Biscotti

I haven't made biscotti in ages.  I can tell, because I've never blogged the recipe nor posted pictures.

The recipe I have is oddly written.  It starts with a base dough, then add-ins and flavors to taste.  Our favorite combo has almonds, craisins and orange zest.  Good stuff. 

It had been so long since I made these, ended up grabbing a cup of almonds, and added a mix of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.  It wasn't until I had already added the spices that I found my container of orange zest and recalled our favorite combo.  Oh, well.  I'll have to make that for my next batch.

Most of my recipes have notes scribbled in the margins.  At one point I was making this recipe often enough that I kept all the notes in my head.  Hmm... doesn't work so well after a long hiatus.  Something in my gut told me to use room temperature eggs, but I have no idea if that made a difference.  I did recall how sticky and gooey the dough is to handle.  I had to flour my hands and work quickly before my fingers were fully glued to the dough.  As I wrestled with it, I vaguely remember chilling the dough a bit so it was easier to handle.  Oh, well.  It still worked fine.  I need to do this a few more times and update my notes.

I was happy with the flavor combo - I thought it was even better with a little dark chocolate drizzled on them.  Those are all mine.  Rob prefers his biscotti to be unadorned.


Biscotti

Base:
2 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Add-ins:
1 cup total of nuts, dried fruit or chocolate chips

Flavors (any one of the following):
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tbls orange zest
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp clove & 1/8 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350F.  Beat sugar and eggs until thick and fluffy (about 5 minutes).  Add vanilla extract, dry ingredients and flavors.  Fold in add-ins.  Roll dough into 2 logs, 10"long, about 1" thick and place on a well greased cookie sheet.  Bake 25 minutes or until firm and golden.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Cut into 3/4" diagonal slices.

Transfer to a cookie sheet.  If you can stand them upright, with space around them, then bake them for 15 minutes more.  Otherwise, lay them on their sides, bake for 10 minutes, then flip them over and bake 10 minutes more.