Cookie Recipes

American-Style Vanilla Biscotti

Here it is, the simplest, easiest biscotti recipe you'll ever follow. Biscotti bake twice rather than once, and thus take a bit longer start-to-finish than normal drop cookies. But the dough is put together exactly like drop cookie dough. And if your kitchen skills include shaping a meatloaf and slicing a loaf of bread, you've got what it takes to make delicious, gorgeous biscotti.

American Style Vanilla Biscotti

Yield: 3 dozen 3 1/2 inch biscotti, when cut crosswise. Or about 1 1/2 dozen biscotti cut on the diagonal; the exact yield will depend upon just how much of a slant you cut them on.

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
  • 2/3 cup (4 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) one large (about 18 x 13 inch) cookie sheet.
  2. In a medium size bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and baking powder until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs; the batter may look slightly curdled. At low speed of your mixer, add the flour, stirring until smooth; the dough will be sticky.
  3. Plop the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Shape it into a log that’s about 14 inches long x 2 1/2 inches wide x 3/4 inch thick. Straighten the log, and smooth its top and sides; a wet spatula or wet bowl scraper works well here. Note: For extra-long, bistro-style biscotti, pat the dough into a lightly greased 12 x 5 1/2 inch biscotti pan.
  4. Bake the dough for 25 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and allow it to cool on the pan anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes; just work it into the schedule of whatever else you’re doing in the kitchen. Using a spray bottle filled with room-temperature water, lightly but thoroughly spritz the log, making sure to cover the sides as well as the top. Softening the crust just this little bit will make slicing the biscotti much easier.
  5. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Wait another 5 minutes, then use a serrated knife to cut the log crosswise into 1/2 to 3/4 inch slices. Or cut the biscotti on the diagonal—for fewer, longer biscotti. As you’re slicing, be sure to cut straight up and down, perpendicular to the pan; if you cut unevenly, biscotti may be thicker at the top than the bottom, and they’ll topple over during their second bake.
  6. Set the biscotti on edge on the prepared cookie sheet. Return the biscotti to the oven, and bake them for 25 to 30 minutes, until they feel very dry and are beginning to turn golden. They’ll still feel a tiny bit moist in the very center, if you break off a piece; but they’ll continue to dry out as they cool. Remove the biscotti from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

Notes

Variations: Add up to 2 cups nuts, dried fruit (dried, not fresh), or chips to the dough, along with the flour. Adjust the spice to suit the add-in, if desired; e.g., add 1 teaspoon cinnamon with 1 cup chopped dried apple and 1 cup diced pecans. Or substitute hazelnut, butter-rum, or your favorite flavor for the vanilla extract. A classic Italian anise biscotti is made with 1/2 teaspoon anise extract (or 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon anise oil, to taste) and 1 tablespoon fennel seeds.

Attribution

Recipe and photo used with permission from: King Arthur Flour


God's Rainbow - Noahic Covenant