Biscotti doesn’t have to be a treat bought and enjoyed while at a coffee shop or bakery, they’re easily made right in your own kitchen! Biscotti, in Italian, means “cookie,” but the Latin word it originates from translates to “twice-cooked.” Quite literally, these cookies are baked twice, giving them their signature dry and crunchy texture. (It’s also why they’re so good when dipped in your morning coffee!)
Chloe loves a good biscotti! She remembers the really delicious chocolate dipped biscotti and macchiatos she had when summering in Italy. How did she get there, you might ask? I’d like to know that too, considering she’s just a cat. Chloe has declined to comment. She did, however, tell me these were deliziozo (another thing she picked up in Italy) and gave them a 9/10!
Despite being from a very small town, the biggest almond producers in the world have orchards right in my backyard. Because of this, we celebrate the coming harvest every year in February with a festival once the blossoms appear on the trees.
I have to ask you all, how do you pronounce almond? In my little farm town of Ripon, we pronounce it “ah-mond”—no “L” to be found. Oh, the ridicule I've suffered over the years for dropping the "L” in my pronunciation of almond. It’s truly amazing how upset people get when you pronounce something the wrong way (or should I say, what seems like it's been pronounced the wrong way). To them I ask if they pronounce salmon as “sa-mon,” or “sal-mon”? Or—a personal Ripon favorite—when you shake the almonds out of the trees, you shake the “L” out of them. (Get it? “L,” sounds like “Hell”.)
Anyway, get into the Almond Blossom Festival spirit with me and whip up a batch of almond biscotti. Don't forget to share them with your friends and family who pronounce almond the right way.
Notes
Toast Your Own Almonds
You can toast your own almonds in the oven by spreading 1 cup of whole, raw almonds onto a baking sheet and baking them at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Allow the almonds to cool before chopping and mixing them into the biscotti batter.
Almond Biscotti
Yield: 30 biscotti
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Ingredients
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
10 Tbsp butter (melted)
3 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp almond extract
1 cup whole, plain and toasted almonds
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set that aside.
In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients by mixing together the sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
Then, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until the two mixtures are well combined and form a thick batter.
Roughly chop your almonds and mix them into the biscotti dough.
Next, divide the dough in half, and with floured hands, shape each dough portion into a 13” long by 3” wide log. Arrange both doughs on your prepared baking sheet about 2” apart.
Bake the logs for 30 minutes. Remove the logs from the oven and allow them to cool completely before cutting and baking again.
After your logs have cooled, use a serrated knife to carefully cut the logs into ¾”-1” wide slices. Arrange the slices cut side down on the same baking sheet you used before.
Bake your biscotti for another 26-30 minutes—with the oven still set to 350 degrees F—and flip the biscotti halfway through baking (about 13-15 minutes on each side).
Allow the cookies to cool and note that the cookies will harden more as they come to room temperature.
Enjoy!
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