Biscotti and the ancient art to make it

Biscotti are the beloved cookies of every Italian family. The term means twice-cooked, and comes from the habit of baking cookie dough in long bars. Then the dough would have been cutting into half-inch thick cookies, which will be having heated again in order to dry them out and keep better and longer. Many variations in the way biscotti were made reflects the regional differences.

Home-made biscotti are in most Italian families beloved and they prefer to bake cookies, also following the traditional recipes of grannies and mothers but also coming from excellent chef like Pellegrino Artusi and his classical crunchy Biscotti, as he shows in his famous book  La Scienza in Cucina: simple ingredients and great impact!

Ingredients:

  1. 3 1/3 cups (400 g) flour
  2. 1 cup (200 g) sugar
  3. 2/5 cup (50 g) unsalted butter
  4. 1/2 cup less two tablespoons almonds
  5. 1/4 cup raisins
  6. 1/4 cup pine nuts
  7. 2 teaspoons candied citron or melon
  8. A pinch of powdered anise
  9. 2 tablespoons aquavit
  10. 1 scant teaspoon bicarbonate
  11. 1 whole egg + 3 yolks

How to make it

  • You need to peel the almonds, leaving them whole.
  • Then mince the candied fruit and scoop out a hole in the mound of flour.
  •  Put together the eggs, the sugar, the butter, the aquavit, and the bicarbonate.
  • Knead a dough without working the ingredients too much, then make an opening in it, add the almond and the candied fruit, knead again the dough to distribute them, and roll it out.
  • Cut the roll into five pieces, grease and put flour in a pan, brush them with egg yolk, and bake all at 350 F (180 C) for about fifteen minutes, or until lightly browned.
  • Once they are cooked, you need to slice them into round cookies, and put them again into the oven for 10-15 min. more.

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