was that they were baked twice; the actual meaning of the word biscotti.
After playing with a couple of recipes I found that they were pretty easy to make - so I feel these delicious biscuits will be baked a few times over autumn . They go brilliantly with tea or coffee, but I have also enjoyed them with my Californian family, dunked in a glass of fine red wine!
I am sharing two recipes today, both pretty much following the same method, the pine nut and almond biscotti aren't as sweet and have a slightly tighter crumb structure whereas the spiced almond have all the wonderful warm notes of autumn baking are light and crisp. I love them both!
Pine Nut & Almond Biscotti
100g pine nuts, toasted in the oven
100g whole blanched almonds, toasted in the oven
225g plain flour
85g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large free ranged eggs, beaten
55g unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 190ºC and grease a large baking tray
Roughly chop the toasted pine nuts and almonds together.
In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, stir in the chopped nuts. Make a well in the centre and pour in the melted butter and beaten eggs and mix together with a wooden spoon until you have a firm dough.
Divide the dough into 2 and role into long sausages, about 4 cm thick. Place both the sausages of dough onto the prepared baking tray, leaving 5cm between them and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove from the oven and turn it down to 80ºC. Cut the biscotti, using a serrated knife, at a 45º angle (see photo above) into 1cm thick slices. Lay the slices on their sides and place back into the cooler oven for 1 hour, turn the slices over after 30 minutes so they dry out evenly.
Leave to cool on a wire rack and then store in an airtight container.
Autumn Spiced Almond and Chocolate Biscotti
100g whole blanched almonds, toasted in the oven
115g unsalted butter, melted
285g plain flour
200g golden caster sugar
3 large free ranged eggs, beaten
1/2 tbsp of baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
100g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Preheat oven to 190ºC and grease a large baking tray
Roughly chop the toasted almonds, and leave to one side.
In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and spices together then stir in the chopped nuts.
Make a well in the centre and pour in the melted butter and beaten eggs and mix together with a wooden spoon until you have a soft dough.
Tip the dough out onto a lightly flour dusted work surface and divide into two. Roll each into two sausages that are about 6cm wide and carefully transfer them to the prepared baking tray, leaving 5cm between them and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove from the oven and turn it down to 80ºC. Cut the biscotti, using a serrated knife, at a 45º angle (see photo above) into 1cm thick slices. Lay the slices on their sides and place back into the cooler oven for 1 hour, turn the slices over after 30 minutes so they dry out evenly.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Place the broken chocolate into a heatproof bowl and place this over a pan of simmering water (don’t allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water) and allow to melt. Then scrape it into a small cup and dip the end of each of the biscotti into the chocolate, allow the excess chocolate to drip off and then place on a sheet of greaseproof paper to set.
Store in an airtight container.
I hope you feel inspired to give at least one of these recipes a go, they are delicious and I bet you will feel brilliantly smug when you share them with your friends and family!
