Twice-baked, crunchy and scattered with nuts, biscotti is a pretty bickie hailing from Tuscany in Italy. This recipe is a great base to which you can add your own flavours.
How to make easy biscotti: key tips
This biscotti recipe incorporates your choice of flavours, so simply follow the recipe adding your chosen ingredients as required. Overmixing can lead to a tough biscotti, so mix only until the ingredients are just combined.
Biscotti biscuits are twice baked – the first bake cooks the dough, a bit like bread, then it is sliced thinly and baked a second time to crisp up.
When slicing after the first bake, saw down with an even motion, keeping to under the 1cm suggestion in the recipe. Any thicker and the wafers will be difficult to eat once they have been baked again.
Bake until the biscotti are golden brown and dry to the touch. Allow the biscotti to cool completely on a wire rack before storing, as they will continue to crisp up as they cool.
Key ingredients in this easy biscotti recipe
This recipe uses hazelnuts, but you could easily swap them for more traditional whole almonds. Instead of mixed spice, try flavouring with ground ginger, cinnamon or nutmeg, if you like.
If you love biscotti, put these 15 Italian-inspired desserts on your radar, too. These cranberry and pistachio biscotti also look lovely.
This recipe was originally submitted by Angel1974, a member of the Australia’s Best Recipe community. Introduction and additional recipe notes by Natasha Shaw.
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder levelled
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 eggs lightly beaten large
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 100 g hazelnuts finely chopped
Method
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Step 1Sift dry ingredients including spice into large bowl and add your favourite flavourings (see notes).
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Step 2In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla essence. Add grated orange or lemon rind if using.
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Step 3Mix the beaten egg mix into the dry mix and stir until well combined. Mix will be quite stiff and dry.
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Step 4Using floured hands and board, shape into two logs and place on lined oven tray.
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Step 5Bake at 180C for 30 minutes.
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Step 6Allow to stand a minimum of 15 minutes before using a thin serrated edge knife to slice into pieces about 1 cm thick.
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Step 7Place sliced pieces back on tray upright. Reduce oven temperature to 150C and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until golden.
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Step 8Allow to cool and store in airtight container.
Equipment
- 2 bowl
- 1 whisk
- 1 baking tray
- 1 serrated knife
- 1 airtight container
Recipe Notes
How can I flavour these easy biscotti?
The cook’s favourite flavour combinations are:
- Add 100g roughly chopped roasted skinless hazelnuts, 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips, 100g glacé cherries, 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1 tbsp rum. Reduce the flour to 1 3/4 cups and the caster sugar to 3/4 cup.
- 100g pistachios, grated rind of 1 orange, 1 cup dried apricots, finely chopped, and 1 tsp ground ginger.
- 100g macadamias, roughly chopped, 1/2 cup chopped crystallised ginger, 3/4 cup dried cranberries and 3/4 cup white chocolate bits. Reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup caster sugar.
- 100g nuts, 3/4 cup of chocolate bits and 3/4 cup dried fruits, chopped, if needed. Reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup caster sugar.
- For chocolate biscotti, add 1/4 cup of cocoa and reduce the flour by 1/4 cup.
How do I stop the dough from spreading too much as it cooks?
Chilling your log-shaped biscotti dough for about 30 minutes before slicing will help prevent it from spreading too much during baking.
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