Biscotti Recipe: Italian Twice-Baked Dry Cookies with Nuts

Name: Biscotti Recipe: Italian Twice-Baked Dry Cookies with Nuts
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Wheat flour 2.5-3 cups; Eggs 5; Sugar 1 cup; Raisins (seedless) 100 g; Almonds 100 g; Hazelnuts 100 g; Dried cranberries 100 g; Candied lemon peel 50 g; Candied kiwi or pomelo 50 g; Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg to taste

Biscotti are a popular Italian pastry: dry, sliceable cookies shaped into long, slightly curved slices. The word literally means “twice-baked” cookies. Biscotto is simply what a cookie is called in Italy.

In Tuscany, in Florence, they bake a special kind of these cookies called cantucci (cantuccini). The traditional recipe contains no fat, leavening or yeast, which is exactly why the cookies turn out so dry. The original recipe uses only almonds, though these days various nuts, candied peel, candied fruit and raisins are usually added. The finished cookies are also often dipped in chocolate, and once it sets they keep for a very long time.

Around the world this type of cookie is known as biscotti di Prato. It is served with coffee or tea, but more often with sweet wine or iced tea. In the East they bake a similar almond cookie called shakarlama: a very dry pastry in the shape of small discs, made from almond dough with oriental spices, extremely fragrant and piquant.

In Italy the name is used for almost any twice-baked cookie, although only the almond version has its own name, cantucci. This culinary masterpiece has an ancient history. Back in Roman times dry cookies were baked for campaigns, because they keep for a very long time without spoiling. Recipes for similar cookies appear in ancient manuscripts, and only in the mid-19th century did Antonio Mattei, a pastry chef from Prato, publish the recipe that became the “classic” one.

The essence of the process: a thin baked “baguette” of dough is cut into narrow strips while still hot and put back in the oven to dry out completely. After that the cookies can be stored for several months.

Modern versions are made from many different recipes that are not alike. Mass-produced cookies are closest to almond cantucci. Modern homemade cookies, besides almonds, usually contain other nuts (hazelnuts, peanuts and pine nuts), as well as spices such as anise, ginger or cinnamon. Chocolate glaze is also common.

We made this wonderful pastry with several kinds of nuts and fruit, without any fat or leavening. These unusually tasty dry cookies are perfect with tea, coffee or orange juice. Special thanks for the recipe go to my daughter Yulia, who has a real talent for baking.

More with eggs and cookies

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Savoiardi (Ladyfingers)Homemade savoiardi, or ladyfingers: dry, airy sponge fingers for tiramisu and other desserts, made with just 4 eggs, flour, cornstarch and sugar.

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Grated Jam Bars with Blackcurrant JamGrated jam bars: a shortcrust base spread with blackcurrant jam and topped with grated dough. Simple, fast, and perfect with tea. Step-by-step photos.

Honey CookiesEasy homemade honey cookies with cloves, cinnamon and lemon zest: dry, fragrant and great with tea. Step-by-step recipe with tips on choosing honey.

Ingredients

20-25 pcs

Wheat flour 2.5-3 cups
Eggs 5
Sugar 1 cup
Raisins (seedless) 100 g
Almonds 100 g
Hazelnuts 100 g
Dried cranberries 100 g
Candied lemon peel 50 g
Candied kiwi or pomelo 50 g
Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Strictly speaking, almonds alone are enough. But at home, for the family, you always want something bright, colorful, festive and varied. Forget the classics! We will bake dry cookies with different nuts and candied fruit. Besides almonds, it is best to add hazelnuts, raisins and multicolored candied fruit: yellow lemon, red cranberries, green kiwi or pomelo. It is up to you. The mix and amount of add-ins can vary widely.
First, chop the large pieces of candied fruit with a knife so that all the pieces are about the size of the raisins and cranberries. Mix the raisins, cranberries and candied fruit in a bowl. Pour boiling water from the kettle over them and leave for 10 minutes so the hard pieces soften. Then drain in a colander and squeeze lightly. All the water should drain off completely.
Prepare the cookie dough. In a mixer bowl, combine the contents of 4 eggs and 1 cup of sugar. Beat the eggs with the sugar until a thick foam forms, about the same as the one used for tiramisu cream.
Mix the spices in a cup. For this amount of ingredients I recommend 0.5 tsp each of ground cinnamon and ginger, and 1-2 pinches of ground nutmeg. Add the spice mixture to the beaten eggs and mix once more with the mixer.
Sift the flour through a sieve to remove anything unwanted and keep lumps out of the dough. While continuing to mix the beaten eggs with the mixer, add the flour. In total you need 2 cups of flour plus one heaping tablespoon, which is roughly 350 g.
The finished dough should be neither stiff nor runny, something like very thick honey. If you scoop up some dough with a spoon and lift it, it should stretch slowly under its own weight. If the dough is runnier, add a little flour, just enough to adjust the consistency.
The water has already drained from the candied fruit, but it is still damp. So that the biscotti dough coats the candied fruit, add 1 tsp of flour to it and mix. This guarantees that the dough will cling to the fruit.
Add the candied fruit to the dough, along with the whole nuts, hazelnuts and almonds. Although many people insist on it, there is no need to peel the nuts. But it is up to you.
Use a spatula to carefully and thoroughly mix the thick dough with the nuts and candied fruit. By the way, mixing takes some effort, because the mixture is very sticky.
The finished dough can contain up to half nuts and candied fruit by volume. It looks a bit like Olivier salad generously dressed with the dreaded mayonnaise.
Line a metal baking sheet of a suitable size with parchment paper and dust it with flour. Place the dough on the sheet in a shape like a French baguette, along the full length of the sheet.
Flouring your hands, shape the dough by hand into an elongated loaf, something like an apple strudel. Do not try to make it geometrically perfect; there is no need.
Dust the surface of the dough with flour, quite generously and without missing any spots. This is needed for the egg wash before baking. Beat one egg with a fork until smooth, then brush it over the whole surface of the dough.
Preheat the oven to 210-220°C and put the baking sheet with the dough in. The first stage of baking takes about 30 minutes. Go by the browning of the egg-washed crust and do not let it burn.
When the first stage is done, take the loaf out of the oven and, without delay, while the dough is still hot, cut it crosswise into slices 15-20 mm thick.
Actually, the cookies can be thicker or thinner, as you like. But remember that this is a dry pastry and it has to dry out during the second stage of baking.
Raise the oven temperature to 260-270°C. Lay the sliced cookies on a wire rack, not on the baking sheet! Put them in the hot oven for 5-7 minutes, then turn them over and bake for a little longer, no more than 5 minutes. Go by how dry the cookies are.
Now the twice-baked cookies are completely ready.
Let them cool to room temperature. It is handy to put them in a basket lined with paper and cover it with a linen napkin to keep them fresh longer.
Make a nice fragrant tea with lemon, or a healing ginger tea. If you like, pour a glass of sweet wine or orange juice, which go very well with this pastry.
And if you do not want tea, just eat the fragrant, wonderful cookies as they are. Do not worry, they are not rusks that could break a tooth. Despite their dryness, they are easy and pleasant to eat.