Beautiful Biscotti

The other day I was looking at cooking somthing tastey, light and simple...Biscotti seemed to cover all that!

I found a lovely recipe in my archives Ive never cooked before...it was very simple and I was so suprised at how easy they are to make.  I had all the ingredients in my pantry already.

I ended up making alot of them and bundling them up in small celephane packages with cute ribbons and handmade tags. 

I gave them to some friends who havnt been too well lately.  They were recieved with open arms and a boiling kettle.

Just the thing to have with a nice cuppa...or perhaps a tastey glass of dessert wine ;0)

What exactly is a biscotti?

In Italian, biscotti literally means twice baked, but at the same time any type of cookie may be called biscotti in Italy. In North America, biscotti refers to a specific type of Italian cookie or biscuit, that is derived from the Tuscan cantucci, a hard almond flavored cookie that is baked twice and usually served with the sweet Italian dessert wine, vin santo.

Hmmmm, interesting huh?  Here's how I made them...
 
Makes

About 40

Ingredients

1 cup (220g) caster sugar
2 eggs
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 cups (300g) plain flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
150g whole almonds (skin on) *(you could also use lowfat, natural muslie...it works fine, I discovered, I had coles brand on hand)



Method
Preheat oven to 170°C. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Place sugar, eggs and grated lemon rind in a large bowl. Beat with electric beaters until pale and thick.

Fold in sifted flour, baking powder and almonds, then use your hands to lightly knead dough on a floured work surface until the dough is smooth.

Divide the mixture in half. Form 2 long logs about 25cm long x 5cm wide and place on prepared baking tray, leaving space between logs. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the dough is firm to the touch and slightly golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely (about an hour).

Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Once dough is cool, use a small serrated knife to cut each log on the diagonal in 0.5cm slices.

Lay slices flat on the baking tray and return to oven for 15-20 minutes, turning once, until completely dried out. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.  I sprinkled mine with icing sugar, just to dress them up a bit on the plate.
Store in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks.


 

♥~Enjoy!