Sunday, May 24, 2009

Biscottis for a Party

Mr. T is notorious for throwing himself a surprise party each year for his birthday. He does all the cooking and all the inviting so when it came time to decide what dishes I wanted to bring, I needed an ok prior to the party. No surprises here! Fortunately for me Mr. T. was down with my smoked salmon potato cakes and homemade biscottis. But surprise! This post isn't about potato cakes, its about the creamy, crunchy, confection that is the biscotti.

This batch was my first attempt at this Italian favorite, so I turned to the trusty Internet for some guidance. Allrecipes.com is always a first-stop for me when searching for recipes and lucky for me I found Laria Tabul's Anise Biscotti. I know biscottis can take on a bazillion flavor profiles, but since this was my first time going into that dark night I stuck to the anise and almond flavors. Allrecipes.com is also super helpful because of the recipe reviews. Others that have come before you really take the time on that site to review how the recipe went for them as well as what changes they made for better or for worse. I found the reviews for this recipe is what made my biscottis such a hit at the party. Below, follow the recipe (along with my changes in blue) and photos of my progress.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup brandy - substituted 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons anise extract - used 2 tsp. of anise an 1 tsp of almon d extract.
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup almonds - uped this to 2 1/2 cups
  • 2 tablespoons anise seed - doubled this. wish I did more.
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil.
  2. In large mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a ti me, beating well after each addition. Combine brandy, anise extract and vanilla in a small bowl or measuring cup. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Alternately add dry ingredients and brandy mixture to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir in the almonds and aniseed. Change: I ground the almonds up in a food processor and added the almonds to the dry ingredients.

    Above-All 3 parts of dough mixed together alternately.

  3. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto prepared sheet, forming two 2 x 13-inch long strips on each sheet. Smooth dough into logs with moistened fingertips.

    Above-My dough loaves.

  4. Bake about30 to 35 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch. Place cookie sheets on racks and cool completely. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

  5. Cut cooled logs on the diagonal into 3/4-inch thick slices using a serrated knife. Place slices on cookie sheets.

  6. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes, until dry and slightly brown. Remove to a rack and cool.

    Above-The finished product!

15 comments:

Unknown said...

We really loved this post and we can just imagine how important our revisions are to the finished product! good one! next time we do some biscotti, you are on! thanks, s

Rico said...

I really love biscotti ...wow how nice with a cuppa. cheers !! Rico

kamran siddiqi said...

These biscotti look so good. I bet they tasted good too.

Felix said...

I like your pictures. Were you by a lake when you took out the pic outdoors?

Tangled Noodle said...

These are beautiful biscotti and I find their light golden color so appetizing and appealing! I really like allrecipes.com as well; the reviews are a great reassurance that people have actually made the recipes!

Jessie said...

biscotti is one of my favorite "coffee foods", allrecipes.com is a great site to look for cooking ideas

Jessie
simplyScrumptiousfoodie.com

Shelby said...

Great photo of the biscotti with the strawberry! I love biscotti myself and am always looking for different recipes to try in the fall (when I eat the majority of my biscotti!)

Laurie said...

A party isn't complete without Biscotti.. so your party must have absolutely rocked! :)

Sweet Kitchen said...

Your biscotti look delicious! Anise are my favourites.

Angie's Recipes said...

Biscotti for any occasion...they are too good to be wrong.

The Duo Dishes said...

Guess it's not too hard to make a biscotti. We'll give it a try.

Rachel J said...

Thanks everyone for stopping by and leaving some love!

SS-the pleasure is all mine and I want to see yours when you get to baking those biscottis!

Ricardo-always a pleasure to see you and I had many, many of these biscottis with a cuppa. :)

Kamran-I am glad you think so! And yes, they tasted better than good if I can toot my own horn. :D

Felix-Thanks for the question!I am getting better with the photo part and I enjoy learning about it too.

Tangled-Are you also on allrecipes with an account? I am glad you are a fan too!

Jessie-I am right there with you. I probably inherited my love from my mom who regularly drank like 6 cups of coffee a day.

HoneyB-How are you! I bet you are up to making something good like always. I'll be looking for your biscottis when the leaves change. :)

Laurie-I always love it when you stop by, and yes the party was awesome. I think more people ate the biscotti than the bday cake!

Sweet Kitchen-Anise is classic but I am excited to try some new flavors too.

Angie-So glad you commented. I adore your blog

Duo-def try it out. Your final biscotti is so rewarding.

Muneeba said...

Luuuuuuuuurve me some fresh biscotti .. dunked right into a huge cuppa hot chocolate! Yours look so perfect .. I can almost smell them coming out of the oven now :)

Caitlin said...

I love love love home made biscotti but have not done so in ages! You have inspired me to start making them again :)

Miranda said...

I love biscotti, but I have not attempted to make them. I might try soon. I think my kids would probably even enjoy them.

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