Sunday, March 13, 2011

A little Italian at home - homemade biscotti

There is no better time to have an Italian feast, than at a family gathering. We are not Italian, but we certainly know where to get good Italian food. We ordered some fantastic Nonna Emila's pizza, my mom prepared some salads and antipasti dishes and I was in charge of dessert. I could write a whole blog post on Nonna Emila's in Beaverton but, this post is about the biscotti I made for dessert. 
This recipe rocks! And if I can do it, anyone can do it. I found it on Allrecipes.com - Biscotti Toscani. I followed it step by step. The only difference was, I used cinnamon instead of nutmeg. 
Ingredients 

  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 teaspoons orange zest
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (allspice or cinnamon work too) 
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup toasted almond pieces (slivered almonds work too)

Steps
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 
1. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar (I used my KitchenAid mixer).
2. Next, add the eggs, vanilla, almond extract, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and orange zest. 
3. Mix in the flour and then the almonds
4. Divide the dough in half. Take each half and roll into logs about 12 inches long. 
          (*one of my logs was longer and skinner because I wanted some smaller pieces of biscotti)
5. Then flatten the logs until they are about 1/2 inch tall. 
6. Place both loaves on a well-greased and floured baking sheet.
7. Bake in oven for 25 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
8. With a serrated knife, cut diagonally into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Lay the slices flat on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, turning over once. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
9. Microwave the chocolate chips until melted and then drizzle over the cooled biscotti. Let stand at room temperature for the chocolate to harden. Voila! 

 
They were a big hit with the family and tasted great! I highly suggest giving this recipe a try, it was fun baking something a little different. 
Bon appétit!   

10 comments:

  1. Great Recipe. Wow, no fat? I would like to send this to my daughter so she can print it. She has been looking for recipes with little fat or no hydrogenation:)

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  2. Yeah...amazing right? It is a fantastic recipe and real easy to make. I highly recommend this one. A change of pace for baking...not the traditional cookies or brownies.

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  3. looks tasty ;-) thanks for sharing !

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  4. It look like it turned out perfectly. I will defiantly try this one day. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Wow! great recipe and looks tasty.

    thanks for sharing

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  6. OMG, I love biscotti. I'll definitely have to try this. You have a great blog, following you now

    xoDale
    I have a fashion blog here in San Francisco
    www.savvyspice.blogspot.com

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  7. Wow very inspirational. Thank you so much for sharing!

    Restaurant Equipment

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  8. Lovely... perfect for dipping in red wine! ;)

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  9. This just made my mouth water! Great blog! :) I just followed you to keep up with your posts!
    Check out mine! http://eatsimplylivehealthy.blogspot.com

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  10. I'm not into cinnamon, but I could replace it with peanuts, eh. Thanks for the recipe. Very helpful, eh.

    Cheers,
    Cathy@blood pressure device

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