December 30, 2009

Snow and Biscotti

All of our beautiful snow is gone. We had a huge storm on the 19th, just in time for Christmas (over 9 inches of snow.) During the cold my Grandmom and I baked biscotti.

Biscotti has become very popular in recent years especially in posh coffee shops. Biscotti, the plural of Biscotto (although my Grandmom says it like "bih-scoat"), are a twice baked cookie, originally meant to give the cookie a very long shelf life. 


The shelf life of a Biscotto is naturally about 4 months. Biscotti has been served in Italy for centuries and was a staple food in the Roman military. Some historians say that Christopher Columbus is likely the first person to bring biscotti to the New World.


Grandmom's Biscotti Recipe:

1 Cup Sugar
1 stick of Butter (1/2 cup)
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 teaspoons Orange Peel
2 Cups Flour
1 +1/2  teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Powdered Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Sift the flour with the baking powder.








Grate the orange peel. Jodi has a trick on her blog, Curious Acorn for this. My Grandmother's tip: use clementines, they are smaller and work out to about 2 teaspoons. 


 In mixing bowl, beat the sugar with the butter. Add eggs, vanilla, and orange peel. Slowly add the flour/baking powder mix, cinnamon and salt. Mix until fully blended, it should form a soft dough.

Grease 2 small cookie sheets or 1 large one. (Yes, my Grandmom is using her hands! She said she would have used the butter wrappers but our butter was already on a butter dish.)


Divide batter in half and form two loaves on the greased baking sheet. Try to make loaves 3 inches wide and 3/4 of an inch high. Bake in oven for 35 minutes.




Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack until it is cool enough to handle (about 10 minutes.)

 Slice loaves on an angle, about an inch wide. Be sure to slice off a little bit on each end so there is no "end" pieces.
Lay peices on their sides on the same cookie sheet. Cook for 12 more minutes (no more.) Remove from oven, flip the peices with tongs and replace back in the oven for another 12 minutes. They will harden out of the oven.
Biscotti Recipe

Let cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. really good cooks always use thier hands!those look delicious. Happy New Year guys.oxo

    ReplyDelete

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