Almond Biscotti. Simple, the Donna Hay way

Biscotti dipped in coffee tastes out of this world

Almond Biscotti, home made

The first time  I ate an almond  biscotti dipped in a lovely, steaming cup of coffee was at a café in an  airport. I loved the experience.

A few days ago, a friend made the biscotti, and it turned out almost like the one at the airports. I could not wait to try my hand at it, but there was a bit of a delay. I decided to go with the general thing of not using eggs during the Navaratras !

Today, I made it for the first time…and it was not bad for the first time. More so given that I was in a hurry, impatient, and had many things…but nothing would make me defer the biscotti. I followed the Donna  Hay recipe that seemed simple.

The result was not bad, given that….yes, the electricity failed 15 minutes after the “log” had gone into the oven preheated to 160 degrees C ! I quickly moved it on my old faithful…the gas tandoor, and took it off when the  air in the kitchen suggested that something was  on the verge of burning !

But the electricity was back by the time I had to put the slices into the oven—biscotti, I read, means twice baked. The second time, I said my prayers and kept my fingers crossed, hoping that the power would not let me and my biscotti down. The prayer actually worked .

Ingredients, and first lot of steps

The ingredients were just what the recipe mentioned, but I probably speeded up some of the processes. It was difficult to slice the “log” into 5 mm slices. I forgot to do it diagonally ! The bottom of the log was a bit burnt. But it tasted good, and the texture was great.

Try it..if nothing else, because it is simple. Show the patience that I did not.

Ingredients:

Plain flour (maida) –2 cups

Eggs 3

Sugar-3/4 cup

Almond slivers(I used bits) ¾ cup

Vanilla extract-1 and a half spoon

Baking powder-1 and a half spoon

Process

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar,almonds and vanilla , add the eggs and blend with your hand into a nice dough. It gets sticky very easily. Just bear with it. On a dusted board , shape it like a log. I used some of the flour to dust the top too.

Bake,cool, and slice to bake again

Bake in a preheated oven (160 degrees C) for 35 minutes, switch off, and cool outside the oven. Before it gets cold, slice it , and bake the slices, for 3 to 5 mins, reducing the temperature from 160 to 100 degrees C, after two minutes.

Biscotti is "twice baked"

The biscottis are ready. Cool, and store. Serve with coffee.

Home made Almond Biscotti