I want to share a secret, and that secret has a name. It was developed in Italy, double-baked in an oven, and dunked in a cup of coffee. It is the secret to eating cookies for breakfast as an adult (not counting just going to town on a box of Cookie Crisp). And it is delightfully easy.
That secret’s name is biscotti.
This recipe is perfect for making an appropriate-sized batch of biscotti to have alongside your morning coffee or for a brunch where you want to impress your guests. You see it in coffee shops everywhere, usually in a large glass jar where the biscotti are the size of a child’s forearm and cost $5. They’re not exactly healthy, but these biscotti are a reasonable serving size and definitely won’t break the bank.
Unlike other types of cookies, traditional biscotti is made without butter and is double-baked at low temperatures. This results in a brittle, dry, and very-hard-verging-on-tooth-shattering consistency. It’s not meant to be eaten by itself, but with coffee or tea to dip it in, soaking up the flavor of whatever you’re drinking in addition to the flavor of the cookie.
The twice-baked nature of biscotti isn’t as scary as it sounds. You bake the dough all together in a thin rectangular slab the first time around. Then you slice it into individual cookies and bake these for a longer time at a much lower temperature.
Biscotti come in many flavors and can even be dipped in chocolate. This recipe instead goes more subtle, cutting back on sugar and flavoring with almonds and anise. My Dutch heart and arteries adore baked goods with almond, so this not only has toasted whole almonds but also almond extract to be sure the flavor is present throughout the dough. The anise then provides those subtle licorice notes after being ground up in the mortar and pestle.
Coffee time, be that morning or mid-afternoon, is ideal for serving biscotti. Once again, legal disclaimer: we cannot recommend consuming these without soaking them in a hot drink first (there, now you can’t sue us for broken crowns or loose fillings). All of this is, of course, best served using Emilie’s homemade ceramic plates and mugs shown in all these pictures!
You’ll want something not too strongly flavored so the almonds and anise come through. For tea drinkers, the orange and herbs of Earl Grey make a good pairing. Coffee drinkers will probably want to go for a medium or light roast.
With no butter content, the biscotti has a long shelf life. Last Christmas, I paired this recipe with a cranberry biscotti and wrapped them up in small boxes as gifts. They were very well received! Alternatively, if you’re hoarding them all for yourself, you can just keep them in an airtight container for about 3 weeks.
Coffee-lover’s cookie made without butter and double-baked at low temperatures, flavored with almonds and anise seed. Serve with a hot beverage for dipping. Inspired by Flour Cookbook.
- 3 eggs
- 150 g sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp anise seeds
- 315 g white flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 250 g whole almonds toasted
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Preheat oven to 350°F and prep a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
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Place the flour, baking powder, salt, and almonds in a large bowl and stir until consistently mixed. Make sure the bowl is large enough to add the wet ingredients.
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Grind the anise seeds in a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder) until somewhat fine.
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Using the whip attachment on your kitchen mixer, beat eggs, sugar, and almond extract together for 5 minutes until consistent and thick.
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Add the ground anise seeds and whip just a minute more.
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Pour the egg/sugar mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until they are combined. This will take some elbow grease, as this is a pretty dry dough!
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Dump your dough onto the prepared baking sheet. With wet hands, shape into a rectangle, about an inch thick. Dimensions are yours to experiment with to get the preferred length of biscotti, but note that if you change the thickness, you’ll want to adjust the bake times. I do mine as a foot long and 5 inches wide rectangle.
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Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes until browned and almost completely stiff to the touch.
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Remove from the oven and let cool, about 30 minutes. Turn oven down to 200°F.
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Cut the cookie slab into your preferred number of biscotti. With a 12 inch long slab, I slice every ¾ inches and have 16 cookies including the ends. Put the cookies back on the baking sheet.
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Bake again for 2.5-3 hours at 200°F until completely hard.
Keep in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.