Italian Biscotti Recipe from Maremma, Italy

Dana's Notes: I made these and they tasted fantastic. They were really hard, though. Maybe not bake them as long as suggested in this recipe.

This almond biscotti recipe is from the Maremma Guide Italian Biscotti Recipes Collection. It is our Nonnis (Grandmothers') old family "biscotti Cantuccini" recipe - one of the very best Italian cookie recipes around - and makes wonderfully moreish homemade biscotti. 

Indeed, they the best Tuscan biscotti I have tasted and that is saying something as I have a sweet tooth and eat a lot of biscuits – it’s an English cup of tea tradition!  

There is no comparison between these "nonni biscotti" and those commercially-made: the latter are far too sweet for my taste and contain far too few almonds! Once you have tasted these you won't want any others! 

This recipe is one of Nonna Alvara's EASY biscotti recipes.

INGREDIENTS 

 2 eggs 

1 beaten egg yolk 

250 grams of castor sugar

400 grams of plain flour

18 grams of baking powder - in Italy baking powder is sold in (18 gram) sachets called "lievito"  

150 grams of lightly toasted whole almonds with skins  

A few drops of essence of orange  

A pinch of salt 

How to make the almond biscotti  

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C (350F)  (Alvara uses a fan-oven at 180 degrees C.) 

2. Beat together the two (whole) eggs with the castor sugar.  

3. Add the flour, baking powder, essence of orange, and salt. Mix well.  

4. Stir the whole almonds into the resultant dough.  

5. On a lightly-floured surface, form the dough into a long roll with the width of three fingers and the height of one. (Alvara uses her hands rather than a rolling-pin to do this.)  

6. Put the dough roll onto a buttered and lightly-floured baking tray.  

7. Glaze the top of the dough roll with the beaten egg yolk.  

8. Cook for about 15 minutes.

You are looking for the biscuit roll to have a light "biscuit"/almond color. If after 15 minutes it is still white in color, return it to the oven to cook for a little longer.  

9. Remove from the oven and cut the roll diagonally at about one finger width intervals.  

10. Return the biscuit roll to the oven for another 6 minutes (at the same temperature).  

11. Remove from the oven and transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack.

http://www.maremmaguide.com/almond-biscotti-recipe.html