Almond biscotti

I always thought that making your own biscotti involved tonnes of work when to be honest, it involves a bit of work and a lot of waiting around. The biscuits are baked three separate times; once as a log and once on each side after slicing it into individual pieces.

I used the Pistachio Biscotti Recipe by Tyler Florence and swapped the pistachios for almonds and the vanilla extract for almond extract. I did bake the individual slices for slightly longer - 8 minutes a side and some of the thicker slices were slightly moist when they came out of the oven. This happened during the final batch and I couldn't be bothered in waiting a couple minutes longer. I ended up with around 36 biscottis but I suppose this really varies with the size of the biscottis.

I felt they turned out quite well - crunchy, hard but not too hard that you worry you might chip a tooth on it, not too sweet and not too overwhelmingly almond-y.

Will definitely be making different flavours next time. Y wanted to dip some of the biscuits in chocolate but seeing that they were made at night and I was getting impatient with the final batch, just the thought of having to melt the chocolate and wash up didn't appeal to me.

Almond biscotti
adapted from Tyler Florence
makes 36 biscottis

4 oz butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups roasted almond

1. In a preheated 180 C oven, lay the almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the nuts are lightly toasted. Leave to cool.
2. Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, sugar and almond extract. Mix until creamed.
3. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix the dough until smooth. Mix in the almonds until evenly distributed. (I did all the mixing with a wooden spoon and kneaded the almonds in)
4. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut in half. Roll each half into a log, each 12 inches long by 1-inch high. Place the logs on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly brown.
5. Let the logs cool for 5 minutes and then place on a cutting board. Slice each log on a diagonal into 1-inch thick pieces. Put the cookies back on the cookie sheet and bake 5 minutes. Turn the cookies over and bake the other side for another 5 minutes. Store cookies in an airtight container. (I baked mine for 8 minutes a side)