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Biscuits are everyone’s favorite: they are so popular, it doesn’t matter which country you happen to be in, they will always require a dedicated supermarket aisle just to themselves.
Biscuits as we know them today first appeared in Britain during the late Middle Ages. In New York, however, they have always been known as cookies, which we all know is derived from the Dutch for biscuit and, as New York was New Amsterdam before it became New York, it is not at all surprising.
Going further back in time we find the origin of the biscuit probably came from the Roman panis biscotus (twice-baked bread), which in modern Italian translates into biscotti. The Romans twice-baked bread to make it crunchy, as the Italians do today with sweet breads containing nuts, chocolate or dried fruit.
In Italy biscotti is a generic term for all twice-baked sweet breads. The biscotti that we all dip into our cappuccino and love is the cantucci, which is specific to the little-known but historically very important industrial Tuscan city of Prato.
Mixed nut biscotti
Ingredients:
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 85 g icing sugar
- 4 tsp sweet alcohol (Bacardi rum, port, sherry)
- 3 eggs
- 150 g mixed nuts, eg almonds, pistachio, hazelnuts
Method:
Put all dry ingredients except icing sugar and nuts into a mixing bowl with paddle attachment. Mix for a minute on low speed. Place icing sugar into a separate bowl, add eggs and mix well, add vanilla and alcohol, mix well then pour into dry mix slowly while on a low to medium speed. Add the nuts and let the mass come together. Tip out onto baking paper and let rest in fridge for 30 minutes.
Divide the biscotti mass into two parts and using wet hands shape the logs into 1½- to 2-inch thick logs. Press down slightly so the biscotti will have the elongated shape that we are all familiar with.
Place a tray with the two logs into a preheated 170°C oven for approximately 30 minutes. Remove and leave to cool on a wire rack if you have one.
Using a bread knife slice the loaves into quarter-inch slices at a slight angle to make the slices slightly longer. Place flat on a baking paper covered tray. Bake at 140°C for 30 minutes or until lightly colored. Remove and leave to cool.
Biscotti can be stored in an airtight container for long periods.
You can’t beat it with a good cup of coffee or tea.
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