THE LEFT BURNER - RECIPES
The Biscotti Challenge is still on - send in your recipe now
By SARAH RINGLER
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Italian cookies form their own category in the cookie world. They often have interesting shapes, are not quite as sweet, and usually are very lightweight and crunchy. One variety, biscotti, are unusual because they are baked twice. There are many variations but this is the easiest biscotti recipe I could find; and, it turned up in my mother’s recipe box under the heading, “from Dede.”
I'm aware that some of you may bake a biscotti that are better than these ones. I'm inviting you to a recipe bake off. Since we can't meet this year to taste test our biscottis, I invite you to send your recipe to Serf City Times. I will post them for bakers to try. Bakers can then send me responses from their eaters. The recipe with the best responses wins a 12 ounce package of Bob's Red Mill Premium Quality Wheat Germ. Don't laugh. Wheat germ is harder to find than toilet paper right now. Submit your recipe by Dec. 4 to qualify. Winner will be announced in January.
Originally, the traditional biscotti recipe that came from a Prato baker, Antonio Mattei, was only made out of flour, sugar, pine nuts and almonds. There were no eggs, butter or leavening. He brought them to the second world’s fair, the 1867 Exposition Universelle, held in Paris, where he won a prize and also introduced them to the rest of Europe.
Easy Biscotti
2 ¾ cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons anise seed
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla flavoring
1 tablespoon water
1 cup coarsely chopped almonds
3 eggs
Sift or whisk flour with baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Melt butter and cool. In a large mixing bowl beat the melted butter, sugar and anise seed. Beat in the eggs until smooth. Add the flavoring and water. Again, beat to mix well.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg and sugar mixture. Add the almonds and mix until completely blended. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a cookie tin. Divide the dough into three parts. Form each part into a long loaf the length of a shallow cookie pan, and about 2 inches wide by ½ inch high. Line them up side by side leaving space between them. They will expand and you don’t want them to touch. Bake for 20 minutes. Don’t overbake. I removed mine when I saw that the ends were turning slightly brown.
Using a long spatula, remove the loaves from the pan and put on a cutting board. With a sharp knife, cut the loaves diagonally into 5-6 inch long slices that are about ¾ inch wide. Put the slices, cut side up, back on the cookie sheet and bake another 10-15 minutes until they are solid like toast but not browned. Cool on racks and then store in airtight containers. Makes about 4 ½ dozen cookies.
