THESE BISCOTTI GOT ME THROUGH THE PANDEMIC.
Not entirely sure why I wrote that in the past tense.
Biscuits are like relationships. You can be close – in each other’s pockets – or not see each other for years and pick up just where you left off.
That’s me and Tuscan biscotti, or more particularly Cantuccini di Prato, studded with almonds and traditionally served with a glass of sweet wine (vin santo).
We hit it off immediately, back last century, once I realised that dunking them in the vin santo softened them enough to eat.
Because these biscotti are tough. The term bis/cotti gives you the clue – twice-baked. The dough is first baked in logs, then sliced into biscuits and baked a second time to dry it out.
They’re tough enough to actually gnaw away at. Tough enough to last for weeks. Tough enough to survive a pandemic. Tough enough to help us all survive a pandemic.
So we met up again in the year that was 2020, and got together over the first coffee of the morning and the last cup of tea in the evening. But, like many things I have a relationship with, I wanted to change them, for their own good.
I added pistachios, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, linseeds or salted peanuts, whatever was around. I scented them with rosewater, not just vanilla. I threw in chocolate, bitter cocoa powder, cranberries, currants, shredded coconut.
Then I started mucking around with the technique. Instead of cobbling it all together in a food processor - too easy – I made them by hand, swirling egg into flour as you would when making pasta. I wanted more richness, so I tried one batch with butter (traditional cantuccini have no butter or oil). Then I tried beating the eggs and sugar together with an electric beater before combining liquid ingredients with dry, as you would a muffin.
Then, dear reader, I went right back to my original recipe, because it was the best. Herewith my crisp, crunchy, toasty, nutty biscuits studded with almonds and hazelnuts, with a hint of anise from fennel seeds and a dash of Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) because I love Frangelico.
CANTUCCINI
The perfect thing with a coffee or cuppa tea. Also excellent when served with zabaglione, sweetened mascarpone, lemon posset or chocolate mousse.
Makes 30 to 40
50 g whole almonds, skin on
50 g hazelnuts
250g plain flour, plus more if needed
200g caster sugar
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed in a mortar
1 tsp baking powder
Half tsp bicarb
2 large eggs
1 tsp sea salt flakes, crushed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Frangelico or Nocello
Heat oven to 180C. Place the almonds and hazelnuts in the oven for 5 minutes until fragrant. Tip the hazelnuts onto a clean towel, wrap and rub madly until the skins come off. Pick out the hazelnuts and toss out the skins. Roughly chop all nuts - or leave whole, it’s up to you.
Combine the flour, sugar, fennel seeds, baking powder, bicarb soda, sea salt, eggs, vanilla extract and liqueur in a food processor and whiz until the mixture leaves the sides and forms a ball (see notes below for a different, equally good method).
Turn out onto a floured bench and pat out with floured hands to a pizza shape. Scatter with the nuts and whatever else you may be adding, and gather up into a ball again, kneading for 1 minute.
Divide dough into two (for larger biscotti) or into three pieces.
With your hands, pat out each piece of dough into a neat log shape about 5 cm wide. Place on a baking tray or trays lined with baking paper, with a little room for spreading on either side.
Bake for 30 minutes lightly coloured and firm to the touch. Remove the tray from the oven, and reduce temperature to 140C.
Using a serrated bread knife, cut each log into 1.5cm slices, and lay them cut side down on the tray. Bake for a further 10 minutes, then remove and leave to cool – they will harden as they cool. Store in an airtight container, where they will last for up to three weeks.
MAKE THEM YOURS:
The moral of this story is that a good recipe can evolve and grow and develop, just like the rest of us. We can make it our own, or respect history and tradition sufficiently to leave it be.
That said, there are a couple of potential speed humps on the road to great biscotti. Your dough may be too wet and sticky to come together, in which case balance it with extra flour, added 1 tablespoon at a time. Flour your hands in order to shape it into a ball.
If you under-bake the biscotti, they will be soft in the middle. Over-bake, and you will break your teeth on them. The ‘just right’ is a matter of experience and personal taste. Those who prefer soft biscuits dispense with the second baking altogether.
Fennel-haters (you know who you are) can substitute with cinnamon, nutmeg, grated orange zest, anything you like.
Give ’em away. Biscotti make beautiful thank-you gifts. Pimp them with what you know to be the recipient’s favourite flavours, from coffee to bitter cocoa powder.
Go mad. White chocolate, cranberry and rosemary ( very successful, especially at Christmastime); dark chocolate, orange zest and orange flower water (divine).
RECIPE NOTE:
I also got a great result by first combining the sugar, eggs, vanilla and liqueur in a bowl and beating with an electric mixer for 3 minutes until pale and smooth. Then sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt, add the fennel seeds, and bring together with a wooden spoon. If it’s too sticky to come together as a soft dough, add flour by the tablespoon until it does. Add the nuts and gently fold them into the dough. Knead for 2 minutes, then divide dough into two (for larger biscotti) or into three pieces and continue as for main recipe.
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Copyright © 2020 Jill Dupleix. All rights reserved. I live and work on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respect to elders past, present and emerging.