Knowledge is Delicious
Basic Biscotti
This crisp Italian treat is delicious dunked in coffee or a dessert wine.
Ingredients
1 8 x 8 pan, 1 inch sides (optional)
3 TBL olive oil (light) or butter
2/3 cup sugar (or 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup Splenda)
1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg beaters)
3 TBL milk (I use skim)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (or 1 TBL flavored liqueur)
1 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp double-acting baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup slivered almonds (or chopped) (optional)
Directions
Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
Cream together oil and sugar. This traps in air bubbles to help biscotti
rise.
Whisk in egg, vanilla extract, and milk.
Mix dry stuff with wet stuff then mix in almonds (I use a dough hook). Chill dough for
10 minutes
to relax the gluten.
Put in greased pan (or spray with cooking oil). The dough should be about 1/2 inch thick
-OR-
Roll out dough into two separate loafs 3 inches wide and 1/2 inch high
and place on greased cookie sheet.
The dough will rise to an inch after
cooking.
Bake at
350, uncovered, until top is pale gold, about 30 minutes (rotate pan after
15 minutes to compensate for oven variations). Let cool for 10
minutes on a wire rack then remove biscotti from pan.
Cut biscotti width-wise using long bread knife about 3/4 inch wide. Put
pieces on baking pan (bottom side down) making sure they do not touch each
other and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool several hours on wire rack so they
are very crisp.
Store in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 1 month.
Notes
I
tried various mixtures of wheat/white flour using wheat but they did not
taste very good.
I like to cut biscotti to form 3 inch long x 3/4 inch wide
pieces.
When baking a second time you can cook the biscotti 5 minutes on
each side.
Craisins are good instead of almonds, or bottom dipped in
chocolate or nothing!
