Biscotti Basics

Adele and I spent most of the day Friday making all sorts of biscotti. We gifted half of it to dear friends. 

Here's a basic biscotti recipe you can endlessly adapt. 

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons butter, cool and chopped in chunks

1 cup sugar (or brown sugar)

2 eggs 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/4-1/2 teaspoon almond, anise, butter, mint, etc. extract and/or flavorings)

1-1 1/2 cups of dried fruits and/ or nuts

Directions: 

Sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. 

Mix together butter and sugar. 

Add eggs one at a time. 

Add vanilla and any other extracts or flavors

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet little by little by hand. 

Add whatever dry ingredients you want up to one and half cups. 

Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray. 

Shape dough into a ball to transfer to baking sheet.  

Shape dough into a long loaf on the baking sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. 

Take out the loaf and allow it to cool 5-10 minutes.

Carefully transfer the biscotti loaf to a cutting board and cut it into strips. 

Return strips to sheet and bake another 7 minutes. 

(You can lower the temperature in the oven at this point if you desire.)

After seven minutes, turn the pieces again and bake them on the other side for another 7 minutes. 

Cool pieces on a wire rack. 

Enjoy with hot coffee! 

Kitchen notes:

We made almond, cinnamon brown sugar, mixed fruit and nut, chocolate chip, and peppermint chocolate. 

I want to try the basic recipe with vanilla and almond and anise extracts, chopped almonds and pistachios, and cranberries. I think that combination will be beautiful and delicious. And the red, green, browns, and whites of that combination will be festive for Christmas.  

I need butter and mint extracts now I've run out. Butter is impossible to find in the regular grocers, but maybe I'll try a cake supply store or Amazon Prime. 

The peppermint chocolate piece had mint extract and was surprisingly good when I dipped it hot coffee. If I want the chocolate to be smooth when dipped and dry, I need to research recipes for dipping chocolate and add something to the melted chocolate morsels. But, as it was, we simply melted the morsels this time. The thick, dry, melted chocolate really caked on and this probably just made them even more delicious.