Biscotti
Clasic Italian cookies, perfect with a cup or coffee or a glass of your favorite desert wine
Servings 20 cookies
Ingredients
- 5 Strips of Bacon - *See note below
- 10 oz (2 cups, 285g) All Purpose (Plain) Flour
- 1-1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 3/4 cup (5-1/4oz, 150g) Sugar
- 4 oz (1 stick, 113g) unsalted Butter - soft room temperature
- 2 Large Eggs - lightly beaten
- 1 cup (6oz, 170g) Chocolate Chips - semi sweet
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with the rack in the middle position .
- Cook the bacon - not too crispy. Cool and finely chop.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In the bowl of a food mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar at medium high speed until light and fluffy.
- Gradually beat in the eggs, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until barely combined. There should still be some raw flour visible.
- Add the bacon bits and chocolate chips. Continue to mix about 20-30 seconds to distribute the add-ins.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and gather the dough to form a cohesive mass.
- Divide the dough in two and roll each piece into a log 10" (25cm) long and about 2" (5cm) diameter. You need to work quite quickly here. As the sugar hydrates it will make the dough very loose and sticky. Don't worry if your dough logs are not perfect, the biscotti will still taste fabulous.
- Transfer the logs to the prepared cookie sheet at least 3" (8cm) apart. Flatten the logs slightly.
- Bake 25-30 minutes until the dough is a light golden brown.
- Let the baked logs cool on the sheet pan. They are very soft when hot and need to cool before they can be handled without falling apart.
- Cut the logs on a bias about 3/4" (18mm) wide. A serrated bread knife is best for this. (You can't really bake those stubby little end pieces a second time so they are a little treat for the baker).
- Return the biscotti to the cookie sheet, cut side up and bake another 10 minutes. Flip the biscotti over to expose the second cut side and bake another 5-10 minutes. **See note below. You can control the crispness of the biscotti by how long you bake it the second time; the longer it bakes, the drier and crisper the biscotti will be.
- Let the biscotti cool completely before serving with a nice cup of tea, coffee or white wine. Remember, biscotti were created to last a long time. These will keep a week or more in an airtight container, if they last that long!
Notes
*Most bacon sold in the US is from the pig's belly and is the preferred bacon in this application. In the UK it would be sold as streaky bacon.
**Most biscotti recipes have you do the second bake with the biscotti cut side up for several minutes and then flipping them over with the second cut side up to bake several more minutes. You can do the second bake with the biscotti right side up but the bottom will get very dark and overdone. To avoid that you can do one of two things:
1. If you have a wire cooling rack, place it in the sheet pan and the cut biscotti on the rack, right side up. Bake for the recommended 15-20 minutes or to your preferred degree of crispness. Raising the biscotti above the surface of the sheet pan allows air to circulate around the cookies and prevents them from over browning on the bottom.
2. Double up the sheet pan (place a second sheet pan under the first). The slight air gap between the sheet pans will insulate the the biscotti and prevent over browning.
1. If you have a wire cooling rack, place it in the sheet pan and the cut biscotti on the rack, right side up. Bake for the recommended 15-20 minutes or to your preferred degree of crispness. Raising the biscotti above the surface of the sheet pan allows air to circulate around the cookies and prevents them from over browning on the bottom.
2. Double up the sheet pan (place a second sheet pan under the first). The slight air gap between the sheet pans will insulate the the biscotti and prevent over browning.