BISCOTTI…The Great Italian Cookie!
Michael Chiarrello
The name biscotti is derived from ‘bis’ meaning twice in Italian and ‘cotto‘ meaning baked or cooked. Biscotti is said to have originated during Columbus’s time , & because of their long storage ability they were an ideal food for sailors, soldiers, and fisherman. Most European countries have adopted their own version of biscotti: English – rusks, French – biscotte and croquets de carcassonne, Germans – zwieback, Greeks – biskota and paxemadia, Jewish – mandelbrot, and Russians – sukhariki.
Granulated sugar – 2/3 cup 
Olive Oil – ¼ cup (or canola oil;I used olive)
Eggs – 2
Vanilla extract – 2 tsp
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Salt -1/8 tsp
Flour – 1 3/4 cups
Unsalted pistachios – 1/2 cup / coarsely chopped
Dried currants – 1/2 cup (original post has dried cranberries)
Chocolate chips – ½ cup
Walnuts – ½ cup/choppedMethod:
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Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat sheets.
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Sift the flour + salt + baking powder
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Beat the olive oil with the sugar.
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Add the vanilla extract + eggs & beat well.
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Stir in the flour mix. Divide it into 2 bowls.
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Gently turn the pistachios + currants into one half; and chocolate chips + walnuts into the other.
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Transfer the dough to your parchment lined baking sheet and form into a log, about 12” X 3 ½”. The dough is very sticky, so you may have to dampen your hands to form the log.
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Bake for 35 minutes, or until firm to the touch & light golden brown. ( I over baked it in my general excitement).
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Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes.
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Transfer the log gently to a cutting board and cut diagonally into 2 cm slices with a sharp serrated knife.
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Reduce oven temperature to 135 degrees C. Place the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes, turn slices over, and bake for another 8 minutes or until golden brown.
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Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.
- Makes about 20 – 24 biscotti
Note: If you are doing just the pistachio version, increase the pistachios to 1 1/2 cups; the currants remain at 1/2 cup & leave the chocolate chips & walnuts out. I just tried to get a bit of variety.
The Italian Cookie for ‘Coffee Lovers’ or ‘Wine Dunkers‘!
Biscotti have a long shelf life & make wonderful gifts. Stack them up & tie them together with a pretty ribbon; put them in a jar; or else fill them up in a lovely mug! If you use pistachios and dried red cranberries, these are all ready and dressed up for Christmas!
This is so festive, its gotta be a under the tree. So I’m sending this one as well off for Zlamushka’s ‘Spoonful of Christmas’.
Just found another Christmas event at Susan’s ‘Food Blogga’ which invites posts for Christmas cookies until 17th December…which gives people a chance to make them well before Christmas. Swell idea…so this one goes off to Food Blogga as well!! Can you hear the bells a-ringin’?
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
18 Comments
Latha
looks like biscotti season has started in the blog… just checked out a version by cookery corner. and interestingly last sat i went for a baking course (whole meal christmas goodies) and biscotti landed in my hands:) we used 50gms butter for 250gms whole meal flour. and believe me even with butter the dough was way too sticky. so we spooned the dough and sort of formed a loaf with wet hands. but the end result was delicious.
PASSIONATE BAKER....and beyond.
What a happy coincidence, Latha. I tried a butter version last year & it came out quite nice. This one with olive oil is great;maybe better than the earlier one I made. The pistachio nut seems to have found its right place in here!! I spooned the dough too which was a bit uncookie like…but in the end, all was well!!
Laavanya
Hey.. what a coincidence I posted biscotti too today and it seems like our recipes are pretty similar too down to the olive oil! 🙂 The original recipe i followed uses pistachios too but I substituted that with almonds and added choc. chips and cranberries. I spooned mine onto the paper and formed a loaf with wet hands. Yours looks crumbly and delicious.
Ben
Hehe, I agree with latha. It looks like biscotti season is here. Just the other day I was looking at some biscotti recipes to try for the first time. I will definitely be trying this one.
Cheers!
zlamushka
Deeba, are you crazy? Of course I am never tired of new gift ideas. Particularly not when this gorgeous. Biscotti definitely are THE GIFT! I love the plush bear peeking into the biscotti bowl… How cute… Please keep posting 😉
meeso
Currents, pistachio’s, walnuts and chocolate chips…wow, that’s a great sounding cookie!
Vcuisine
They are lovely. Viji
Nags
i love the word ‘biscotti’.. its so unique 🙂
aparna
Hi,
Saw your comment on my post. You’ve got to be joking! Got “miles to go” before I reach what you’re doing.
Have just vowed to take baking a bit more seriously, though. Love biscotti and yours look good.
Susan
Oh, Deeba, these biscotti are ideal for Christmas– such festive colors! I love the idea of using olive oil as well. I’ve never done that before with biscotti, but I’m definitely going to try it. Thanks for the delicious recipe and for participating in Eat Christmas Cookies! I’m so happy that we know each other now. I’ll be looking forward to our future visits. -Susan 🙂
Anonymous
Hello,
Tried your version of “Biscotti”.Came out absolutely great. Just added orange zest instead of vanilla essence.
Thanks for posting a great recipe.
Dhara
Sara, Ms Adventures in Italy
Found you via FoodBlogga – I made some very similar biscotti this week (recipe is from a cookbook, though) and they were good – made “traditionally” meaning without butter or oil! If you’re interested, the post is called Mosaic Biscotti from Monday.
Maya
Deeba, I made these biscotti today and they turned out just EXCELLENT !!..I tried only with cranberries, but we loved them. Now, will try with different combinations next time, Thanx for a wonderful recipe !!!
Latha
yeay… i did, i did… finally i tried a recipe from your impressive collection:) you’re absolutely right; i don’t think i’ll go back to the butter version (pls. refer to my comment… i was the first one!). this is awesome. i made with hazelnut and chocolate. i didn’t have cranberries so wasn’t sure what to match with pistas. but i’ve enough pistas to try out soon. thank you a lot. i’ll never fail to treat my friends with this whenever there comes by a chance…
Roochi
Hello Deeba, You have a lovely blog… and nice entries… i am now following blog… Thanks
gousia
Hi
This is the first recipe of yours that i tried and it came out amazing!
My husband is not too fond of baked stuff but he absoulutely loved it and the biscotti jar becomes empty every other day.
I used almonds and green raisins in the recipe.
So yummy esp with so little oil!
Thanks a ton Deeba
Anonymous
Congratulations on making one of the top blogs!
Rita
Gourmet Cupcake
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