Holiday Treats: Biscotti

I've always loved eating biscotti; it's one of the few cookies that pairs incredibly well to a multitude of hot beverages- tea, coffee, cafe latte, hot chocolate, Starbuck's horribly delicious egg nog lattes...you get the drift. Despite enjoying them so much, I've never actually baked any, so today was baking experiment day and I made a batch from a recipe I found online. Excellent recipe, and not having all the necessary extras I changed the recipe, but the basic ingredients and amounts are almost exactly the same as the amazing original.

I hope you enjoy these as much my entire household did. Especially grandpa.

Winter Lemon Biscotti

1/4 cup Light Olive Oil ( I used vegetable oil)
3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Almond Extract
2 Eggs
2 cups Flour ( I always use all-purpose, unbleached)
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Anise seeds ( I gave mine a coarse grind in my mortar and pestle)
zest of 1 whole Lemon, very finely chopped


To bring these biscotti to life: (directions taken from the original posted recipe*)


a) Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

b) In a large bowl, mix together oil and sugar until well blended. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts, then beat in the eggs. Add anise seeds and finely chopped lemon zest.

c) Combine flour, salt, and baking powder separately to sift; gradually stir into egg mixture.

d) Divide dough in half. Form two logs (12x2 inches) on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Dough may be sticky; wet hands with cool water to handle dough more easily.
(Note: my mixture did not make that much dough; perhaps yours will, but you will have to see. If not, don't worry, just try top make both logs of dough as even as you can.)

e) Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until logs are light brown. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).

f) Cut logs on diagonal into 3/4 inch thick slices. Lay on sides on parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until dry; cool.
(Note: the second baking took my 20 minutes. I wanted them pretty dry. For this part, the timing is entirely at your discretion. I say keep checking them until you like the level of dryness). I would not, however, go past 30 minutes as they continue to dry out after they are taken out of the oven. Mine did not last long enough for me to find out how that takes.)

And you're done. Delicious biscotti made with very simple ingredients. Lemony sweet and sure to please!


*Find the original recipe here:
Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti Recipe    And here's the video!