Almond & Anise Biscotti

Biscotti are biscuits originally from the city of Prato in Italy (Tuscany). Biscotti means 'Baked twice', which create dry cookies, perfect for a long preservation.
Those are absolutely delicious with an espresso or a black tea!

I made those ones with almond and aniseeds but you can imagine to flavor them with different ingredients (such as pistachios, chocolate, lemon zest, orange zest, hazelnuts or honey for example).



Ingredients (Make about 3 dozen):

2 eggs
185g (3/4 cup) Granulated Sugar
125 mL (1/2 cup) Vegetable Oil

2 teaspoons Crushed Aniseeds (you can also use fennel seeds)
1 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon Salt
315g (2 cups) All-Purpose Four
170g (1 cup) Coarsely Chopped Almonds


Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
Combine eggs, sugar, oil, aniseeds, vanilla and salt together. Whisk to blend.
Add the flour, the baking powder and the almonds and stir until a dough forms. Divide the dough in half.

With each half, form a log of 5cm (about 2 in.) in diameter. Carefully transfer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Be careful to space them well apart as the logs will spread during baking.

Bake until firm to the touch, about 30 min. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 10 min. Leave the oven set at 180C (350F) (remember, Biscotti means "baked twice"!).
Carefully transfer the logs to a work surface (use a spatula if you have one). Using a serrated knife cut crosswise into slices 1.5 cm thick (about 1/2 in.).

Place the slices cut-side down on the baking sheet. Return to the oven and bake until lightly brown (about 20 min.).

Place the cookies on a wire rack and allow them to cool down for few minutes.

You can store them in a airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.




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A little about me...

I’m a simple French girl, born in the late 80’ and raised in a tiny village next to Poitiers (Middle West part of France). Since I was a kid, my relationship to food has always been passionate. Raised in a farm, I had constant access to incredibly fresh local products. I grew up eating fruits and vegetables coming from the garden, pâtés and charcuterie my mum would actually make, and meat from animals we raised ourselves.

Nonetheless, I never thought about working in the food industry. I started to study Sciences and graduated in Chemistry few years later. Realizing soon, I didn't want to work in this field, I took a radical decision that changed my life.

I decided to leave for a one-year internship in a food company in US. The company, based in the Bay Area (California) was (and still is) producing French inspired individual desserts. I was working in the Research and Development Department.
I started as an intern and ended up managing most of the department (I came for a year, and actually stayed for almost four!).

This was it! From this point I knew I wanted to be a Pastry Chef!

I came back to France and worked in couple of other places (in France and Finland).
I've now decided to graduate in Pastry.

So, here is my blog, with no pretension to teach anything, but just the joy to share my passion for Pastry and Food...Bon Appétit!

Stéphanie.

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Life is too short, Eat dessert first!