Biscotti

the OG recipe, perfect to dunk, gift, & make your own

Welcome to cookie season my friends!

For most of the year, I’d consider it a chore to be tied to the oven putting trays in and pulling them out every few minutes but when it’s cold and dark outside, the churning oven keeps the kitchen warm and staying inside all Saturday afternoon to tend to it feels like a gift.

I’ve been making these biscotti since my teens. The recipe is simple and it is perfect.

Biscott in the making

Here are the some of the reasons I love these biscotti so much. They:

1. don’t go stale

2. so can be pulled out at a moment’s notice

3. are the ideal teether for babies to hold and suck away on

4. are perfect dunked in tea or coffee because they soften but don’t disintegrate

5. have no butter or oil so making them is a breeze (no creaming!)

6. can be made in countless ways, from the simplest (nothing added) to super dolled up (sour cherries + dark choc + sea salt, drizzled in white chocolate, for example)

7. might just be the perfect afternoon snack with a cup of tea

8. aren’t too sweet

9. have so few ingredients — chances are you have them in your cupboard already

10. make a gorgeous present wrapped in tissue paper and ribbon

dark chocolate + diced dried apricot biscotti

Before I give you the recipe, let me just warn you that my husband’s family has a long and important tradition of cooking making and cookie giving, so there'll be some veritable heirloom recipes coming to The Good Bones Life in the next few weeks. (‘Tis the season.)

And since ‘tis the season, if you enjoy my posts and recipes like this one, please subscribe to The Good Bones Life. These articles take a really significant amount of time to write and put together. Subscribing will mean I can continue to pour myself into writing these longer-form, informative articles, and it’ll mean you to get much more of the Good Bones content you know and love. And thanks.

And now, the only biscotti recipe you’ll ever need:

BISCOTTI

The below quantities make about 20 biscotti (enough to fill one baking tray) so I almost always double it so there are extra on hand. They are really easy to make but are a little time consuming in the baking process as you have to cut then flip the cookies. You’ll know it’s all worth it, though, once you dunk your first biscotti into a cup of coffee and take a bite. Experiment with the additions to create your signature flavours.

• 2 cups flour

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• pinch salt

• 3 eggs

• 3/4 – 1 cup additions (see below for suggestions)

Preheat oven to 300F/160C.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs and use a wooden spoon or your hands to blend completely. Add in any extras (see my suggestions below or go wild). The dough should be sticky and heavy.

Flour a work surface and have extra flour on hand; using your hands, work the dough into a ball and then a flat, long oval or rectangle using your hands (or two if you have lots of dough) around 1 or 2 cm (1/2 - 3/4 inch) thick. The width of the log will be the length of your biscotti, so adjust accordingly, and it will rise ever-so-slightly. It’s OK if you have to add more flour to make it manageable.

Plop the dough on an unlined cookie tray and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the sides are just firm. Remove from the oven and (carefully, it’ll be hot) slice into 20 or so slices. Flip each slice over onto one flat side. Return the tray to the oven and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove tray again, flip over all the biscotti to the other side and bake for a final 5 - 10 minutes.

Cool before serving or storing. They will keep for a really long time in a sealed container or cookie tin.

ADDITION SUGGESTIONS:

– dark chocolate chunks + chopped peel + vanilla extract

– white chocolate chips + hazelnuts + ground cardamom

– maple extract + walnuts

– dried cranberries + dark chocolate chips + chopped peel + 2 drops almond extract

– almonds + 2 drops almond extract

– chopped dried apricots + coconut + dipped in white chocolate

– pistachios + ground cardamom + lemon zest

pistachio, cardamom + lemon biscotti