I did it! It's super crunchy and yummy!
LEFT: "Almond Chocolate Biscotti" ready for vacuum packing; RIGHT: Serves three!
Little Boy Blue time and again would share with me bits and pieces of his childhood memories about his mom’s cooking and one of these was all about the Italian cookies (biscotti) he raved about. I thought it sounded like our own Filipino cookies called "Biscocho." It is a crunchy cookie baked first as bread then toast in the oven until it gets crisp. It is glazed
with butter and granulated sugar and almost like it is drowning in butter and sugar- so imagine the taste and then it's crunchy~yum, yum and rich- ayayay! Anyhow, as for the BISCOTTI, I wasn't familiar with this until we started living here in North Beach last June 18; being in the Italian section of SFO has exposed me to a variety of Italian way of cooking and baking!
LEFT: The biscotti after it was vacuum packed looks quite appetizing, don't you think so?
Wanna hear something? Listen to this...One morning, about two Saturdays ago, Little Boy Blue surprised me with this Biscotti and he found his serendipity at the Italian French Baker (our neighborhood bread shop, one building from our flat). He bought different flavors for me to taste and savor: anise, almond, and licorice biscotti. So far, I like the almond best. But they were not crunchy. Still the almond biscotti caught my taste buds!
Next day, we went to a café and he ordered another biscotti. This time I liked it, as it was crunchy and more tasty- I told myself,
"Hm...so this is it. Much better and tasted really great when it is crunchy!"
And then out of the blue, husband continued his story (sigh) about how his mom (Italian) would bake those cookies when he was young (he was nostalgic while **me and my melting heart** took note: I’d bake some for my little boy soonest- hm)!
Inspired by his story telling, I went online last night and researched for the best one I thought was it. The website is the one where I got my "ENGLISH SCONE RECIPE" a few days ago. And since the scone turned to be creamy the way it should be- and yes, delicious- of course, I thought the site had already won my heart. I went there at:
www.joyofcooking.com
I went to their biscotti recipe link and found two that satisfied my curiosity: almond chocolate and almond biscotti. Today, I first tried baking the almond chocolate biscotti. It was superb as I said earlier!
As of this writing am cooling down the almond biscotti and would cut them into strips while it is still hot- and would bake them 2X for 10 minutes for each side after they were cut while still hot- the baking twice after they were sliced is done to make them super crunchy!
FYI~Authentic biscotti has no oil or butter. Shelf life is longer without butter added to it and of course this makes it crunchy when baked this way. The only binder is- guess what? The eggs!
LEFT: "ALMOND BISCOTTI"~Biscotti is traditionally eaten with hot chocolate. Others soak them for a few seconds in their hot coco to soften it according to stories. Others prefer hot coffee with biscotti while me, I love it served with a hot cup of oolang and jasmine tea mixed.
Okay, until later…still baking…this is moi, reporting from North Beach Live. Ciao!
BISCOTTI BAKING TIPS for ALMOND BISCOTTI:
1. Use serrated knife to cut them into diagonal pieces- 1/2 to 1 inch in width
2. Slice evenly
3. Bake for 10 minutes (300 degrees F) front and then again- another ten minutes back to make them crisp!
4.
Remove biscotti from cookie pan as soon it is done baking. Transfer in a drying rack. Once cooled, keep in air tight container.
My personal assessment of my "ALMOND BISCOTTI"- it tasted like "PASENSYA" cookies of the Philippines. PASENSYA is round and about 2" in circumference. The Germans have PASENSYA and they call them as "ANISE COOKIES."
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