I had never ever heard of a biscotti till quite late .It was when we went to our flagship hotel in Jaipur called Rajvilas, a hotel which was built be of a palatial kind of opulence and luxury which was unimaginable at the time circa 1997
quite a bit later in maybe 2011 when I was in NZ teaching Culinary arts/ cookery at Whitireia Polytechnic ,in Auckland I introduced this to teach my students something which can be eaten as a biscuit ( cooked twice – that’s what the name implies).
Eggs 2 ea
Sugar-150 g
.vanilla essence 2 ml
Orange flower water 1 ml
Plain flour 150 g
Almond powder 50 g
Baking powder 3 g
Orange or mandarin zest – 1
Cocoa nibs 20 g, don’t worry if you don’t have them..
Almond or cashew or pistachios if U are feeling rich – 50 g soak in warm water for about 5 mins.this is so when these are baked they are fairly easy to slice .
Whisk eggs and sugar and the 2 essences .
Sieve or mix well the flour ,baking powder and almond powder .
Add zest and nuts (nibs )and mix all the things together.easy peasy.
Form a log and bake at 160-175 c 15- 18mins.
Cool down and freeze for long term storage or
Cool down and slice thin, use a serrated bread knife for the job .(My favourite one is the Fdick one ,which I used to get from House of knives in Auckland. Go pay them a visit someday .The Fdick range of knives is awesome and Shannon one of main man there is very knowledgeable about knives .He will be able sort you out.)
Back to our biscotti which need the second baking to finish the job and be crunchy and very moreish.
Bake at 165 c for 12-15 mins.I love these as a crisp garnish for a dessert or a snack when you don’t want something very sweet