Almond Biscotti (Biscotti Albani)

We always really luck out with our neighbours. Our first house was in a new, bedroom community north of Toronto and JT and I bought the smallest house snuggled in between two of the larger models in the subdivision. The neighbours to the west of us built our shared fence and didn’t even ask us for a penny for it; we built our fence to the east of us with the neighbour over a weekend culminating with a great big shared BBQ. When we moved back to the city, our northern neighbours held a BBQ for us and invited the entire street so that we could meet everyone; it was wonderful. We shared a driveway with these people and more often than not, when I couldn’t find JT (who should have been doing chores), he was sitting on the neighbour’s back porch having a beer with the neighbour.
When both our careers moved to the west side of Toronto, we made our third move; there were no parties or BBQs this time around, but there was always Biscotti! Our lovely neighbours on our north side made us delicious biscotti every Christmas. When I started living in our new reality, coffee breaks from the gruelling job search became imperative and I couldn’t help but crave ‘a little something’ with my java and that’s when I remembered our sweet neighbour’s almond biscotti. I’d never made biscotti before so it not only satisfied a craving but it also became a blog post! What more can I ask for?

Original recipe from Eyetalian Magazine.

Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients:

• 2 c unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 3/4  c  almonds
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 but melted butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 lightly beaten egg white

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and nuts in a medium-sized bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs together with the sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract and almond extract ; stir the wet ingredients into the flour/nut mixture and combine until a sticky dough forms.
4. Transfer to a floured surface and form the dough into two logs about 30 cm or 12 inches long (as the dough bakes, it will increase in size, so unlike what I did, I would make the logs much thinner next time).
5. Place the logs onto an ungreased baking sheet and brush with the beaten egg whites.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 6 minutes and then slice into 1 cm or 0.5 inch thick diagonal slices. Return slices to the cookie sheet and bake again for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.
7. Serve with a beautiful espresso.

We’ve had a hankering for biscotti these coolish days

A perfect snack when dipped into the aromatic, creamy espresso

Oh go ahead and take one please, I insist!

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