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Learning to Edit |
Anise Biscotti
Makes about 4 dozen. Procedure Preheat oven to 300°C. Grease two large cookie sheets Mix together butter, sugar, salt, zests and anise seeds (electric mixer is fine). Mix in eggs one at a time. Combine flour, baking powder and soda and mix in. Mix in nuts by hand (too stiff for the mixer). Dough can be refrigerated or frozen at this point. When ready to bake, knead dough for a minute or two (this will help it rise) and divide into three equal parts. Roll each part into a log about 12 inches long and 1½ inches thick. Place logs on cookie sheets (diagonally is fine), about 4 inches apart. Pat down a bit to about 1 inch thick. Bake about 25-30 minutes, checking logs frequently to be sure they’re not getting brown. Remove sheets from oven, turn the oven down to about 250°C, and let the logs cool for a few minutes. Using a serrated knife, slice each log diagonally into ¾ inch slices. Spread the slices, cut side down, on the cookie sheets, dividing them evenly between the two sheets to reduce crowding. Bake an additional 40 minutes or more, until completely dry and hard when cooled (when done but hot they may not feel hard). Check often to be sure the biscotti are not getting brown (pale golden is fine); if they are, turn the oven down further. Once cool these can be stored for extended periods in airtight containers at room temperature or in the freezer. Notes It's cheapest to buy the anise seed and thinly sliced almonds from a bulk food store (e.g. the one at Broadway and Stephens in Vancouver). I use blanched almonds but the ones with the skins on should be fine too. Slivered almonds would also be OK, although maybe a bit harder to slice. Don't buy whole almonds; it would take weeks to slice them all. I think using ground anise seed instead of whole seeds would be OK too, but the seeds are nicer. Rosie Redfield got this recipe in about 1992 from Deidre de Jong-Wong, who got it from an unknown magazine. |
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