Welcome to my new series…Baking Through the Alphabet (a compliment to Cooking Through the Alphabet)! I’ll bring you a recipe for each letter of the alphabet, either with ingredients or some kind of descriptor. Enjoy!
I love biscotti. When a coffee shop has a jar of biscotti, I immediately jump and buy one. Unfortunately though, my coffee shop visits have been limited these days, all while I have been going on weekly baking adventures. I decided it was time to try and make my own (what a unique, yummy thing to bake!). This also coincided with a bag of dried apricots I just wasn’t really feeling. I was looking to transform them into something delicious and unrecognizable. I think I am on to something with this recipe.
Biscotti are relatively easy to mix together, and require minimal ingredients, but I did find the cutting into slices to be a bit challenging. That was the hardest part, so I would suggest using a sharp knife and being patient! The dough doesn’t come together like a suspected, but it all works out in the end. Even with a crumbly, soft dough, they actually turned out crispy and not sandy.
This dough is a great base recipe for any kind of ingredients mixed in! I used pistachio and apricot, but could see this with orange, chocolate, other berries, or any kind of nut. The opportunities are endless, and I plan on exploring those! This whole process takes abut an hour, so keep reading, then get baking!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 Tbsp butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg (fresh grated if possible)
- 1/3 cup crushed pistachios
- 1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped (about 8 pieces)
Steps:
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Preheat oven to 350ºF.
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Beat together the sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and nutmeg until the mixture is well combined and creamy. Then add flour, baking powder, and salt.
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Stir until a soft dough forms, you may have to use your hands to get it together, it will be crumbly.
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Add the chopped apricots and crushed pistachios and fold to mix in.
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Divide the dough into two equal pieces and shape it into a flat log on a parchment lined baking sheet (a few inches apart). Bake the biscotti logs for 30 minutes , or just until the edges turn golden and the top has a few cracks.
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Remove the biscotti from the oven, but leave the oven off. Let the biscotti cool about five minutes, then transfer to a cutting board. Use a serrated knife to cut the biscotti, on an angle, with about 3/4-inch wide slices. They may break a bit, but try to put them back together, in place when putting them cut side up on the baking sheet.
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Bake for about five more minutes, then flip and bake for five minutes. They should be crispy and a lovely golden brown shade!
That’s it! This simple recipe transforms the ingredients into a beautiful, crispy, and flavorful biscotti that allows your chosen ingredients to shine. Let me know if you try this recipe, and if you do, what you put in it!
All thoughts and opinions are my own.